UC-NRLF
USTRIES.
LIBRARY
I
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
Accession 98791 . Class
WORKERS ON THEIR INDUSTRIES
WORKERS
ON
THEIR INDUSTRIES
EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, BY
FRANK W. GALTON
LONDON
SWAN SONNENSCHEFN & Co., LTD.
NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1896
GENERM-
PREFACE
THIS volume is the outcome of a course of free
popular lectures on " Industries," delivered at South
Place Institute on Sunday afternoons during the
autumn and winter of 1893-4. The course was
organised with a view to providing some service-
able information regarding our leading industries,
their origin, development, present position, and
prospects. To this end invitations were sent to
those who possessed practical knowledge of their
respective trades, gained by working in them for
their livelihood. A few exceptions were made to
this rule in the case of lectures on more general
topics connected with the labour movement, given
by lecturers with special qualifications to speak
on those subjects. The appeal for lecturers met
with a warm response, and it was very gratifying
to find that the various Trade Union secretaries
and other officials, whose very arduous duties
might have formed a ready excuse, showed them-
selves not only willing but anxious to help in the
work. The Institute Committee therefore beg leave
98791
vi Preface.
to tender its hearty acknowledgments to all those
who so generously rendered assistance. The Com-
mittee were also fortunate in securing the services,
as editor, of Mr. Frank W. Galton, whose intimate
knowledge of the work of Trade Unions all over
the kingdom makes him invaluable for such a
post.
The Committee trust that the wider public to
whom the volume is now offered will receive
from it some help towards a clearer appreciation
of the workers' position in their struggles to solve
the various labour problems of the day.
W. SHEOWKING,
Hon. Sec.
SOUTH PLACE INSTITUTE,
September, 1894.
INTRODUCTION
THE fourteen essays contained in this volume were originally
delivered as a course of lectures on Industries, at South Place
Institute, on Sunday afternoons during the winter of 1893-4.
Ten of them, from which the volume derives its title, are
the work of men and women who are, or until recently
were, actually engaged in earning a livelihood at the trade here
described by them. Most of them are prominent as leaders
and advisers of their fellow-workers, and are thus qualified to
speak about their trade, not only as practical workers and as
Trade Unionists, but to some extent at any rate as the representa-
tives of the feelings and aspirations of all those engaged in the
industries they describe. Of the four other essays, three are
upon more general subjects, all, however, relating to some aspect
of current labour problems, and by writers well qualified to deal
with the various questions. The fourth, that upon the Agri-
cultural Labourer, is the work of an expert outsider to the trade.
It was found impossible to secure the services of one actually
engaged in that calling to speak upon it, and hence the necessity
of departing from the general rule observed in the other lectures
upon specific industries. A syllabus was prepared for the
lecturers, giving a brief indication of the general lines upon which
it was thought that the subjects might be most usefully ap-
proached. Needless to say, however, no rigid adherence to its
suggestions was expected or enforced, and it will therefore be
found that while in some cases the writers have devoted much of
their time and space to one side of their subject, in others the
chief stress has been laid upon quite different aspects.
In presenting these essays to a wider public than that afforded
vii
viii Introduction.
by the lecture hall, it should perhaps be explained that their aim
is not in any way to provide a detailed or technical description
of the processes of the various trades with which they deal.
Such descriptions may be readily found, by those interested, in
any encyclopaedia, or the numerous technical hand-books upon
trades and industries. What is here attempted is rather to
give the reader an inside view of the trades as they appear
to those who are employed in them. In this consists the most
important difference between this volume and all previous ac-
counts of industries that have so far been published ; and such
value as this little book may possess will be found to consist
chiefly in the fact that it is the first attempt to present to the
public at first hand the workers' own view of the occupations in
which they are engaged. Imperfect as the attempt undoubtedly
is in many respects, it is yet hoped that it may be the means of
conveying to its readers some impression of the manner in which
the social and industrial conditions and effects, and the possible
future improvements in and developments of his trade, are viewed
by the intelligent and thoughtful workman.
The number and variety of the subjects upon which the writers
of these essays have touched render it impossible for me to do
more than very briefly indicate the most important of them. The
history of their trades, the condition of those employed in them
at various periods, the effects of that great group of changes in
the methods of production which are indicated by the Industrial
Revolution, and the rise of Trade Unions among the workers,
all receive more or less detailed notice. Turning to later days,
the present condition of their trade, and the changes now taking
place in it, with their probable effects upon the workers, are
described, together with some instances of the attitude of the
workmen and their Trade Unions towards such changes,
while among the subjects most frequently discussed are the
chief grievances existing in the trades at the present time, and
the means suggested for their removal or relief. Sufficient has
been said, however, to show that if the book does not prove in-
teresting, it will not be for the lack of subjects of great interest
Introduction. ix
among its contents. I do not propose to dwell in minute detail
upon all or any of these topics, but it may perhaps be convenient
that I should quite briefly indicate what appears to me to be the
chief points suggested by the writers, and endeavour to discover
the main trend of their arguments upon those subjects.
By far the most general source of complaint, and that which
has been most frequently dwelt upon in these pages, appears to
be the growing tendency of our present industrial system to pro-
duce a steady divorce of the worker from anything like a complete
knowledge of a trade, or even of a fairly large section of a trade.
In other words it is the increasing sub-division of labour, and
specialisation of the labourer. Of the evils which are thereby
entailed upon the woj?ers this volume will be found to contain
ample details, suggesting, indeed, that our economists have too
lightly dismissed the consideration of this subject even in those
cases where/they have troubled to give it more than a passing
reference./'' It is possible that by adapting themselves and their
Trade TJnion regulations to the changing circumstances in the
trade/ occasioned by the introduction of this system, the
wcmers may, in the future, find that it is a source of great ad-
vantage to them, and that by obtaining a greater share of the
-largely increased output, which is undoubtedly one of its results,
they may be more than compensated for the added monotony of
their toil and the other evils it has produced. But to do this
successfully, they will require both time and a much more com-
plete and effective Trade Union control over the conditions of
their industry than is at present general among them. In the
meantime it cannot be doubted that they often suffer real hard-
ships from this cause. The trade, which they have spent many
years of their lives to acquire, is suddenly rendered less valuable
and more irksome to them by circumstances which it is beyond
their power to control. The goods they make are produced more
quickly and more cheaply by a new system to which they are too
old to adapt themselves, and it is found possible to introduce
boys or other subordinate labourers to perform parts of the
work formerly done by the trained men. Nor do the evils this
x Introduction.
system involves stop short at the old workmen in the trade.
The new-comers, learning but a small section of the craft, and
that section often one which is as well done by boys at boys'
wages as by men, find themselves, on arriving at man's estate,
with no other means of gaining a livelihood than the already
overflowing unskilled labour market, or the ranks of that great
army of casual labourers whose existence is a reproach to
our methods of industrial organisation.
Nor do the workers find that the increased productivity thus
achieved by the sacrifice of large numbers of both the old and the
young men of their class is in any way beneficial to them. On
the contrary, their positions are generally rendered much less
secure, their earnings are often diminished, and the constant re-
petition of one process, which their work under this system
involves, renders it more monotonous and fatiguing. Thus the
workers find, what their class has often found before during the
transition periods in industrial organisation, that their standard of
comfort is being steadily reduced at the same time, and by the
very same process that their productivity is being largely increased.
These are some of the evils of this system, which draw forth their
complaints, and tend to arouse their violent opposition to it.
There can be little doubt that in many cases it constitutes a
source of real and legitimate grievance to the workers employed
in the trade to which it is introduced.
Another subject upon which the reader will find that the
writers of these essays have much to say that is of interest is that
of apprentices and apprenticeships to their various trades. Com-
paratively few people to-day recognise how strongly the old
mediaeval gild beliefs in the limitation of the number of
apprentices or learners, and the strict regulation of their period of
servitude, still survive in the minds of the modem workmen in
our skilled trades. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that
hardly a skilled handicraft exists in which the men employed
would not, if they had the power, restrict by some more or less
stringent regulations the right of entry to their trade. The
strength of the belief in this principle is, doubtless, partly due to
Introduction. xi
its antiquity, and is certainly also in part to be attributed to the
vigour with which the theory, that wages in any trade depend
entirely and exclusively upon the competition for work among the
workers engaged in it, have been preached to them. The con-
tinued repetition, even to this day, by amateur economists and
others, of such doctrines as, " that if two men are running after
one master, wages must be low, while if two masters are running
after one man, wages must be high/' find their logical corollary in
the workman's endeavour to limit the numbers in his trade, and
so prevent the possibility of " two men running after one master."
In addition to this, however, there can be no doubt that the
anxiety to enforce a regulation of apprentices is largely com-
plicated with the perfectly legitimate and reasonable desire of the
workmen that new-comers into their trade shall be really skilled
and selected men who have been thoroughly and efficiently
taught their craft, and are capable of earning the full standard
rate of wages of the trade. But it will be also noticed that in
some cases, and those by no means in the least conservative
trades, the belief in these old restrictions is being destroyed. It
is beginning to be recognised that the theory of wages is not to
be accurately summed up in the sentence I have quoted. By
means of their organised and well-directed Trade Union control,
the workers have already found, in some trades, that it is possible
to shift the plane of competition among their members, from that
of a mere struggle as to which of them shall get work at the
lowest rate, into a struggle as to which of them can do the work
best at a fairly high standard rate of wages. Thus it is found
that all the advantages of competition in securing the employ-
ment of the best workmen are retained, while all its disadvantages
in the way of "sweating," and the demoralisation which inevitably
accompanies low wages and bad working conditions, may be
avoided. Under such circumstances the old limitations upon the
right of entry into the trade become obsolete. They are no longer
necessary to keep up wages, which can be as effectively accom-
plished by other means, while, at the same time, the growing use
of machinery, and the extension of the system of sub-division and
xii Introduction.
specialisation of labour, render a long period of apprenticeship
unnecessary except in a very few highly skilled trades. In this
direction the workers will no doubt find, as one of these writers
has happily said, that the old must give place to the new, and
that a restrictive policy may be safely allowed in most cases to fall
into desuetude. It is, indeed, very encouraging to observe in how
many cases this is being already recognised and its consequences
frankly faced. The need of some proper and efficient method of
teaching the youths in our skilled trades, which shall be calculated
to replace the old apprenticeship system, is one of the subjects
upon which much is said, and some useful suggestions are made
in the pages of this volume.
One other point remains upon which the authors of these essays
display so remarkable a unanimity of opinion that I cannot refrain
from drawing attention to it. The need for further and very
considerable legislative protection and control over their in-
dustries, and the conditions of their working lives, is one upon
which every one of these authors is thoroughly agreed. Whether
the writer be a representative of one of the old and highly skilled
handicrafts, such as Mr. W. A. Steward, who writes of the work-
men in the gold and silver trades, or of a comparatively modern
and unskilled industry, such as Mr. W. Salmon, who writes of the
corn-millers, the same growing feeling in favour of legislative
remedies for the evils and difficulties of the trade and its workers
will be met. It finds expression in demands for the prompt re-
dress of a thousand grievances, some of them highly technical
and confined to the one trade, while others are of a very general
and far-reaching nature." From the raising of the age of coopers
taken into the Royal Navy, to the enactment of a legal eight
hours working day for all those employed in a trade ; from the
distinctive marking of foreign manufactured plate, to the ab-
sorption by the community of the whole of an industry, the cry
for legislative redress of grievances, and state control of the
machinery of production, ranges with an ever-increasing strength.
This is, indeed, so well known and significant a feature of work-
men and their Trade Unions, especially of late years, that little
Introduction. xiii
need be here said regarding it, beyond drawing the attention of
the reader to the fact that it is by no means confined, as some
would have us suppose, to the leaders of the new Labour Unions.
The pages of this book will bear evidence that this demand for
legislative interference is becoming as marked a feature in the
programmes of the spokesmen of the old and highly skilled trades,
as it is in those of the leaders of the new unskilled Labour Unions.
I shall not dwell further upon the contents of the volume, but
leave its readers to judge for themselves, and form their own
opinions upon the various questions with which it deals. Nor
should it be necessary for me to enlarge upon the importance of
the inside view of the trades to which allusion has already been
made. At a period, such as the present, when a rapidly in-
creasing interest in every aspect of the problem presented by the
existing relations between Labour and Capital is being aroused,
the value attaching to a right apprehension of the views and
opinions of the prominent and trusted men among the workers
themselves cannot be over-estimated. The first instalment of one
part of the materials for such an understanding is here presented.
It is hoped that it may be followed at some future time by a
further volume or volumes, containing the results of similar
courses of lectures to be hereafter delivered. Certainly it cannot
be doubted that a clear and carefully considered and revised
statement of the wishes and aspirations of the workers employed
in various important industries, given by those who are their
trusted advisers, must prove of great service alike to those en-
gaged in the trades concerned, and to the student and politician
and the community at large. While fully conscious, therefore, of
the many shortcomings of the book, it is yet hoped that it may
prove of some service in helping inquirers to a better appreciation
and understanding of the claims and aspirations of Labour. In
conclusion, I have to express my very sincere thanks to the
various writers who have contributed to the pages of this book,
for the ready and courteous way in which they have listened to
my suggestions, and responded to the calls I have made upon
them ; to the Committee and Secretary of the South Place In-
xiv Introduction.
stitute for their ready advice and assistance when required ; and
finally to my friend George Turner for the very considerable
and valuable help he has generously given me in the necessarily
somewhat difficult task of reading and preparing for the press the
numerous essays, dealing with so many and so varied subjects,
that are contained in this volume.
FRANK W. GALTON.
LONDON, S.W., October, 1894.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE . . . . .*.-.." v
INTRODUCTION . . . . vii
I. THE NEED AND VALUE OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION.
By C. T. Millis, M.I.Mech.E., Principal of the
Education Department of the Borough Polytechnic
Institute ...... i
II. DRESSMAKERS AND TAILORESSES. By Frances Hicks,
Secretary of the Womeris Trade Union Association 13 ^
III. WORKERS IN PRECIOUS METALS. By W. Augustus
Steward, L.T.C., Secretary of the London Silver
Trades Council . . . . .32
IV. SHIP-BUILDING. By W. C. Sleadman, L.C.C., L.T.C.,
Secretary of the London Bargebuilders 1 Trade Union 56
V. WOOD ENGRAVING. By Henry Crossfield . .67
VI. CORN-MILLING ANCIENT AND MODERN. By W.
Salmon, President of the London District of the
Millers' National Union . . . .81
VII. ENGINEERING. By J. Swift, Amalgamated Society of
Engineers ....... 95
VIII. CASK-MAKING. By W. Crooks, L.C.C., London Philan-
thropic Society of Coopers . . . 115 v
IX. THE ART OF BOOKBINDING. By Frederick Rogers,
President of the Vellum Binder 3 Trade Society . 127
xv
xvi Contents.
PAGE
X. THE AGRICULTURAL LABOURER. By Frederick
Verinder, General Secretary of the English Land
Restoration League . . . . .153
XI. BRICKLAYERS. By Alderman H. R. Taylor, L.C.C.,
Secretary of the Central Committee of the Operative
Bricklayers' Society . . . . .175
XII. POTTERY. By S. J. Thomas, Secretary of the Amalga-
mated Society of Pottery Moulders and Finishers,
London . . . . . , .186
XIII. THE NEED OF ORGANISATION AMONG WOMEN. By
Emilie A. Holyoake, Secretary of the Womerts
Trade Union League . . . .201
XIV. THE NEED OF LABOUR REPRESENTATION. By Alder-
man Ben Tillett, L.C.C., General Secretary of the
Docker J Union . . . . .212
INDEX . . . . . . .227
WORKERS ON THEIR INDUSTRIES.
THE NEED AND VALUE OF TECHNICAL
EDUCATION.
By G. T. Millis, M.I.Mtch.E., Principal of the Education
Department of the Borough Polytechnic Institute.
IT has been thought that a paper upon this subject would make a
very fitting introduction to a series of essays by working men and
women upon their Trades -and Industries. Among the most im-
portant questions with which the writers of this volume will deal,
will be found many which are closely connected with the subject of
Technical Education. The introduction of machinery, the numer-
ous and minute sub-divisions of labour processes, and the decay of
the system of apprenticeship to trades and handicrafts, all present
some problems which are susceptible of treatment from the side of
technical education. It is from this side, and in relation to such
questions as these, that I propose to deal with my subject ; and
though this may necessitate that I should go over some of the
ground which will be dealt with more fully, and in more detail, by
subsequent writers, the time so occupied will not, I think, be found
to be wholly wasted.
At the^outset it is necessary to define what is meant by tech-
nical education. A broad definition and one I have frequently used,
is, that technical education is the application of the principles of
art and science to a particular trade or industry. If to this de-
A
Workers on their Industries.
finition we add, that it should be combined with practical work in
certain branches of some trades, we shall include more definitely
that portion of the subject with which this paper will deal. For,
it should be borne in mind that the education involved in the
proper training of lawyers, doctors, and all those engaged in
commercial pursuits, is as much technical education as that given
to a mechanic or a builder's operative. It is not with that aspect
of the question, however, important though it may be, that this
paper will deal, but with the question of technical education as
affecting the workmen engaged in the various trades and industries
carried on in our great city or even our country.
It will, I think, be readily admitted that the introduction of
machinery, and the keen competition resulting therefrom, have
been the primary causes of the growth of that sub-division of
labour which has made some system of technical education a
necessity to the workmen of any nation anxious to hold its own in
the markets of the world. Sir Philip Magnus, in his address at
the opening of the Finsbury Technical College in 1883 1 , said, in
this connection, " If I were asked to say what has given rise to the
necessity of technical education in its narrower significance as
commonly understood, I should answer, the invention of the steam-
engine. It is to the steam-engine, primarily, on a large scale, we
owe the breaking up of the old apprenticeship system, and the
necessity of some other kindof preparatory training. The result
of the introduction of machinery and of its substitution for hand
labour, has been a keen international competition for trade, which,
among its other effects has reduced the margin of profits, and has
consequently led to the necessary utilisation of so-called waste pro-
ducts, and has stimulated scientific research as applied to the pro-
cesses of manufacture."
But I am well aware that the machinery and the sub-division
of labour consequent upon its introduction are often advanced as
arguments against the need for technical education. It is said
that men need learn only one branch of a trade now, and, indeed,
1 Reprinted in "Industrial Education," by Sir Philip Magnus. [A volume
of the Education Library.] Kegan Paul & Co., London, 1889.
The Need and Value of Technical Education. 3
that it is an advantage so to do, since they gain great expertness
at that branch, and their labour is thus more productive, and they
are better able to earn a living at it./ It is further urged that at
most only a few need have the wide knowledge of the several
branches or processes of a trade necessary for taking part in the
direction of the industry. There is no doubt some truth in this,
if we close our eyes to the future of our industries, and have no
higher aim for our workmen than to turn them into machines
dependent upon one minute sub-division of a trade only, and with
no prospect of improving their position./ But to me it is the
strongest argument in favour of some training which shall help to
make men better all-round workmen, by giving them at least,
some knowledge of the processes preceding and following the par-
ticular branch of the trade in which they are themselves engaged.
By this means they may be enabled to more readily turn from
one process to another if the changes in trade or fashion should
render such a step necessary, and thus they will be more indepen-
dent and self-reliant and better fitted to take their part in the
struggle for existence.
This view of the question is indeed well worthy the close atten-
tion of the Trade Unions. These organisations have never been
slow to recognise the necessity for maintaining the standard of
excellence of workmanship among their members. They have
seen, too, that wages cannot be diminished by such means, but
must, on the contrary, tend to be increased thereby. Large sums
of money, both public and private, are now being expended for
the purposes of technical education, and the benefits to be
derived from such expenditure must depend largely upon the
amount of interest which the workmen themselves, through their
organisations, take in the matter. Many of the Trade Societies,
such as the bookbinders, painters, plumbers, bricklayers, litho-
graphic artists, zinc workers and others have long shown their
interest in this work in various ways. And it is pleasing to be
able to record a growing disposition, at any rate among the
metropolitan workmen and their associations, to avail themselves
of the opportunities for technical education provided by the
Workers on their Industries.
energy of the Technical Education Board of the London County
Council, and other bodies.
But while it is highly important that workmen should take a
keen interest in educational matters affecting their trades, it is no
less important that employers should equally recognise their
responsibilities. They are often among the very first to complain
of any deficiencies on the part of their workpeople, while, as a
rale, they do but very little to provide remedies for the evils of
which they complain. Were they to set their faces with more
determination against the execution of scamped and dishonest
work, and to take more pains to see that the apprentices or
learners in their shops and factories were properly taught their
trades, some, at any rate, of the present causes of complaint
would be effectually removed.
It is sometimes urged that the workmen of this country have
succeeded in holding their own against their competitors, and that
there are still plenty of good workmen left. This may be true of
the older men, but is it so of the younger ? The facilities for
making experts in handicraft skill are being, except in a few
special branches, rapidly reduced, so that, unless something is
speedily done to supply fresh means, we may find it difficult to
get good work done at all as the older generations of the workmen
pass away. Already, indeed, this is being felt and complained of
in some directions. Trades are now often sub-divided into many
branches, and they are kept so separate from each other, that it is
no uncommon thing to find young men who have no knowledge
whatever of more than one branch. So minute are these divisions
in many trades that a man is often little more than the hundredth
part of a .tradesman ; and there are many calling themselves
bootmakers, cabinetmakers, engineers, carpenters, etc., who are
in reality only acquainted, often imperfectly, with one small
section of the trade which they profess. Few, however, will deny
that a workman, possessing a knowledge of two or three
branches of his trade, even though he may actually earn his
living at one of them only, will be a much more efficient crafts-
man. He will, moreover, be better fitted to suggest or invent
The Need and Value of Technical Education.
improvements in it than would another who was without such
knowledge.
To remedy these defects in the present methods of training
workmen in their crafts is the work of technical education. It
must be given through special schools or colleges fitted up with
well-equipped workshops and laboratories. But to be successful
several things are absolutely necessary.
First, no attempt must be made to teach a trade in the schools.
The legitimate object of technical education is to improve the
workman in the trade he is already following ; to render him
capable of doing his work better and more quickly ; and to give
him a general idea of the part played by his efforts in the pro-
duction of the articles to which he contributes, perhaps, but a
minute portion of the labour and skill. Where practical work in
any industry is done in a school, the classes should be rigidly
confined to students who are actually engaged in some branch of
the trade thus taught. * For while it is obvious to all practical
men that trades cannot be successfully taught in a school, yet
much can be done to supplement the training of the workshop by
affording facilities for practical work in those branches of a trade
which young men get few opportunities of learning in their shops.
I am, of course, well aware that this part of my subject is hedged
about with many difficulties. The difficulty of deciding whether
a person employed in one sub-division of a trade should be 'prac-
tically taught to work in other sub-divisions or not, is itself very
great. My own impression is that where the specialisation in a
trade is very complete, and it has become customary for lads to
serve periods of apprenticeship in the sub-divisions separately,
the efforts of a technical school should be mainly devoted to
perfecting them in their own particular branch. Thus, for a boot
"clicker" teaching in the "lasting" or " finishing " of boots
should be entirely a secondary matter; and similarly a silver-
1 The Technical Education Board of the London County Council makes
this .one of the conditions which must be strictly observed by any school
where practical work in any trade is taught, if any aid from the funds at
the disposal of the Board is desired.
Workers on their Industries.
smith does not need to be primarily taught to make spoons and
forks. In each of these cases the sub-divisions are recognised
by the craftsmen themselves as forming entirely separate and
distinct branches of the trade, and no surer method of arousing
the opposition of the workmen could be found than in attempts
at education which would tend to create (< overlaps " in their
trades. On the other hand, where the divisions of a trade are
not complete, the teaching to men engaged in any one of them
need not be specially confined to that branch. There is no reason
why an engraver should be a heraldic or an inscription " hand," and
no harm could be done by teaching him both of those branches ;
nor is it absolutely necessary that the silversmiths should be
rigorously divided into " small " and " large " workers, or that
the acute division between a fitter and a turner in an engineer's
shop should be rigidly maintained. Nevertheless great care is
necessary in dealing with this question, not only to prevent a
rupture with the workmen, but to save the members of classes
from wasting their time in learning branches of trades which will
be of no use to them, and at which they will never be permitted
to work. 1
Again, the instruction in such classes should be given by
practical men, who, in addition to special ability in their own
particular trade, should possess also a general knowledge of the
scientific or artistic principles which are more or less intimately
connected with their industry. But the teaching of the general
1 Another difficulty in this direction, but one too minute to discuss here,
is that involved in the question of where the teaching of general principles
of art and science ends and the teaching of a trade is begun. Thus,
throughout his Report to the Special Committee (of the London County
Council) on Technical Education, Mr. H. LI. Smith regards the teaching
of repouss6 work and wood-carving as branches of general art training.
On the other hand, to many these sections of art work are two distinct
and legitimate crafts, and the teaching of them is the teaching of trades.
All the valuable art training they give can be equally obtained from clay
or wax modelling without the necessity of learning to manipulate difficult
tools, and to work in a very stubborn and difficult medium such as copper
or wood.
The Need and Value of Technical Education.
principles of science and art, and that of the practice of a trade,
will both be better done if they are kept in different hands. To
the intensely practical mind of the workman, used to working by
rule of thumb, and judging everything rigorously by its practical
results, no amount of knowledge of the theory of his trade will
compensate for even the smallest errors in its practice. Of the
theoretic portion of the teaching he is indeed not well qualified to
judge, and small mistakes might be easily overlooked. But of
the practice he is of all men the keenest critic, and many a
promising trade class has had to be abandoned merely by reason
of the imperfect practical acquaintance with the trade possessed
by the teacher.
The amount and nature of the practical work required will no
doubt vary with almost every trade, and will be largely governed
by the opportunities afforded for acquiring a knowledge of the
different branches of the trade in the workshops. Thus the
bricklayer requires practice in the brickcutting so much in demand
nowadays ; the carpenter requires practice in staircasing ; the
plumber in lead-working ; and the engineer in all the branches
of work other than that in which he is specially engaged. In all
these cases, and especially that of the engineer, the present
system of large firms manufacturing only a few specialities does
not allow apprentices or other learners a sufficient insight into the
various branches of the trade. In every case where practical
work is thus undertaken in a class, it should moreover be an
illustration of theoretic principles taught in the class-room.
There is considerable divergence of opinion as to whether such
teaching should be given before or after entering the workshop.
Some think it more effective as a preparation beforehand.
Others, like myself, while acknowledging that some general
preparation apart from any special reference to a trade is good,
are firmly convinced that specialised instruction is more useful if
given concurrently with attendance at the workshop. Greater
advantage would, however, be derived if employers would permit
their young workpeople to leave work earlier, say at five o'clock,
upon one or two days a week in order to attend special classes
Workers on their Industries.
connected with their trade, so that they could come fresher and
brighter, and be better able to profit by the instruction given.
That some such stimulus is necessary for the overtired and grow-
ing youth to attend trade classes after a day's hard work will not be
seriously questioned by any one with experience in these matters.
And here let me digress to refer to the marked influence
already exerted on the training of plumbers by the Plumbers
Company of London. By its scheme of registration, and by the
bestowal of the freedom of the company upon those craftsmen
who succeed in passing the honours examination of the City and
Guilds of London Institute in plumbers' work, it has done much
to raise the general level of the work executed. The Carpenters
and the Painters Companies are also helping forward the work of
educating those engaged in their respective branches of industry.
Similar encouragement in other trades is all that is still required
to give a wider impetus to the movement.
Of the results of such technical training, there are, it appears to
me, two main things to be hoped and worked for. First, that the
exceptionally clever and talented boys working in any trade may
have opportunities provided them for rising to the highest posi-
tions in their trades or occupations. And second, that the whole
mass of the workers may be levelled up in the estimation of the
public, and the final remains of the old stigma attaching to the
workman or " factory hand" successfully abolished. There is no
real reason why the clerk should be considered of higher social
standing because he wears a black coat, or why the workman
should be despised because his work is rough and dirty. And it
will be not the least of the results of a better technical training
of our workmen if it leads to a better appreciation of the real dig-
nity of their labour. In these days, workmen are beginning to seek
for a fuller recognition of their needs by striving to secure positions
on our local governing bodies, and even the highest posts in the
administration of the State. Important though it may be that
their claims in these directions should be recognised and that they
themselves should possess such education as will qualify them to
successfully fill such positions, it must be admitted that it is at
The Need and Value of Technical Education. g
least of equal, if not even of greater importance in an industrial
country such as ours, to have thoroughly educated and qualified
workmen in our workshops and factories. A general recognition
of this necessity, both by the workers and the general public, will
go far to remove the artificial distinctions so often created between
hand and brain workers. In the time of Napoleon the First, it was
a common saying that every French soldier carried a marshal's
baton in his knapsack. Let us see to it, that our workmen may
be provided with such means of acquiring education that every
one of them may have the opportunity, if other circumstances are
favourable, of becoming a captain of industry.
So far I have devoted myself mainly to the consideration of
technical education as applied to specific trades, or technology as
it is called ; let us now turn for a few moments to its scientific
and general aspects. It is very essential that no narrow and con-
fused view should be taken of the training necessary for workmen.
Mere expertness in handicraft skill is not a sufficient equipment
for workmen in the higher branches of industry. To these men it
is that we shall come in the future to look more and more for our
skilled foremen, managers and even directors of industry. For
these, some supplementary instruction is necessary. They will need
a knowledge of the strength, nature and properties of the materials
on which they have to work if they desire to keep abreast of the
times. It is not sufficient to teach them merely the details of the
processes of a trade without explaining something of the scientific
principles upon which they are based. Their education, to be
effective, must include a groundwork of drawing and of the ele-
mentary principles of chemistry and physics. The efforts of the
Science and Art Department, of County Councils and other
bodies, should hence be directed towards the encouragement of
sound elementary science and art education amongst working
men.
How little progress has yet been made in the provision of tech-
nical education in England is well known. Although we are the
first industrial nation in Europe, we have yet allowed almost every
continental nation to far outstrip us in provision for such education.
ro Workers on their Industries.
The following figures in Table I. are taken from the report of the
Technological Examinations of the City and Guilds of London
Institute, and, as far as I am aware, they are the only statistics
that give anything enabling one to form an idea of the progress
of technical education in the United Kingdom. They show the
number of attendances in about sixty subjects throughout the
country.
Table I.
1881 ... ... ... ... 2,500
1882 ... ... . ... 3,467
1883 ... ... ... ... 4,052
1884 ... ... ... ... 5,874
1885 ... ... ... ... 6,396
1886 ... ... ... ... 7,660
1887 8,613
1888 ... ... ... ... 10,404
1889 11,874
1890 ... ... ... ... 12,022
1891 ... ... ... ... 13,202
1892 ... ... ... ... 16,565
1893 ... 22,691
Insignificant as these figures are when we reflect upon the
enormous mass of the artisans in our country, they show better
results than do similar figures for London alone. The existing
provision of technical education in London falls far below the
standard of such towns as Birmingham and Manchester, not to
mention Munich and other continental cities. London contains
a larger artisan population than any other city, but its skilled
trades are largely recruited from the provinces, whilst Londoners,
from lack of proper training, go to swell the ranks of unskilled
labour. The following figures Tables II. and III. show the
number of attendants at certain classes for special trades in
London.
The Need and Value of Technical Education. 1 1
Table II.
Showing attendances at London classes for the following trades
in 1893 :
Plumbers ... . ... 393
Carpenters ... ... ... 241
Bricklayers ... ... ... 106
Mechanical Engineering and Metal Trades 309
Table III.
Table showing the number of persons employed in certain trades
in London, with number of persons attending special classes in
those trades, etc. Compiled from H. Llewellyn Smith's report to
the Special Committee on Technical Education appointed by Lon-
don County Council in 1892 :
Number in
Number of persons engaged
in the following trades in Lon-
attendance at
special trade
classes for each
Number at-
tending classes,
but not workers
don.
of the follow-
in the trade.
ing trades.
Carpentry and
2 ; 5 20 persons in
Joinery 39,489
98
53
attendance at
Bricklayers 23,591
51
4
classes bearing
Plumbers 7,269
341
12
on the Build-
Locksmiths 5,263
no class
no class
ing Trades.
2, 924 persons in
attendance at
Engineering
r*1nQQpQ Tipnvino 1
and Metal
Trades 54,061
266
93
ClctoOoO JJLclL 111 i^ i
on the Engin-
eering & Metal
Trades.
12 Workers on their Industries.
The total number of operatives in all the building trades in the
county of London in 1891 was about 140,000, of whom 15,000
were under 20 ; yet the number of them who were attending
classes on the vitally important subject of building construction
and drawing was less than 800. About 30,000 men and boys
are at work in London in the printing and lithographic industries ;
only 140 of these were in 1891 getting any kind of technical
instruction connected with their work. London has about
46,000 workers in the cabinet-making and upholstery trades, of
whom 7,000 are under 20. The total number who were in 1891
receiving technical instruction in their craft (including designing
and carving) was under 120. Only three out of the 10,000
persons employed in London's tanneries, and only, ten of its
colour workers, were learning any branch of chemistry. And
though it will be naturally admitted that many of our great
industrial cities are far better off than this, and that much has
been done in London during the last two years to increase the
provision of schools and the number of attendants at them, there
is still very great room for further improvement in both of these
directions. We can only hope that the efforts now being made,
and the interest aroused in this subject, may lead to more im-
provements in, and a rapid extension of our system of technical
education.
DRESSMAKERS AND TAILORESSES.
By Frances Hicks, Secretary of the Women's Trade Union
Association.
IT is impossible in the short space at my disposal for this essay
to deal adequately with the history of clothing. I am afraid that
if I were to go into that subject, taking note of all the variations
of race and climate, and of changes in fashion and custom, it would
require a volume to itself. The study would, however, be a very
interesting one, especially when we remember how frequently the
characteristics of dress are inseparable from the strong personali-
ties of history. We cannot think of Queen Elizabeth without her
"ruff" and "hooped" skirt, or of Joan of Arc except as arrayed
for battle ; and future generations will probably associate John
Barns with a straw hat.
Before the growth of large towns and cities with the develop-
ment of commerce in England, clothes were mainly home-spun
and home-made. Dressmaking is one of the industries that
formerly belonged to the home, just as much as baking and wash-
ing, no matter what the occupation of the bread-winner might
be. Baking day at home is now, in the towns, supplanted by the
bake-houses ; laundry work is becoming more and more a work-
shop or factory industry ; the handloom has long been replaced
by the weaving shed; and, while there is still much home-made
clothing, a very large industrial class has already arisen devoted to
the making of costumes and clothing in our city workshops and
factories.
Dressmaking is technically known as a business, just as tailor-
ing is styled a trade. I believe that in the indefinable grades of
our society, a business is thought to be more ladylike than a
13
14 Workers on their Industries.
trade, and, indeed, next door to a profession. It is unnecessary
for me to recount the reasons by which girls, who were formerly
kept at home to help mother until they left to become house-
keeper and mother in some other home, have been compelled to
go out into the world to earn their living the moment they are
permitted to leave school. It is the most natural thing that a
domestic occupation should be sought after by them, and we
should expect to find, what is actually the case, that next to
domestic servants, dressmakers form by far the largest class of
women workers.
Dressmaking is an occupation eminently suited to women. It
does not require great physical strength, and while there is an
infinite variety in the work which prevents it from ever becoming
tedious, there is also plenty of scope for ideas, and free play for a
woman's special stock of ability in working out details. And here
I would suggest, that instead of constantly railing against the
frequent changes of fashion, and the hideous extremes to which
" stylish " women will go in the worship of that fickle goddess, our
technical schools should encourage the art of dress designing.
Classes should be held for the study of the human form with a
view to clothing it suitably, natural form, health, and conven-
ience being duly considered. Nature is constantly changing her
beauties, and, by never showing us two examples of herself ex-
actly alike, teaches us that variety is charming. It would be
rather conceited for us to think that we could halt at any given
point and say, "now we have reached the highest perfection of
beauty and utility in dress, and we decree this to be the uniform
for ever after."
In dressmaking, as in most industries, there are many classes of
workers, and I will endeavour now to describe the more important
of them. The largest class consists of the daughters of the
skilled mechanics in our towns. Many of these girls refuse to
enter upon the life of the " house slavey," or general servant,
which is the modern substitute for domestic service, and they
equally wish to avoid mixing with factory girls, who are all reputed
to be rough. But they must begin to earn something immediately
Dressmakers and Tailor esses. 15
they leave school. In every suburb and working-class district
there are to be found a number of women, who, having worked for
a few years in some fashionable dressmaking establishment, and
being now married or otherwise at home, have set up for them-
selves in business as dressmakers, and give West End style to the
neighbouring tradespeople, upper-class servants, and perhaps a
few wealthier patrons. It requires very little capital to start a
business of this kind, since the customers generally provide their
own materials, and with moderate security a sewing-machine can
be hired for Is. 6d. per week. The chief requirements are a tidy
room, with fashion plates and magazines on a table, a mirror, and at
the window long white curtains which admit a good light to match
colours by, and yet screen the customer while garments are being-
tried on. At first the workroom must be kitchen, living-room,
and workroom combined, but with perseverance and a pleasant
manner it is possible in a few years to get a connection sufficiently
large to keep half a dozen assistants employed. Then a proper
workroom is necessary. From such places as this it is that the
large army of dressmakers is recruited. It is always found con-
venient to have an apprentice to take work home, and to run
errands for matching cotton, buttons, button-hole twist, skirt-
braid and other miscellaneous necessaries. In the workroom an
apprentice saves much of the constant getting up and sitting
down to attend to the fire where an iron is heating, or to answer
the door to the baker, or milkman, or street hawker, or a
customer, just when a piece of work which requires nicely adjusting
is being fixed. In between these duties the apprentice sits down
to make pockets, pull out the unnecessary tacking, and "overcast,"
that is sew-over, the raw edges of seams not covered. When
there is nothing else she can do she practices on the sewing-
machine, or " button holes " on odd scraps of material. In time
she is entrusted with parts of the commonest work, such as
servants' cotton dresses or a shop girl's black dress, which has to
be made cheaply. Such an apprentice usually gives six or twelve
months service for nothing, and after that continues for another
twelve months as an improver at wages of 2s. or 2s. 6d. per week.
1 6 Workers on their Industries.
At the place where I was apprenticed the workroom was shop
and kitchen combined. The family consisted of the dressmaker,
her two sons who were at school during the day, and a lazy
husband who spent most of his time looking for " suitable " work.
They had also a gentleman lodger, whom we saw at about ten
o'clock every morning when he came down to breakfast. A strong
girl came daily to do the housework, attend to the lodger and
cook the meals, and in the afternoon sit down to plain needlework.
The dressmaker, one assistant, and I, sat all day at a table near
the window. The sewing-machine stood beside the table, and the
rest of the room served for general household purposes. Our
hours were from eight in the morning to eight at night, with one
hour off at midday for dinner, Tea was given to us at the work,
table, and we did not cease working for that meal.
It was my duty as apprentice to fold up and put away all
material carefully, and to pick up the pins from the floor before
leaving at night. This was especially annoying, as it made
me always later than the others in getting away. But it
was not thought worth while to be very punctual in leaving off at
any time, and if there was anything nearly finished, it had usu-
ally to be completed before it was put away. I remember that
my father paid for a quarter's lessons at one of the evening classes
for me, but out of the whole thirteen lessons I was only able to
attend two through being detained in this way.
An apprentice or improver is generally very glad to leave this
work and try her hand in the West End. If she has made good
use of her time, and applies for work at the right season, that is
the end of March or the beginning of April, she can almost
certainly get taken on as a season hand at one of the large dress-
making firms in the neighbourhood of Oxford Street, starting with
wages of about 8s. per week. It is here that the girl's eyes are
opened to the ways of the world. The beautiful materials so
lavishly used, of which she hardly knew the existence before, com-
pletely dazzle her. The gossip that she hears of the private affairs
of the grand customers, told by the knowing ones with all the
hints and suggestions that are supposed to be understood, at first
Dressmakers and Tailoresses.
shocks the girl coming fresh into it, and then excites a morbid
curiosity unless she is of sufficiently healthy temperament to throw
off the impressions as soon as she leaves the workroom and enters
into some other occupation or recreation. This is a time that
tests a girl's character very severely. There is a greater amount
of a kind of freedom in this life, for, except in the matter of wages,
every one is on terms of perfect equality. Individuality is com-
pletely lost sight of, and each one becomes part of a collective
machine. It is soon discovered for what branch of the work a girl
is most adapted. If she has the knack of doing small trimmings
she becomes a sleeve hand, while if her fingers are light enough
she arranges lace and soft silks so gracefully that they look as if
they had fallen from the wand of a fairy. A costume with an im-
mense amount of work in it, must, when all is finished, look as if
hands had never touched it.
The fitter of the costumes is the forewoman, and is seldom a
woman who has risen from the ranks of the workroom. She -be-
longs often to the class of showroom ladies who have paid a
premium to walk about in the front shop exhibiting a good
figure and making themselves agreeable. But a West End fitter
must have in addition great skill and immeasurable patience.
Her salary ranges from two to seven or even eight guineas a week,
and raises her far above the level of ordinary dressmakers. The
wages of these latter rarely reach one pound, the average for a
skilled workwoman being 15s. or 16s. per week. It is, however,
impossible to get an average for the year except from an em-
ployer's wage-book, and this is not available to me. But even
that would only show the wages of the most fortunate few who
are kept at work all the year round.
The majority of the workers are simply season hands, and if
they begin work at the end of March they will perhaps be kept
busy until August. Then, if the firm is large enough to have
more than one workroom, each room is closed in turn for a few
weeks and all the superfluous workers discharged. They may
get a few more weeks' work from October to December, but this
is not to be relied upon. What they do until the season begins
1 8 Workers on their Industries.
again cannot be said. I know that some will be able to get
enough needlework to do at home to keep themselves, but are
obliged to let their rent run into arrears. Some get temporary
work at the homes of people with families where they make up
school dresses and children's clothes, and do the general repairs
of a lady's wardrobe, being paid 2s. or 2s. 6d. a day and their
meals. Others, like myself, live with a family who all share the
pinch of slack times. But in addition to these, there are a large
number unaccounted for, who, from pride or some other cause,
are very reticent as to their mode of existence during the winter
months.
On account of these fluctuations in the West End trade many
dressmakers prefer to remain at the class of work with which
they commenced. People, outside the circle of " Society," require
useful dresses to wear all the year round, and the work is there-
fore much steadier. Bat unless a woman has had enough experi-
ence to give her confidence in cutting up other people's materials,
she must be content to earn a much lower wage as an assistant,
the average being from 8s. to 10s. per week only. Even then
there will also be a few weeks slack time. Nevertheless, I doubt
very much whether this is not better than the higher but fluctu-
ating wage of the West End, because these places can mostly be
obtained near home, and the cost of riding money and meals is
thereby saved. On the other hand, since very little or no capital
at all is involved in the business, one is always liable to be thrown
suddenly out of work through the business being given up or
removed to another district for domestic or other reasons.
One other class of dressmakers remains to be described. It
consists chiefly of farmers' daughters who pay a premium to live
in a fashionable dressmaker's house. It is, however, rapidly los-
ing its class distinction. Twenty years ago as much as 100
would sometimes be paid to " Madame/' who, in return, provided
board, lodging and pocket money of 2s. a week for two or three
years, and was supposed also to teach the business thoroughly.
In many West End houses these form the only permanent hands,
six or eight pupils being quite enough to carry on the business
Dressmakers and Tailoresses. 19
during slack times, a number of day workers being employed to
supplement the pupils in the busy seasons. A premium of 20
is now quite sufficient to secure one of these apprenticeships.
When the term of apprenticeship is ended, a situation as indoor
hand is frequently offered and accepted, the salary ranging from
<8 to 20 a year in addition to board and lodging. But this
system is dying out, partly because room in the West End is too
valuable to be thus used, and partly because there is no prospect
for a woman who has passed her youth, unless she can command
enough capital to set up as " Madame " herself.
In this description I have endeavoured to generalise the chief
features of the main groups into which the trade is divided, and to
avoid all extremes and exceptions. The chief things necessary to
a successful dressmaker may be summed up as considerable manual
skill, and delicate fingers ; a good knowledge of fabrics and of what
can be done with them ; the instinct of an artist to grasp the idea
of a costume, and to work out the details without having every-
thing set down in black and white ; and a quick perception of, and
adaptability to, the frequent changes of style and fashion.
So far I have dealt only with the hand dressmaker. I must x
now turn to the machinist. This is a very large industry, and in
some directions it supplants all varieties of hand needlework.
Machinists who work with the best dressmakers are paid daily or
weekly wages, which average from 16s. to 24s. per week. They
must, however, be exact and quick workers and know their trade
and machine well to earn these sums. A false stitch by the machine
will irretrievably ruin some of the fine fabrics, and often one might
as well be a foot out of the line as an eighth of an inch. The heavier
machine work, such as cloth mantles and tailoring, when paid for
by the day or week, brings in from 18s. to 30s. weekly. This com-
paratively high wage attracts many to the work, but very few
women can stand more than four or five years constant employment
in this branch without their health being ruined. A great differ-
ence is made if only half the time is spent at the machine and the
other half at hand work, and this is often arranged.
Apart from the best work, when garments are entirely, or almost
2O Workers on their Industries.
entirely, made by the machine, piecework is the usual method of
payment. There are many factories in London and elsewhere for
this class of trade. In some of them steam-power is used to drive
the machine, and affords a great advantage so far as the health of
the worker is concerned. The earnings at this work vary consider-
ably according to the strength of the woman working the machine,
and the class of work done. I know one factory where there are two
young women who can earn from 18s. to 25s. a week each, at the
piecework prices they are paid for the work. But among thirty
to forty others employed in the same shop, on similar work, and at
the same piecework prices, tbpre is not one who can drive the
machine fast enough to earn more than 16s. a week. It seems
almost an inevitable law of this kind of work, that the coarsest
and heaviest is the worst paid. I am told, that where corduroy
trousers are machined and made, many of the women have to
leave the work after a short time, stricken with paralysis or other
nervous disorders, caused through driving the heavy machines fast
enough to earn only 10s. or 12s. weekly.
There are many machinists who prefer to work at home, because
they are not then bound by the hours of a factory or workshop.
Some factories also have a system of giving out garments by the
dozen to a machinist, paying her the whole price of the work when
finished. She thus becomes a sorb of sub-contractor, paying as
many assistants as she can keep employed to prepare and finish
off the work. Some of such sub-contractors can keep three or
four women at work constantly.
Work of this kind which is given out to be done, either direct
from the employers or through such a sub-contractor, is almost
always badly paid, and any woman who has to live by it must
work long and irregular hours. All kinds of articles, from hand-
kerchiefs and pinafores to greatcoats and horse-cloths, are cut and
given out from East End and City warehouses, by employers who
are glad to get their work done cheaply, and to save the cost and
trouble of workrooms and foremen. Anyone who can work a
machine can get this work, a pattern garment to copy from being
given out with the first order, and none of the workers know the
Dressmakers and Tailoresses. 21
cheapest price for which it is being done. I freely give the hint
that for this work it is best to hire a machine, since, by the time
it is paid for, it will be worn out. I have seen recently the work-
books of women who live by this sort of work, in which cotton
dresses were shown to have been made right out for 7cl. each,
and boys' clothes, men's trousers, canvas working jackets and
other articles were all paid for in proportion.
One such book, which I reckoned up, showed a total of 1,097
garments for eleven months' work. It included boys' corduroy
trousers at Ifd. each, knickerbockers at 3|d. each, women's stays
at 4Jd. each, and drill jackets at 4|d. each, and in every case the
work was finished throughout before it was delivered to the ware-
house. The amount earned by the worker varied from Gs. to 16s.
per week, and averaged 10s. per week over the whole eleven
months. As this amount was more than others could earn on
similar work from the same firm, the woman was compelled, when-
ever she did more work than usual, to explain that she had had a
friend working with her. The friend, however, was a pure inven-
tion. The fact was that she had worked, whenever she could get
enough to do, from six in the morning until ten at night, but she
did not dare to say so, knowing from experience that were it
known that she could do so much by herself the prices would be
reduced immediately. Another work-book from the same ware-
house, which I examined, showed an average of thirty-one
garments made weekly for a year and a half, for the sum of 5s. Id.
per week. During that period 3s. was the lowest amount earned
in any one week, and 11s. 3d. the highest. It was principally
contract work, much of it being for our asylums, infirmaries, and
workhouses, and, of course, paid for by public funds.
And here I may digress to say something about Government
contract work in general. It follows the rule of other work in
being made and paid for under various systems. Some of it is
made under good conditions and is comparatively well paid for,
but the greater part is taken out by contractors and badly paid
for, and it would puzzle even the shrewdest inspector to discover
where the whole of it is made. The very cheapest part is taken
22 Workers on their Industries.
only by those hard up for work, and being so hard up they will
accept any price, and resort to any trickery to retain the work.
Large contractors keep the whip hand over their employees by
having two systems of work in operation at once. A part is done
in the contractor's own factory, and the rest is sub-contracted to
J middlemen and distributed by them to outworkers. Any attempt
to organise those employed in the factory is met at once with the
retort that " if we combine to ask for better conditions the work
will all be sent away and we shall be worse off than before. Let
us alone and go and organise the outworkers so that they will not
work for less than us." But this is quite impossible. The only
condition upon which the outworkers are employed is that they
shall not complain of the prices. If they are not content they
need not take the work. And so this system acts as an effective
weapon with which to underpay and generally ill-treat the unfor-
tunate workpeople.
So much has already been written and reported about tailoresses
through the action of the " Sweating Committee," and the agita-
tion against " home-work," that it is scarcely necessary to offer
many details concerning their employment. Keady-made clothing
is largely made by the machinists already described. The " be-
spoke " work of the tailors' shops, which abound in all parts of
London, is made under the sub-division of labour system, some-
times in workshops in which the majority of the workers are wome^
and sometimes by tailors who take the work out, and employ
women as " basters," "finishers," and " buttonholers," while they
themselves press and overlook. As the quality and price of the
work improves, so the proportion of men to women workers is
steadily increased, until we find the very best work is made
almost entirely by tailors in the West End shops. In this work
tailoresses are only employed by outworkers, that is by journey-
men tailors, who rent their own workshops or take work home to
do.
It is said that women cannot do the best work. But among the
outworkers there are many women who can and do take any part
of the work, and when it is returned to the shop even a skilled
Dressmakers and Tailoresses. 23
foreman is unable to tell that it is not the work of a tailor. One
tailoress, whom I knew, rented a workroom in the West End, and
employed six or eight other women to make trousers. She taught her
husband (who was* a tea warehouseman by trade) to press, and sent
him to the shop to get the work out, knowing that it would not
be given to her if she were to go and ask for it. Another tailoress
has long been making, entirely by herself, the coats that are sup-
posed to be the work of her father. The old man shows himself
at the shop occasionally, but is too blind to do any sewing. Many
similar instances could easily be quoted if they were necessary.
The recognised wages of a tailoress are from 18s. to 30s. a week.
At present women rarely take the responsibility for the work, and
are, therefore, usually assistants working under the direction of
the tailor who employs them. The apparently high wage is the
price for the skill required, and for the very seasonable character
of the work. The seasons which prevail in the dressmaking trade
control also the tailoring, and the men usually discharge all their
women assistants as soon as they see the likelihood of not having
more work than they can do themselves.
The women waistcoatmakers form a special class to themselves.
They mostly live in the West End and take their work home to do,
and they are paid by the same "log" or piecework list as are the men
waistcoatmakers. 1 This " log " was drawn up and agreed to by a
1 The " log" is properly a piecework list with a time basis. It consists
of a detailed statement of the time that every article made should take to
do. For instance, 8^ hours is the ' ' starting " time for a waistcoat made in
the plainest way. Then all the extras are detailed and so much time
allowed for each. Thus in charging for a waistcoat the workman puts
down say (1) starting time, 8 hours ; (2) basting to try on, 1 hr. ; (3) extra
pocket, 1 hr. ; (4) watch-chain hole, \ hr. ; (5) bound or stitched edges, 1
hr. ; etc. : making a total of llf hrs. Then he charges his time wages for
the total number of hours worked.
The time allowed for every article is the same throughout all the West
End shops. But difference in quality is allowed for by a different rate of
wages per hour according as the shop is classed first, second, or third-class.
The rate per hour is 7d. in first-class shops, 6^d. in second-class, and 6d. in
third-class. Thus a waistcoat as above taking llf hrs. to make would be
charged 6s. lOd. for making in a first-class shop ; 6s. 4d. in a second-class;
and 5s. lO^d. in a third-class shop.
24 Workers on their Industries.
joint committee of masters and men during the strike in 1891.
The same " log " prevails throughout the whole of the West End,
and men and women are both paid alike by it for waistcoatmaking.
Any attempt by shops which have adopted this "log" to break
away from it again is vigorously resisted by the Amalgamated
Society of Tailors, which has succeeded in every instance in main-
taining its prices since the strike. Before 1891 each shop had its
own separate " log." A work-book I have by me shows the dif-
ference in prices at one shop before and after the dispute. During
the month of February 1891, 18 waistcoats were made for 4 19s.
8d. In November the same year the price paid for 18 similar
waistcoats was 6 4s. 8d.
Outworkers all find it necessary to employ someone to wait on
their employers. They usually keep a young girl for this purpose.
A foreman or cutter cuts out the work in the shops, and the shop-
girl is sent to take it away to the outworker, together with a ticket
of instructions. She has to take it back to the shop at the
appointed hour, basted and ready for the customer to try on.
When that is done she must fetch it away again to be finished, or
for any necessary alterations. Sometimes the customer fails to
keep his appointment, and the work then remains in the shop un-
finished until he has been, perhaps a month or more later. The
girls have to go to and from the shop and the workroom two or three
times a day always, and more often if necessary. Thus, in reckoning
up the wage-book of an outworker, the wages of a shop-girl must
nearly always be deducted. I find that taking the average of a
year a waistcoatmaker's book for a first-class shop shows the aver-
age weekly earnings to have been 1 6s. From this about 6s. a
week must be deducted for a shop-girl, leaving the net earnings
about <! per week, the worker finding her own workroom, etc.
The book from which I have taken this gives three years' work.
The average is the same each year within a few pence, although
the weeks vary very much according to the season,, five or six
weeks in each year being quite blank, and the highest earned in
any one week being 2 13s.
It cannot be doubted that the lack of proper workshop accomnio-
Dressmakers and Tailor esses. 25
datiuu is the great evil of the tailoring trade. In large workshops
where the commoner work is made, or in the West End where the
ladies' work is made and women are employed, the accommodation
is generally good, though some rooms that I have worked in could
be much improved by the addition of some means of warming
them during the winter months. The blood gets almost congealed
for want of exercise, and we have often begged a hot iron from
the presser, wrapped it up in woollen rags, and put it under the
work-table, so that a number of us could stretch our feet near.
The employers, as an excuse for the absence of proper heating ac-
commodation, say that it does not pay to warm a large room for
the sake of the few that may be at work during the slack time.
The condition of the home workshops varies as much as the
condition of the homes. In some cases care is taken that the
floor is bare and clean and the rooms well ventilated. Others are
in a state of dirt and closeness that can hardly be imagined. One
tailoress I know, has been under hospital treatment for three
months for blood poisoning and low fever, brought on by working
in one of these places. There were six people, including two
children, living in two rooms, one of which was the workroom.
Two others besides this girl came to work daily. The smells
were so bad that she took chloride of lime with her each day.
Having been out of work for some time she tried to stay until she
saw something better. A. prick in her forefinger ended in the re-
sult I have stated, and her finger is now drawn up much shorter
than the others and is quite useless for work.
Unfortunately, the local authorities, under whose jurisdiction
the sanitary condition of workshops has been placed, are seldom
diligent in putting their powers into operation. Most of them
wait for a complaint to be made before they will take any action.
It is, however, a risky thing for workers to complain, for it fre-
quently involves the loss of their employment. Recently I quite
unintentionally brought trouble on a work girl by writing to a local
authority, about some sanitary defect, on note paper with the
official heading of the Trade Union. I asked that it should not
be divulged that any complaint had been made, and took the
26 Workers on their Industries.
responsibility on myself, not mentioning how I bad obtained the
information. About a week afterwards a message was sent up
into the workroom asking who belonged to the Trade Union. In-
quiries went on until the girl confessed, and, but for the fact that
she did special work and could not have been easily replaced, she
would have been dismissed.
I do not mean to assert that these cases of filthy workrooms are
common; but there are too many in some degree like them.
What is required is perfectly healthy sanitary workshops, and
these are as rare as the opposite extreme. The present system of
inspection will require great extension and improvement before we
get that result. A large amount of nonsense is talked about
invading the sanctity of the home. But workshops are not homes,
and any place open to the employment of strangers, and in which
work to be distributed among the public is carried on, should be
open to public inspection. Not only for the protection of the worker
is this necessary, but for the safety of the community as well.
Frankly, I do not believe in the domestic workshop system at all.
I am quite aware of all the cases in which we are assured it would
be a hardship to abolish it. It is said that the poor dressmaker,
with her one apprentice to run errands for no wages at all, should
not be asked to leave her home to go to work. To this I answer,
that if she has to depend entirely on herself, her home is neglected
far more than if she had to go out to work. Her children run
about the streets until it is time for them to go to bed, so as not
to be in the way. Measles and other infectious ailments, easily
contracted under such circumstances, are of necessity concealed.
Work under these conditions is taken at any price, and often more
cheaply than it would be done in a workshop. The difference is
made up by working from early in the morning until far into the
night. Hundreds of little apprentices, who have at least some
right to consideration, since the Factory Acts include them in their
provisions, are constantly being pressed to stay and help to finish
work. These places are not on any employer's list of outworkers,
and are practically unknown to the factory inspectors ; and even
if the officials did know where to find all of them, a whole regi-
Dressmakers and Tailor esses. 27
ment of inspectors would be required to secure obedience to the
law.
Women who work at home as an additional source of income
are making it possible for their husbands to accept a lower wage
than is necessary to support a family upon, and, in addition, com-
pelling them to seek elsewhere for the comfort and rest they
should find at home. I do not know the husband who likes to
come home and find work about. Women who are too proud to
go out to work should be compelled to live and die upon what their
pride could obtain. Gentlewomen, who eke out small private in-
comes by taking fine needlework at starvation prices, deserve the
severest censure, because they compel other women without the
small incomes to work and to starve at the same prices. Working
in a workshop together they could combine. A living wage could
then be made on the basis of pay, and the small income would
form an additional comfort.
Those who work in the cheap clothing factories suffer very
keenly from the competition of the home workers, whom it is
quite impossible to organise for a decent minimum wage. When
they have reached so low a level that the smallest comforts,
sometimes even the barest necessities, are beyond their reach,
wages of any amount, high or low, must ever be their first con-
sideration. Some will say that they prefer to see girls working
long irregular hours amongst families, rather than that they
should be exposed to the temptations I have described as occur-
ring in dressmakers' shops. But to these I would reply that the
temptation is incidental to the class of work, and is increased,
rather than diminished, in the smaller workshops, because the
employment is more personal and not so mechanical. I am
confident that if it were possible to compare the morality of
women in workshops with that of women working in homes, those
in the workshops would not suffer by the comparison.
The question of what can be done to improve the condition of
women workers is a very complex one, and even healthier and
improved workshops would not entirely answer it. There are so
large a number of girls and women who are only partially
28 Workers on their Industries.
dependent oil themselves, and who do not expect to make their
earnings the sole means of their support. Thoughtlessly they
accept just what is offered to them, to the serious injury of the
remainder. Education in simple economics is the best remedy
for this, though the process is a very slow one, and in the mean-
time, men are very jealous of allowing women any new openings
in other industries. Meanwhile the few in which they have
already entered become more and more crowded every day.
From the very nature of the difficulties presented voluntary effort
on the part of the women is only practical in a very limited degree.
The most that can be done is to form Trade Unions in the skilled
trades where the workers are not easily replaced. This is being
tried, and men, finding that it is impossible to stop the current
which has once set in, and that the better way is to direct it in
the right channel, are beginning to assist instead of to obstruct
the organisation of women.
Voluntary effort among the employers is quite impracticable.
Competition is the law by which they are governed. The com-
petition of each bidder in the market to exchange his goods for
something better than he gives, compels him to bury his human
sympathy towards his employees. He finds that it pays to put a
foreman or manager in charge of his business, who employs only
the best workers at the lowest possible wage they will accept. The
manager is frequently a kind-hearted man in private life, strictly
honourable and trustworthy, and having these qualifications he
will do his duty conscientiously. His heart will often ache when
he has to turn away people who apply for work because they are
too old, too weak, or too slow. It is quantity that is required, and
he is bound to send the work elsewhere if he cannot get it done
profitably. It grieves him that he has to treat employees as part
of the machinery. If one of them falls ill, he would like to pay
her wages till she is better, or to send her away for a few days
change. But managers never have the power to do these things,
and the most he can do is to perform his hard duty, softened with
pleasant words. Unfortunately, however, he is often the reverse
of pleasant, the very nature of the work producing a forbidding
Dressmakers and Tailoresses. 29
aspect. In self-defence he bristles with sharp words and rough
manners, so that appeals for sympathy and humanity, to which he
knows he cannot respond, may be prevented. Small employers, if
they wish to succeed, have to harden themselves to be their own
managers. They say they are sorry they cannot pay more than
other people, for their expenses are heavier in proportion than
those of big firms. A compromise is frequently made with the
workers to work for less pay and help to make the business
grow, with a promise of more constant work when that time
comes.
The large employers retire to their big houses and sigh over the
former times when it was possible to feel friendly with one's em-
ployees. They cannot think what has changed working people
now. Instead of being happy when they have got work to do,
there always seems to be somebody in trouble or some complaint
to hear. It is far better to leave all the worry to a manager, and
let him do the best he can. Workers never seem to take any in-
terest in their work now, and one cannot take any interest in them.
That this is the case will be readily admitted, for the employers
and workers who have been for any length of time in one employ-
ment will remember how different everything was when the busi-
ness first started. The workers always believe that if they could only
get hold of the " guv'nor," he would not be so hard as the foreman
is to cut them down. Every new foreman comes with some new
method by which expenses in wages may be reduced, because this
is the only way to economise when every other expense is scien-
tifically minimised.
Combination among the workers being therefore unlikely to
succeed under present conditions, and combination among the em-
ployers dismissed as impracticable, the only alternative is a wider
and more effective control of the workshops by legislation. Our pre-
sent factory and workshop Acts are very good so far as they go, but
they require many amendments before they will afford any efficient
protection to the home and outworkers. One amendment making
better provision for sanitation, and for the inspection of all domestic
workshops, is immediately practicable and urgently required.
30 Workers on their Industries.
Further, the home workshops should either be compelled to be
licensed by some proper authority, and employment in any other
than duly licensed premises made illegal, or the responsibility for
the proper sanitary and other conditions should be thrown jointly
upon the landlord of the premises, and the giver out of the work
done in them. Another alternative is that the present Acts should
be applied to all home workshops. No doubt any of these plans
would necessitate a considerable increase in our staff of inspectors.
But it is useless having good laws, or attempting to perfect them,
unless we are prepared to put them in force. There are thousands
of small workshops in London alone, where isolated groups of two
or three workers are employed, which are quite unknown to the
limited staff of factory inspectors now at work. Yet it is urgently
necessary, in the interests of the public, no less than of the workers
themselves, that these places should be effectively dealt with in
some way as soon as possible.
I shall not attempt to deny that any such further restrictions
upon the conditions under which home work may be performed
would tend to decrease the amount of work given out, and so force
the workers more into large factories or workshops. Nor do I con-
sider that such a course would be fraught with other than good
effects to the workers themselves. If so drastic a change could be
accomplished, we should quickly see the end of the " sweating,"
which is so common a feature in these trades. The health of the
workers would be improved ; their standard of comfort, and general
morals would equally tend to rise ; and as a result of their aggre-
gation in large bodies with shorter and regular hours of labour,
Trade Unions would become possible among them. Moreover, if
work could be forced into authorised workshops, it would in some
measure limit the employment of married women. I am con-
vinced that the inconvenience to those of them who are compelled
to work, would be more than compensated for by the increase of
wages that would follow when the competition of the home worker
was withdrawn. And it would be one way of making necessity
draw the line, whether a married woman shall or shall not compete
in the labour market.
Dressmakers and Tailoresses. 31
For the rest, education must do its work, and education for the
workshop should be included in the school work of girls as well as
of boys, in addition to their education as housekeepers. If the
time is too limited, it only means that another year or so would
be well spent in school. Laws to protect them during their earlier
working years are practically useless, unless they are made
acquainted with them before they enter upon their working life.
Another thing that might be done is to impress on girls the necessity
of becoming skilled in some industry or profession in the same way
that boys are expected to do. This would do away with the argu-
ment, that women compete unfairly with men by being only half-
trained. The knowledge so gained will not be wasted, if they
should choose afterwards to be wives, instead of to spend their
lives in the industry or profession so learned. They will understand
better the difficulties their husbands and children will meet with,
and instead of being the ignorant servants of the household,
they will be qualified to fulfil the wider and happier position of
helpmate and guide.
WORKERS IN PRECIOUS METALS.
By W. Augustus Steward, L.T.C., Secretary of the London Silver
Trades Council.
GOLD, the brightest and purest of all metals, is, like iron, found in
every quarter of the globe. It exists in small quantities in
Scotland and Wales and among the tin mines of Devon and
Cornwall, while it was discovered in Ireland at a very early date,
being the first metal with which the inhabitants of that country
were acquainted. It is very ductile and easily preserved, and is
not injuriously affected by chemicals or by frequent melting or
casting. Wherever found it is always of an equal substance, and
whether it is discovered alloyed with iron, copper, or other metals,
silver is always to be found with it, in varying proportions.
When found with silver alone it is called "native," and in this
form is its principal commercial importance.
Silver is sometimes found in a state of purity, although it is
more frequently associated with other less precious metals. In
some cases where it is found with gold, it preponderates so greatly
as to exhibit but slight traces of the more precious metal. There
are few metals that can be found in such variety of natural
combinations or over so wide a geological area as silver. Slight
traces of it are even said to exist in some organic bodies and in the
waters of the ocean.
We are unable now to trace when gold or silver were first
worked by the smith, or ornamented by the chaser, engraver or
enameller, although it is certain that from a remote period in the
world's history these precious metals have been used as articles
of personal, architectural, and household utility and decoration.
32
Workers in Precious Metals. 33
According to Sir John Lubbock 1 , no trace can be found of the
knowledge of any metal in the stone age except that of gold,
which seems to have been occasionally used for ornaments. In
the bronze age gold must have been used, for, although the
ornaments were generally made of bronze, articles of personal
decoration have been discovered in which small quantities of gold
were inserted, while, upon closer examination, it appeared that
other articles, for use and ornament, had been engraved.
But if we desire to trace the history of the precious metals in
historic times, we shall naturally turn first to the records of that
strange and weird land which we call Egypt. There can be little
doubt that the Egyptians employed gold in the decoration of the
palaces of the rulers of the earlier dynasties. One tablet survives
which mentions works of gold and silver, and the " House of Gold";
and the monolithic columns, which we call obelisks, were orna-
mented on the base with thin plates of gold. The cartouche of
Rameses III. has been discovered by Captain Burton in some of
the disused mine-workings, as well as one of a much earlier period
in the Sinaitic peninsula. And it is generally agreed that the
gold mines of Midia were worked by the Egyptians.
Many examples of the work of the Egyptian goldsmiths are to be
seen in various museums, and among the most interesting of
these valuable relics is the set of gold ornaments, some of which
are engraved and jewelled, found in the case containing the
mummy of Queen Ah-Hotep, who died over three thousand years
ago. Sir A. H. Layard 2 has warned us that much of what was
called gold by the Assyrians and sacred writers, was, in reality,
nothing more than copper alloyed with other metals. Yet,
notwithstanding this, the Assyrian Empire was remarkable for its
use of precious metals in the decoration of its buildings and
temples. We are told that in the temple of Jupiter Belus in
1 See " Pre-historic Times," by Sir J. Lubbock. London : Williams and
Norgate, 1878 ; 18s.
2 See " Nineveh and its Remains," and "Fresh Discoveries at Nineveh
and Babylon," by A. H. Layard. London : Murray, 1848-9, 1853. [Both
o.p., but copies may be seen in the Library at South Kensington Museum.]
G
34 Workers on their Industries.
Babylon, there was seated a golden image of immense proportions, *
the throne and base being of gold, while a large table'' and
pedestal in the porch were made of the same material.
Contemporary with the Assyrian Empire was the Kingdom of
Israel. We learn that when Abraham went up out of Egypt, he
was rich in gold and silver, as well as in cattle. The gold was not
only in ingots and dust, but also worked into ear-rings and merchan-
dise. And among many other instances of the use of precious
metals to be found in the Old Testament, we may refer to the
glowing account of the Tabernacle and its furniture, to be found in
the First Book of Kings.
But far more important that any nation which has yet been
mentioned are the Greeks and Etruscans. Of their most beautiful,
delicate, and intricate work we can speak with greater certainty,
having much more to rely upon both in objects, and the descrip-
tions of ancient and classical writers. When the Greeks first began
to employ the precious metals cannot now be definitely fixed, but
the works of Homer contain frequent references to their use both
for personal and architectural adornment. Thus Achilles is credited
with the possession of a beautiful golden shield. Golden armour
is exchanged between Glaucus and Diomede. While the delightful
and entrancing account of the Palace of Alcinous describes how
" Rich plates of gold the folding doors encase,
The pillars silver on a brazen base,
Silver the lintels deep projecting o'er,
And gold the ringlets which command the door.
Two rows of stately dogs on either hand
In sculptured gold and laboured silver stand."
Nor can this wonderful picture be attributed entirely to the vivid
imagination of the poet. The discoveries of Dr. Schlieman,- at
1 It is extremely likely that this image was of wood covered with em-
bossed or engraved sheets of gold, as were those produced by the Egyptians
and, at a later period, by the Greeks. Herodotus mentions this temple,
but is careful to state that he knows only upon hearsay from the Chaldeans
that it was of gold.
2 See " Mycense and Tiryns : narrative of Researches and Discoveries,"
by Dr. H. Schlieman. London : John Murray, 1878 ; 50s.
Workers in Precious Metals. 35
Mycenae and other places, of gold breastplates, helmets, belt buttons,
etc., tend to show that it was based upon actual decoration and
articles of use existing at that time. It may be mentioned, too,
that the size, weight, and number of the articles found, prove,
according to some archseolgists, that the goldsmiths in those days
kept fairly large stocks of wrought gold and silver.
Passing rapidly over the history of Greek art until the time
when the beautiful temple of Pallas Athene crowned the Acropolis
at Athens, we find that beyond its faultless symmetry and match-
less proportions, there was opportunity not only for colour, but for
metallic decoration. On the parthenon can still be seen the holes
in which the various metallic ornaments were fixed. 1 As we look
on the ruined remains we can endeavour to realise the bright new
pillars, the glistening shields, and the chryselephantine statue of
Athene, the latter the work of Phidias, with its "soft creamy
beauty of ivory flesh," and "golden raiment and crested helm."
These have long since disappeared, scattered by the sacrilege of
the tyrant Lachares, who, we are informed by Pausanius, took
them with him when he was driven from Athens.
The conquerors of the Greeks regarded art as a respectable
exotic, but there is a mass of evidence showing the many uses for
which precious metals were still employed by them. Both the
home and public palaces were decorated with them ; they were
used for architectural decorations and for personal adornment.
The most beautiful specimens in the treasure of Hildesheim show
their use for domestic purposes. In architectural ornament their
use is proved by the evidence of Pliny and Livy as to the golden
house of Nero, and the gilded statues and trophies which graced
the forum of Trajan, and by that of Ovid, who, in the Fasti,
speaks of the " flames kindled on the altars irradiating the gold
1 These were fixed in such a manner as to render removal easy. This
we learn from a story which shows also that a subject of complaint in
later years, the alleged appropriation of the precious metals by the crafts-
men, was not unknown in those days. Phidias was accused of having
appropriated some twenty-four talents of the gold, and he cleared himself
and Pericles of the charge by taking the ornaments down and weighing
them.
36 Workers on their Industries.
of the temples." Silver was used in Rome to decorate all kinds
of furniture, bronze articles, such as beds and chairs, being damas-
keened with gold and silver. And not only were the chariots and
horse harness of the wealthy silver-plated, but we are told that
Nero's wife had her horses' hoofs shod with gold, and that Cali-
gula's wife adorned herself with over 30,000 worth of jewelry.
Gold and silver statues, too, were made and carried in triumph
before the emperors.
This period of showy opulence and enervating luxury came,
however, to an end at the close of the third century, and, in
common with the other arts, that of the gold and silversmith
rapidly declined. With the death of Alexander we can trace the
gradual and general decay of the fine arts, which had been so suc-
cessfully developed by the Greeks and fostered by the Romans.
Final death did not, however, occur until some straggling
branches had been planted at Constantinople, where their new
environment modified and altered them.
The productions of the Eastern Empire cannot be compared
with those of Greece and Rome. Byzantine art lacks the ener-
getic and yet elegant beauty which so much entrance us in the
work of the Greeks. The absence of artistic efficiency and of
national enthusiasm cannot be compensated for by ostentation.
The Byzantine artists thought this was possible, but although
they used metals, gems and enamels profusely, in addition to
coloured glass and pastes, their efforts were unsuccessful. In
comparison with the charming delicacy of the Greek, the Byzan-
tine produced heavy and almost clumsy complications. During
the lengthened period between the ascendancy of Byzantine, and
the revival of art in the eleventh century, the work of the gold-
smith and jeweller was, with few exceptions, of an enfeebled
character. One, however, of the most important of these few
exceptions was the work produced by the Saxons during the fifth
century. Perhaps, therefore, it will be convenient here to turn
to the history of the working of precious metals in our own land,
and endeavour to trace the story of our craftsmen's lives and
work.
Workers in Precious Metals. 37
The remains which have been found of the Romano-British
workmanship of the fifth century are of a very degenerate order,
being nothing more than debased imitations of the productions of
Rome and Constantinople. Owing, probably, to the privations
and confusion of the Britons resulting from their rout by the
Saxons, native art, including that of the workers in precious
metals, decayed and perished. The Saxons, however, appear to
have been at this time very skilful in the manipulation of the
precious metals, and- Mr. Roach Smith informs us that " Saxon
jewelry from the middle of the fifth century shows in artistic
merit, and in style and design, a closer relationship to classical
or Roman art than that from any other part of the kingdom." 1
Before the dissolution of the Heptarchy by Egbert, the gold-
smith's art in Britain was in a very flourishing condition.
Athstan, Bishop of Selborne, who lived about 500, had an
enamelled gold ring. King Oswald, in 691, is said to have endowed
the churches with every variety of goldsmith's work. Before 700,
Wilfred, a Northumbrian bishop, invited French workmen to
England, and was possessed of many jewels and much plate.
Later, William of Malmsbury describes a shrine given by Ethel-
wolf, the son and successor of Egbert, to the Abbey of Malms-
bury. The gold ring of Ethelwolf in the British Museum, bearing
his name in plain Roman, shows that Champleve enamelling was
practised during the eighth century. In the ninth century we
find that filagree or Cloissone enamelling was practised, by the
fine example bearing the statement that " Alfred ordered rue to
be wrought," which may be seen in the Ashmolean Museum at
Oxford. It is of gold, richly worked with chasing and engraving,
the face being formed of crystal, four-tenths of an inch in thick-
ness.
If we now turn to the work produced in Ireland during the
ninth and tenth centuries we shall find that the Irish craftsman
entirely eclipses the continental worker in precious metals.
Ireland at this time was producing some most beautiful and deli-
1 See "Metal Work and its Artistic Design," by Sir M. D. Wyatt.
London, 1852.
38 Workers on their Industries.
cate specimens of the goldsmith's craft. It has already been
mentioned that evidence shows that gold was the first metal with
which the inhabitants of Ireland were acquainted. They made
good use of it, for numerous examples bear witness to the excel-
lence of their productions. Objects for personal adornment such
as brooches, armlets and gorgets, and articles for the use of the
church such as chalices, book covers and croziers, all prove that
the Irish craftsman was unrivalled in his work. A large number
of the objects discovered are decorated with twisted wire-work,
some forty varieties in design being noted. Unfortunately com-
mercial iconoclasts have been at work, and the great bulk of these
interesting objects have been consigned to the melting-pot during
the last fifty or sixty years.
Turning back again to England, we have to pass over the suc-
cessors of Alfred Edward and Athelstan history having little to
tell us in regard to the position of the arts during these years, or
their attitude towards them, and come to the history of St.
Dunstan and his French contemporary St. Eloi. Both were re-
puted to be goldsmiths and metal workers, in addition to holding
prominent positions as ecclesiastics. St. Dunstan died in 988,
and although it is certain that he was a generous patron of the
metal crafts, it is doubtful if he ever actually worked in them.
At any rate no well authenticated specimens of his handicraft
exist. There are, however, several pieces in different institutions,
principally in France, credibly attributed to St. Eloi, We learn
little from history of the condition of the craft during the Danish
dominion, although a silver cup was found near Lancaster in 1815
which is supposed to belong to that period. It is finely engraved
with ornaments and figures of a very spirited character.
The absence from England at the Norman Court of Edward
the Confessor had the effect of modifying, by Norman influence,
the character of the Saxon work. We are not in a position to say
much as to this period or that of Stephen, Richard L, or of John,
although it is well known that John was passionately fond of
jewelry. Up to this time the workers in precious metals were en-
gaged almost exclusively in the production of articles for the use
Workers in Precious Metals. 39
of the church, and it will be interesting to note that the earlier
kind of chalice, a sixth century specimen of which in gold, decor-
ated with enamel, is to be seen in the Public Library in Paris, was
a large and capacious cup, corresponding to the two-handled vases
depicted upon the walls of the catacombs of the early churches.
In the thirteenth century a change occurred, as is shown by a
beautiful example of this date to be seen in the British Museum,
the spreading foot with small bowl and a substantial boss upon
the stem coming into fashion. Patens were originally very large,
and used as basins for the reception of offerings. We read of one
weighing 30 Ibs. But by the twelfth century they became flat
plates, and by the thirteenth decoration is discontinued except upon
the outside. There are not any known specimens in existence of
this date, the earliest to be seen in South Kensington Museum
being of the fourteenth century.
In the thirteenth century, Henry III., the king who stands out
from among the rulers of England as the lover and patron of art,
was carrying out the great object of his life the building and
adorning of Westminster Abbey. On the shrine of Edward the
Confessor he spared neither riches or time. Thus we find that in
1241 the king gave directions for] a sufficient sum of money to be
used for the support of the goldsmiths employed in the decoration
of the Abbey. 1 But the golden shrine, adorned with jewels vary-
ing in value from fifty to three hundred sovereigns, has been de-
nuded of its treasures ; the altar front looking like a dead old oak
1 Mention is made in connection with the building of the Abbey of one
" Otho " or " Odo," '*' the goldsmith." It was he who received the instruc-
tions to pay the goldsmiths working there. But, from the data at hand, it
appears probable that he was a banker, interested financially in the under-
taking, and not a smith, as we understand the word. However, we find
mention of two or three who were without doubt smiths. William of
Gloucester, who produced among other objects .a silver statue of Princess
Catherine, is mentioned. One Torrell, also, is credited with the monument
to Henry III. and his wife Eleanor, still in the Abbey. Other men there
were, too, whose genius and ability combined to make the Abbey beautiful,
but those we have mentioned appear to have been the most prominent of the
craftsmen employed.
40 Workers on their Industries.
now, in comparison with the descriptions of its building and
adornment. There are still a few of these old altars and altar
fronts of gold in existence upon the Continent, which show that
the metal was used in large masses as well as in a painstaking
manner at this period.
It was about this time that the formation of the Gilds was be-
gun on the Continent. In our own country this movement had
occurred somewhat earlier, the English Gilds ranking among the
oldest of such institutions. Already in the twelfth century a
powerful Gild of goldsmiths existed in London, and in 1180 it was,
with other such Gilds, fined for having been established without
the king's license. The organisation was not, however, affected
thereby, and in the middle of the thirteenth century the gold-
smiths formed a large and powerful body. In 1300, power was
conferred on them to assay articles of plate and jewelry, and mark
them with the now well-known sign of the Leopard's Head, still
maintained as the London Hall-mark. They were also to super-
vise the trade, and to this end were invested with power to visit
the different shops of the workers in precious metals, as well as
country fairs, and seize any gold or silver articles of an inferior
quality which they chanced upon in their perambulations.
Offenders were to receive dire punishment. Nailing by the ear to
the pillory, the loss of the same member, and as an extreme,
death, being prescribed for them. The Gild or company did not,
however, receive its charter until 1327, in the reign of Edward
the Third.
In the thirteenth century, the craft found a new form of em-
ployment, as the different kings, princes, and nobles vied with one
another in the beauty and value of their domestic appliances and
personal adornments. From the evidence adduced, it would
appear that the craft in England reached the height of perfection
during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. During the
fifteenth century, the excellence of all art is on the decline. It is
stated that Henry VI. had some fine jewels, but nothing remains
to enable a judgment to be expressed. Handed down from the
reign of Henry VIII., we have the designs of Holbein to charm us,
Workers in Precious Metals. 41
the beautiful one of a cup for Jane Seymour, to be seen in the
print room of the British Museum, being almost matchless in its
delicacy and artistic excellence, while his jewelry designs are of
everlasting use and interest. But during the reigns of Edward
VL, Mary, and Elizabeth, little or no progress was made ; and
during the time of Charles I. and the Commonwealth, the English
school of plate working was maintained by a Dutchman commonly
known as Viani.
The Restoration brought with it weak copies of Louis XIV.,
and though during the reign of Queen Anne attempts were made
to raise the silversmiths' branch, from that time to the present
day the history of the craft in England is not one of which we can
be proud. We may pride ourselves upoiv the work of Paul
Lemiere the designer and smith who flourished in the first half of
the eighteenth century ; or of Hogarth the heraldic engraver and
realistic painter ; or of Flaxman and Stothard as designers ; and
later of Morel Laudeuil the designer and repousse worker. But with
these few exceptions the fact has to be deplored that the work pro-
duced in precious metals has not been, either from the artistic or
technical standpoint, of a very high order. 1 Nor can it be favour-
ably compared with the work produced a few centuries ago, or even
with some of the much earlier specimens, or with the productions
of some of our continental rivals. 2
In the goldsmiths' branch the deterioration has not been so
apparent or taken place with such rapidity as in the branch de-
voted to the working of silver, which, indeed, has been described as
the most degraded of all English crafts. But the chief factors in
1 Some exceptions to this general rule may no doubt be made. The Messrs.
Elkington for whom Laudeuil worked, and Messrs. Garrards, Watherston,
and Hunt and Roskell are notable for the general excellence of their work
in the earlier half of this century. They are, however, too few to redeem
the general character of the work produced.
2 For a more complete history of the art of metal working, the student is
advised to consult Sir M, D. Wyatt's "Metal Work and its Artistic
Design," and his " Observations on Metallic Work." London, 1852, 1857.
[Both o.p., but copies may be seen in the Library of South Kensington
Museum.]
4 2 Workers on their Industries.
the degradation of the silversmiths' branch the keen competition,,
the organisation of the trade on a large scale as a factory industry,
the sub-division of labour and consequent loss of individuality, to-
gether with a grave lack of efficient technical training in the
workmen, are now operating with great force in the goldsmiths'
branch as well as in those of the general chasers, engravers and
enamellers, and bringing them all to a much lower level of quality
in work. Nevertheless, there are among our goldsmiths, silver-
smiths and jewellers some of the finest craftsmen in the world,
whose work would compare very favourably with any which could
be brought against it. But just as bad money drives good money
out of circulation, so bad work drives good out of the market, and
consequently there is little demand for their services. The time
was when the worker in precious metals designed and carried out
from start to finish works of art, loving art for its own sake, for
he was inspired with a spirit of national or religious pride. The
individual craftsman was then recognised and known to the public,
and thus received one of the best incentives to the production of
good work.' To-day, we have the one great craft divided into
many, and these again into numerous sections, amongst them being
designers, modellers, gold and silversmiths, chasers, engravers,
enamellers, carvers, piercers, gilders, burnishers, polishers, colourers,
mounters, setters, lappers, spinners, stampers, assayers and re-
finers. The silversmiths' branch is divided into three main bodies
of men, " large workers," " small workers," and " spoon and fork
makers." The polishers are again divided into plate polishers and
spoon and fork finishers. And so we might go on tracing the
division of industry which has completely revolutionised the silver-
smiths' branch, and very largely that of the goldsmith and
jeweller.
In the goldsmiths' branch, indeed, the position is rapidly be-
coming intolerable. In the large factories or workshops where
the ordinary kinds of gold work are made, the division is found to
be even more complete than in silversmithing. In the production
of a brooch or bracelet several boys are employed under the
charge of one man. Each boy is taught to make or work one
Workers in Precious Metals. 43
particular part of an article. When all the portions are ready the
man puts it together and gives the finishing touches before it goes
into the hands of the polisher, colourer, lapper, or setter. The lads
so employed are cast adrift, unfit to take their chance as com-
petent workmen, and become tram-car conductors, porters, or
other unskilled labourers. It is largely the growth of this most
obnoxious form of sub-division of labour, known as the team ,
system, in the trade, which has caused the goldsmiths to form
their newly established Trade Union. They hope, if not to
abolish the system, at any rate to prevent any further extension
of it.
I have stated what I consider to be the chief factors in the
deterioration of the craft, and which have engendered the obnoxi-
ous systems of scamping and sweating. What are the results
when viewed from the artistic or ethical standpoints ? As the
economists have repeatedly acknowledged, one of the greatest
drawbacks to the system of division of labour is the lack of
interest in the general appearance of the whole article, or even in
their own particular portion of it, engendered among the different
classes of workers. The need of interest is a most important item
when we consider the position of the craft we are now reviewing.
In a trade which demands both skill and artistic ability, and
which calls for the careful consideration and work of the crafts-
man, the lack of interest resulting from the present system does
not augur well for the future of the craft. The division of
industry has tended more and more to make the workmen
machines, and has restricted their scope and confined them within
the narrow limits of the work they have been set to continually
perform. To live is to change. As Ruskin puts it, "a person
could not live without change ; not a tree or a leaf could live
without growth : that might be taken as the great rule of all
living art." Surrounded by gross conditions, the workmen are
lacking the general technical knowledge which would do much to
broaden their view of the theory and practice of the craft as well
as of life.
Unfortunately, to make things worse, the breakdown of the
44 Workers on their Industries.
apprenticeship system is also taking place. It may be that the
old forms must give place to new, but the effect upon the craft is
far from beneficial. The master has no longer the same interest
in the lad as before. The workmen in the shop or factory often
look upon him as an interloper, especially when there are a good
many lads and the master obtains the benefit. On the other
hand, when the men gain either the whole or part of the benefit,
they are satisfied to use the lads as machines to make " good
weeks " for them, careless of the fact that they are ruining the
lads' chances of becoming proficient workmen, and then to turn
them adrift when age prompts them to demand more money.
This is more prevalent in the goldsmiths' branch, and is the out-
come of anti-social conditions, and the industrial warfare which
makes us enemies even to our own class.
The Ishmaelitish policy pursued by most of the manufacturers
and retailers has also acted in a degrading manner upon the
workmen. The articles must be produced quickly and showily,
and good substantial work and careful decoration are to be
shunned. In some cases, manufacturers and one or two retailers
have fought hard for the production of good work. Unfortun-
ately, their good intentions have been frustrated, and a cheap and
nasty policy has triumphed. Nevertheless, in spite of the keen
competition among the manufacturers, and the shrewd way in
which the retail shopkeepers have pitted them one against the
other, the prices of articles sold to the public do not appear to
have diminished very rapidly or in a very marked degree. Many
will remember the tenacious arguments, urged and urged again,
that the abolition of the duty on silver plate would give the
trade an enormous impetus. We are still waiting in this long
period of depression for the impetus. Indeed, it seems to be
farther off than ever, and perhaps is being somewhat delayed by
the retailers, who have not given the public the full benefit of the
reduced price of silver. *
The future of the trade is a very wide question, and one of
1 The duty of Is. 6d. per ounce on silver and 17s. on gold plate, includ-
ing wedding rings, was abolished on April 30th, 1890.
Workers iti^Precious Metals. 45
serious importance. We must recognise that two things are
essential to its existence and development : firstly, a scientific
system of education of a theoretic and practical character for the
workmen, especially the younger ones ; and secondly, the educa-
tion of the consumer or user of the articles produced. In fact,
this, like most of the other problems agitating our minds to-day,
is a social as well as a workshop question. If we consider the
manufacturers and retailers competing for each others' work, the
tendency to concentrate the retailer's shops into a few hands, the
effects of competition among the men, the sacrifice of the best
years of many lads' lives in the team system, the evil methods of
remuneration in many branches of the trade, 1 and the unsanitary
and unhealthy condition of many of the workshops, we may well
pause to ask ourselves the probable effects of all these anti-social
conditions upon workshop morals and national ethics. Nor can
we wonder that these worst features of a new industrial system
should make such inroads" into the sphere of the beautiful, blunt-
ing the sense of taste and beauty in producer and consumer alike.
The selfishness exhibited in trade has an evil effect, not only in the
warehouse and workshop, but upon the political and social life of
the State, and it is clear, that while such conditions as now prevail
so largely in these trades continue, there must be a complete
absence of enthusiasm for, or even appreciation of, good work.
Competition having cut down the quality of the work and the
manufacturers' prices, wages have been forced to follow. The
process has been rendered easier by the want of cohesion among
the workers themselves. During the last twenty years, however,
Trade Unions 2 have sprung up in many of the sectional branches
1 It is impossible in the brief scope of ^this paper to attempt to deal
adequately with the methods of remuneration in the trades mentioned.
Almost every known variation of the two main forms of time and piece
wages exist in one or more of the numerous sections into which these trades
are sub-divided.
2 These are not the first Trade Unions in the silver trades. In 1838 the
Committee of the United Branches of the Silver Trade sent a subscription
to William Lovett's " London Trades Combination Defence Committee,"
46 Workers on their Industries.
of the industry, and efforts have been successfully made to stop
further inroads into the workers' wages, and in some cases even to
increase their earnings. But, unfortunately for this purpose, the
trade is in a very transitional state. The factory system has
made but slow progress in the gold and silver trades until almost
the last few years. Thus, on all hands we see old forms and new
ones side by side, and where, as in the designers', engravers',
chasers', carvers', and enamellers' branches, the men work in small
workshops scattered over the whole of the town, and where also
a large number are " garret masters," who are used and pitted
against the indoor workmen, the greatest possible difficulty is
found in organising them for their mutual benefit. But where the
factory has superseded the small workshop, and brought the
various workers into closer touch, giving them a first taste of col-
lective life and production, the tendency is to produce a spirit of
brotherhood born of a knowledge of individual weakness and inter-
dependence. Indeed, to factory life, with all its drawbacks and
needful reforms, which, however, are . capable of being grappled
with and solved, we owe the workers' opportunity to organise and
to make for the goal of industrial and political freedom. To it,
assisted also by well directed legislation, we must look for the
abolition of the pernicious system of sweating in every branch of
industry.
At the present time there are, besides several benefit societies
and a pension society, seven Trade Unions in the silver trade.
These are the societies of the plate workers, small silver workers,
spoon and fork makers, chasers, engravers, plate polishers, and
spoon and fork finishers, all having a bond of union by affiliation
to the Silver Trades Council, and recognising the interdependence
of the workers generally by sending a delegate from each society
to the London Trades Council. The Silver Trades Council is eight
years old, having been formed soon after the establishment of the
Plate Workers' Society in November 1885. The other societies
as did also the Committee of the Silver Spoon Makers' and Finishers' Society.
Nothing further is now known of these two organisations, which died away
and disappeared before 1872.
Workers in Precious Metals. 47
affiliated have been established for periods varying from three to
twenty years, the oldest being the Spoon and Fork Makers
Society, and the Silver Spoon and Fork Finishers' Trade Society,
both established in 1874, and the other four all springing up
during the last five years. The plate workers have at length
succeeded, after overcoming many difficulties, in thoroughly organ-
ising their trade. The boy question, to which I have referred, has
been amicably settled by them in conference with the employers
in the trade. They have gained many needful reforms, have
increased wages by as much as twopence per hour, and have been
the means of establishing a better understanding between masters
and men. The same is the case with the Spoon and Fork Makers,
who have also the strongest reserve fund of all the societies in the
trade. The Small Silver Workers form a much younger society,
which is, however, almost as strong numerically as the Large or
Silver Plate Workers, and has, notwithstanding its comparative
youth, succeeded by collective efforts in doing much to improve
the conditions of the men in this branch.
The chasers and engravers have been the last to discover the
value of unity. Their societies are both very young, and the
greatest difficulty has been encountered in organising them, owing
to the systems of home and out-working which prevail so largely f
in their branches. Notwithstanding this the societies are not to
be daunted, being both in a healthy, financial condition, and
likely to give the other societies in the industry a lesson by
amalgamating their forces. 1
The plate polishers, and spoon and fork finishers perform the ,
dirtiest operations in the trade, and those who read the accounts
of the bad conditions under which work is carried on in various
industries have not imagined that the men and boys, and, in a
few cases, the girls, who produce the bright and attractive
coloured silver goods, have to work often in small dirty shops
i This has since been accomplished, and the two societies were united on
Feb. 14, 1894. The Electro-Plate Operatives have also a London branch
of the Birmingham Society, but as they are not regarded as part of thd
silver trade I omit reference to them.
48 Workers on their Industries.
badly ventilated, with bad sanitary conditions and conveniences.
Trent-sand, lime, and rouge float in the air, causing discomfort
and injury to the workers' eyes, ears, nose, mouth and lungs.
Indeed this branch of the industry must be classed amongst the
most unhealthy in London. Its workers, however, have now
their organisations, which have already done much to assist them.
Many of their members are cognisant of the limits of Trade
Union efforts, and are consequently in favour of legislative
interference.
The goldsmiths and jewellers of London made an attempt in
1874 to form a trade society, their primary object, as set forth in
their rules, being " To unite in one great body the workmen in
the gold, silver, and kindred trades for the general good of the
association." - 1 This society was the first in the precious metals
trades to register itself under the Trade Union Act of 1871, and
it published a high-class trade journal. It was popularly known
as the " fifty hours society " owing to the fact that it made the
.shortening of the hours of labour its chief object. Unfortunately
this good resolve became a source of weakness, for a large number
of the masters offered the men a slight increase in wages in lieu
of shorter hours. The sympathies of the men were thus alienated
from the society, and what had seemed to give every promise of
success became a speedy failure. About fifteen months ago a
number of the workmen, dissatisfied with the condition of the
goldsmith and jeweller, resolved to try again to organise for their
general protection, and especially to endeavour to cope with and
settle the boy question, which is a menace to well-meaning
masters and decent workmen in these trades. Their efforts were
crowned with success. A society was formed and registered in
September, 1893, and can boast after twelve months' existence of
1 The Goldsmiths' and Jewellers' Trade Association. Its rules provided a
scheme of technical education for youths in the trade, as well as a sick
benefit and trade society for the men. It also was not the first organisa-
tion in the trade, a previous one having been in existence in 1834-40, of
which, however, little is now known. There are also in this branch of the
trade several benefit societies, and an Annuity and Asylum Institution
Workers in Precious Metals. 49
over 500 financial members out of a possible 1500. This society
admits " goldsmiths, jewellers, setters, and male polishers."
Women are not admitted into any of the societies. In most
branches of the silver trade very few women are yet employed, and
the question has therefore never arisen ; but in the case of the gold-
smiths, their rules are so framed that women polishers, of whom .
there are a large number employed, are excluded from member"
ship. It would, in my opinion, be well for all concerned if women
were treated on a fair and equal basis with men, and until they are
thus treated, should they do work which, through cheapness, is
detrimental to the interests of men, or should they be otherwise
unfriendly, the men cannot well complain.
Among the many useful things the different organisations can
do, not the least is that of assisting in every possible way to push
the question of technical education. This, indeed, is the only
means of filling the void left by the break down of the old appren-
ticeship system. The majority of the men are fully alive to the
necessity for such education. They are aware of the condition of
affairs occasioned by the decay of the apprenticeship system, and
are really anxious to see technical institutions springing up all
over the different towns in which their industry is carried on-
But they must be within easy reach. Inducements must be
offered to the young so as to interest them, 1 and, in order to find'
favour with the men, they must be supplementary to the workshop
and not a substitute for it. In short, they must not be places, as
some are, for the wholesale manufacture of incompetent "jacks-of-
all-trades," who can be used as a means of cutting down wages and
lowering both the standard of living and of work.
It is true that the Goldsmiths' Company have built and en-
dowed a large school at New Cross, but they have never had a
single class in gold or silversmith work there. Indeed, when we
are told that the Goldsmiths' Company have provided all that is
1 In this direction, the suggestion made by the writer of the first paper
in this volume, that apprentices or other youthful learners should be allowed
one or two afternoons per week in which to attend technical classes on their
trades, would, if carried out, prove of the utmost value.
D
5o Workers on their Industries.
necessary for the instruction and assistance of the young in the
craft, we are simply amazed, for it is wanting in common judg-
ment to place an institute so far away as New Cross, when the
bulk of the men and boys interested work in Clerkenwell, the City,
or West End, many of them living in the far north or south-west
of London, and very few indeed anywhere near the institute.
Even free railway fares with supper thrown in would not tempt
men or boys, working nine or ten hours daily, to spend at least
another four going to the institute and back.
Practically, therefore, the industry is without any real assist-
ance in technical instruction. On the Continent, we find a large
number of institutions accomplishing wonderful work. At Bir-
mingham many classes are being held, and every young craftsman
can go to the Municipal School and gain such extra knowledge of the
theory and working of the craft as will enable him to successfully
emulate the work of the great artists in the precious metals. The
good effect the schools have had upon the workers in Birmingham
is apparent in their productions, and it is for the Londoners to
awaken to the same spirit if they would continue to hold the
supremacy over what we contemptuously and sometimes unjustly
call " Brummagem stuff." The only genuine attempt to assist the
youth in the various branches of the craft in London is being made
at the Polytechnic in Regent Street. There the chaser and repousse
worker can obtain assistance and instruction from one of the finest
chasers in England. The goldsmith and jeweller has also an able
and painstaking teacher to take him by the hand and help him.
For some time a silversmiths' class was conducted there also, but
it has hgd to be abandoned, not through any fault of the students,
but because of the teacher's inability to continue his instruction.
Unfortunately the reward offered to teachers in almost every
branch of technical education is so small, that few good workmen
will leave the bench to engage in an occupation affording them less
remuneration than their employment in the workshop or factory.
In some instances workmen have been found willing to take a class
after their ordinary day's work is done ; but should one of these
become busy, his class stops or is put back for a time. Another
Workers in Precious Metals. 51
reason why it is difficult to obtain the services of good men is, that
those who do take classes receive no recognition from those who
are erroneously looked upon as leaders in the trade. Thus the
goldsmiths' and jewellers' class at the Polytechnic has been con-
tinued, and the students have been very successful, in spite of the
very slight recognition given by the Goldsmiths' Company. Even
this, however, in common with other classes, depends upon the
opportunities of those who give their evenings to assist in the
excellent work of technical education. Is it not possible to hope
for a good central institution, under the control of some democra-
tically constituted authority, such as the London County Council,
where first-rate instruction could be given regularly 1 This is a
question which the public must answer, and one to which in the
near future an affirmative answer must, I think, be given.
While agitating strenuously for a genuine system of technical
education, we must not forget that the Royal Academy needs
waking up to a sense of its national responsibilities. In France,
the silversmith is encouraged by the nation, and the Salon has
its section for silversmiths' work. If the decorative arts of paint-
ing and sculpture are worthy of recognition and encouragement,
surely the art of the gold and silversmith, which is one both of
utility and decoration, should have a similar measure of encour-
agement and support. To-day we have the finest chaser in Eng-
land exhibiting at the Academy in portraiture and sculpture, yet
his finely modelled repousse on silver or gold plate would meet
with very little encouragement if it was submitted for exhibition.
Many other pressing questions call for the immediate attention
of the workmen and their societies in these trades. Some of these
are such as cannot be met by other than legislative action. The
employment of boys and girls calls for a closer inspection by the
factory inspector. This is especially so in small shops, where all
kinds of metal work is finished, and boys of twelve are to be seen
sifting lime through a fine muslin sieve, their eyes, nose, mouth,
and ears, being in a most distressed condition, through the action
of the particles of lime which are constantly floating around them.
This method of fining is not necessary, for the same kind of
52 Workers on their Industries.
machinery as that used to grind mustard could be employed for
the lime. Then also, the condition of many of the workshops de-
mands a more effective sanitary inspection. This applies to the
workshops of all branches, although there are a few exceptions
where the accommodation is excellent. In the case of the polishers
and finishers, special legislation is necessary, both with regard to
the general conditions and the hours of labour. Further, the
prevalence of the bad system of working in the home or in a little
room in the house where the conditions are generally such as an
employer dare not permit in his factory, makes it very essential
that any new Factory Act should contain clauses making the giver-
out of work responsible for the sanitary and other conditions under
which it is performed.
The importation of gold and silver has been for a considerable
time agitating the different organisations in the industry. Not
that they are by any means in favour of so-called " Fair Trade "
or " Protection," but because they desire " Free Trade " in the
true sense of the phrase. Silver plate is at the present time
imported and sent to the English assay offices and marked with
the Leopard's Head of London, the Anchor of Birmingham or the
Three Wheat Sheaves of Chester. 1 The only sign by which it can
be distinguished from a piece of plate manufactured in either of
these places is a letter F which is placed in the Hall-mark. Con-
sequently, as Hall-marks all include a letter or cycle mark, the
uninitiated public, and indeed many of the men employed in the
decorative branches of the industry, are not aware that the letter
F is other than either a tradesmen's or a cycle mark. 2 Hence
Formerly there were twelve assay offices in the United Kingdom, but
those at York, Norwich, Bristol, Exeter, and Newcastle-on-Tyne have
been closed. Those remaining are, London, Birmingham, Chester,
Sheffield, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dublin. Each one has its own distinctive
Hall-mark.
2 The "date-letter" or cycle mark consists of one of the letters of the
alphabet. A different one is used each year until the whole of the letters
of the alphabet (less two or three such as J, X and Y) are exhausted. The
process is then begun again, but with the important distinction that the
letters used are different in character every time. Thus the letter A has
Workers in Precious Metals. 53
the present Merchandise Marks Act is for these trades largely a
failure. Articles are often sent from abroad in several pieces or
by other means escape the mark. Moreover, if the English public
is not cognisant of the meaning of the letter F it is hardly to be
expected that our transatlantic cousins, or our French neighbours,
should understand its importance. It is certain that they do not,
for quantities of foreign-made articles are exported from England,
after receiving our English Hall-mark, and sold as English manu-
facture. In order, therefore, that both the industry and the public
should be protected from fraud, the various societies have unani-
mously arrived at the conclusion, that all imported gold and
silver wares should be marked with a distinctive stamp, differing
from the present ones used for home wares, such mark to be
exactly similar to that used for Hall-marking imported watch
cases, which consists of the word " Foreign." J
Finally there is the question of the shortening of the hours of
labour, the eight hours' day being now the goal. The trade has
slowly followed the general movement in the country in the
matter of hours, nine per day now being the general rule. Many
are strongly in favour of an eight hours' day, and convinced that it is
sound and economical both in theory and practice. There are
those, no doubt, in the industry who are at present opposed to a
legal limitation. But in my opinion the reduction of the hours of
labour to eight per day by legal enactment, acting directly or in-
directly, is the only means of making it an effective and genuine
benefit to the workers. And although the industry is not so
forward in this question as many would wish, the belief in the
been the date letter of the London Hall-mark many times, but each time it
is a different character, first being in, say, Old English, then Roman, then
Italic, etc. These letters form the only means by which the date of the
assay of an article can be definitely fixed.
1 Yet another complaint is that some large firms of good repute do not
scruple to bring up from Birmingham large quantities of common team-
made goods and have them marked at the London Hall, afterwards
selling them as London made. Some firms practise this to such an extent
that they have actually no workshop in London, but merely an office to
which these goods are consigned for marking.
54 Workers on their Industries.
need for legislation is steadily gaming ground, and it will soon
stand among the items which the workers in the gold and silver
industry will ask Parliament to assist them to realise. But
although it may be necessary to obtain legislative action for these
and other matters, it does not by any means follow that the
societies can be dispensed with. These necessary reforms can
only be obtained by the assistance of the Legislature. But it
would be impossible to approach that body except by organisation,
and the various trade societies centred in the Silver Trades
Council perform this function to great advantage.
" The task which lies before the world is the re-organisation of
industry on an ethical basis." What then shall take the place of
the present condition of things ? Co-operation in every field of
industry. In place of our present bitterly competitive life, we
shall live a more social one, recognising more fully our inter-
dependence and approximating towards Collectivism. In the
meantime, what can be done for these trades'? The price of silver
has been steadily decreasing until, roughly speaking, it is now half
what it was forty years ago. Aluminium has been successfully
introduced and rapidly fallen in price, and at the same time has
received a great advance in public estimation. The reduced prices
should commend the goods made in these metals to a larger circle
of buyers, while advances in the systems of elementary and
technical education, coupled with a cultivation of artistic taste,
should induce buyers to demand artistic productions even though
they were smaller in size, and perhaps a little more costly.
A feature which was so prominent in the Middle Ages, and in
some few instances existent to this day, the encouragement of the
craft by public and semi : public bodies in the making of large and
small articles of plate, I hope will again be revived. Encourage-
ment, also, from the different athletic and other clubs, by the
demand for really artistic productions symbolic of their purpose,
would do much to assist and raise the industry from its present
position. Objects such as athletic and racing challenge cups, and
articles of plate for use and decoration presented to persons and
corporations, should be of such a character as to stand out as
Workers in Precious Metals. 55
monuments of artistic ability and skilful craftsmanship. Why
should not our public bodies offer challenge prizes to be competed
for by different teams, and not only for competition in physical
prowess alone, but for intellectual ability to strive for 1 ? The
prizes might be moved from town to town as they were won or
lost. Why should not the town hall have its gallery for the re-
ception and inspection of trophies won by the ability and energy
of its townsfolk 1 Should public bodies be empowered to do this,
another purpose could also be served, by instituting a competition
for the design of the cup or of its model. Encouragement of this
character would go a long way, would tend to arouse real en-
thusiasm, and to incite the craftsmen of the different towns to
emulate the works as well as the deeds of the other townsmen.
It may be urged that with the movement towards Collectivism
the craft of the gold and silversmith will tend to decay. But the
incentives to artistic action just sketched would be part of the
transition toward that period, increasing as the collective spirit
increased. There is also another way whereby the industry could,
and I am of opinion would be encouraged, and here we must re-
member what has already been pointed out in the earlier part of
this paper, the fact that the precious metals were formerly largely
used for architectural purposes. As the collective spirit grows so
will the idea of national and municipal magnificence increase.
The spirit which animated the Greek will find a home again.
And it may be that future generations, instead of ministering to
private vanity, will use their art and ability as true craftsmen,
duly regarding utility while perfecting their art, in decorating
and making beautiful the great public institutions which have
already commenced to grow up around us.
SHIP-BUILDING.
By W. G. Steadman, L.C.C., L.T.C., Secretary of the London
Bargebuilders' Trade Union.
SHIP-BUILDING in the United Kingdom is carried on principally on
the Tyne, Tees, and Wear in England, on the Clyde in Scotland,
and at Belfast in Ireland. There are, however, many other ports,
such as Liverpool, Hull, and those on the Bristol Channel, where
it is an imposing and valuable industry. The Thames cannot any
longer be considered as a great ship-building centre, although,
perhaps, in the old days of " wooden walls " it was the most im-
portant and busiest of all the rivers of the United Kingdom in
this industry. This paper, however, will be confined mainly to
the facts of the trade on the Thames, partly because the condi-
tions existing there differ but slightly from those at other ship-
building ports, 1 and partly because the writer's personal know-
ledge of the trade does not extend much beyond its character and
methods as they are found on the Thames.
My father was a working shipwright, and, as a result, at the
age of fourteen I was duly apprenticed to a shipwright and barge-
builder. Since that time I have worked for twenty-six years as a
journeyman on the river Thames, and my knowledge of the condi-
tions of the trade has, therefore, been obtained at first hand and
by actual contact with them. During that period many changes
? The chief difference between the industry as conducted on the Thames
and elsewhere is that, as in so many other industries, there is a much more
minute division and sub-division of trades in London than in the outports.
Thus in London both the barge-builders and the boat-builders are recog-
nised as separate trades, and possess their own Trade Unions, while in the
north of England the shipwright usually does their work in addition to the
building of ships.
56
Ship- Building. $?
have occurred in the status and the character of the industry,
prominent amongst them being the rapid and enormous decline
which it has suffered. Upon the reasons for this decline I hope
to be able to offer some information.
There are now three kinds of ships built : (1) wood ; (2) iron ;
and (3) composite, consisting partly of wood and partly of iron.
The following figures show the proportion which these three
classes of vessels form of the total number of ships built during
the twenty-six years in which I have been engaged in the trade.
(A) LONDON ONLY.
Year. Wood. Composite. Iron. Total. Tons.
1866 69 2 35 106 17,548
1867 34 2 23 59 5,446
1868
30
1
11
42
7,264
1869
19
1
15
35
4,174
1870
16
1
29
46
9,725
1871
4
-
14
18
6,438
1890
14
-
22
36
3,431
1891.
--
16
16
1,345
1892 - 8 8 507
(B) UNITED KINGDOM, i
Year. Total. Tons.
1866 1,323 341,189
1867 1,159 269,080
1868 1,019 316,197
1869 971 354,287
1870 974 342,706
1890 494 596,544
1891 535 639,380
1892 548 665,230
1 The details as to the number of ships of each class built do not appear
to be obtainable for the United Kingdom.
58 Workers on their Industries.
A comparison of the total number of ships built in the United
Kingdom in 1866 and in 1892, and the total tonnage in each of
those years, reveals the tremendous change which has taken
place in the average dimensions of vessels. Thus while in 1866
the number of 1,323 vessels which were built gave a total of only
341,189 tons, or an average of 258 tons each, in 1892 a total of
only 548 ships gave a total of 665,230 tons, or an average of 1,214
tons each. The methods of measurement and calculation of the
tons burthen have remained the same, and the average size of
ships built now is, therefore, about five times greater than the
average size of ships built in 1866.
A further comparison strikingly shows the great decline in the
proportion and in actual amount of the ships built on the Thames,
for, while in 1866 the tonnage of London-built vessels was 5 -14
per cent, of the whole, in 1892 the percentage had fallen to '07.
In other words, in 1892 London shipbuilding yards did not
produce ships of tons burthen equal to one-thirty-fifth part of
what they did in 1866, whilst in the same period the total
tonnage of the vessels built in the United Kingdom nearly
doubled. This decline of the shipbuilding industry in London
began first to be felt in the year 1868. In the winter of 1868-9,
the depression was very marked and serious. Around the Isle of
Dogs a perfect net-work of shipbuilding yards existed in those
days, and, as the condition of trade compelled a discharge of the
men, the distress became appalling. There was more poverty,
and misery, and suffering in the East End of London in that
winter than I have ever seen since. People died of starvation
almost daily, and the distress was so keen and so prolonged that
a relief fund was started and the Queen was appealed to for
assistance, which, however, she declined to render.
The rate of wages in 1860 for a shipwright was 6s. per day.
In 1864-5 an advance of 6d. per day was obtained, making the
rate 6s. 6d. In 1868 a further increase of 6d. per day was
demanded by the men. Many of the large shipbuilding firms
objected strongly to the men's demand for an increase, and urged
that, in face of the severe competition of the Tyne and Clyde,
Ship-Building. 59
they would be compelled to close their yards altogether and to
cease building. But the London shipwrights, who were very
powerfully organised, insisted upon the advance, and it was
eventually conceded to them. In spite of the severe depression
which has, since 1867-8, prevailed in their trade, they have main-
tained intact, since that year, their standard rate of 7s. per day.
Meanwhile, although it is true that the men on the Tyne and
Clyde were not at that time receiving so high a rate of pay as
those in London, this has ceased to be the case. The shipwrights
in Scotland and the north of England are now quite as well
organised as their southern comrades, and they have increased
their rate of wages and diminished their hours of work until the
conditions in the trade in these two respects are now practically
identical throughout all the chief ports of the United Kingdom.
Where the men are working day-work, they are all now paid at
the rate of 7s. per day of nine hours. At some of the ports, how-
ever, including London, there exists a system of piecework, but
the differences in the piece-rates of pay for the same class and
kinds of work are so small as to be of little importance. It may,
therefore, be reasonably suggested that whatever may have been
the cause originally of the extent of the industry being confined
to such narrow limits on the Thames, it cannot be urged with any
shadow of reason that it is kept away from London now by any
such slight differences, as may exist in the labour cost of produc-
tion. The fact and explanation seems to be that, from the
moment that the change from wooden to iron ships was made, the
trade in the port of London was, from natural causes, doomed to
decay. The shipbuilder in the north of England possesses an
enormous and almost insurmountable advantage over his rival in
the south, by having the raw materials for the construction of iron
vessels actually on the spot. The extent of this advantage can be
illustrated by one example. ' In some of the great yards on the
Tyne, such as that of Messrs. Palmer at Jarrow, the iron ore is
obtained from the earth at one end of the works, while at the
other end it is turned out in the shape of highly finished, finely
constructed, and completely built ships. It is this natural ad van-
60 Workers on their industries.
tage of situation and proximity, and not any minute and well-
nigh incalculable differences in the cost of labour, which has
prevented, and which probably will prevent, any large develop-
ment of the iron shipbuilding industry on the Thames. This it is
which really has occurred. It is a mistake to suppose that the
industry has left the Thames, for this, indeed, is impossible, as it
never had a firm foot-hold there. Wooden shipbuilding we did
have, but that has declined not only on the Thames but every-
where else as well. The relative commercial advantages of iron
vessels were not to be suppressed by any sentimental desire to
maintain the wooden shipbuilding industry in its earlier greatness.
In the northern ports, the building of iron ships has replaced the
lost older trade, but in London this has not occurred, for we
are not as advantageously placed for the conduct of the new
industry.
One of the things which has contributed to this result, or which
has, at least, unfairly handicapped the competition of London, has
been the excessive rates charged by the railway companies. The
companies are, no doubt, not entirely to blame for this, for, as we
know, whenever a company has commenced to acquire land upon
which to construct its line, the landowners have immediately
hastened to place exorbitant and preposterous prices upon it.
Through their powerful influence in Parliament, they have usually
succeeded in obtaining the full satisfaction of their demands, and
the expenses of constructing the railway have thus been unreason-
ably increased. This is shown most clearly by the relative cost
per mile of home railways and of those built in other countries.
Thus, while a line can be constructed in America at a cost of
13,000 per mile, in Russia .15,000, in Germany 21,000, and
in France 28,000, in England the cost averages no less a sum
than 42,000 per mile. There seems to be no real reason why
with skilled and careful management on the part of the ship-
builders on the one hand, and a considerable reduction in the
present unfairly excessive railway rates on the other, the industry
should not find a stronghold and flourish on the Thames.
During the last twenty-five years the Docks of London have
Ship-Building. 61
been vastly enlarged and improved. The Tilbury, Mil wall, and
Albert Docks have been constructed, and the East India and South
Docks have been considerably enlarged, to say nothing of many
minor and yet useful improvements. All this points to a largely
increased shipping tonnage annually entering and leaving our
port. This should, at any rate, make it the foremost of all re-
pairing ports even if the hope that it may still be a building port
again should prove to be but a delusive dream. 1
England being an island, we are of necessity dependent to a
great extent upon our navy for protection against invasion from
other nations. With this object we maintain a navy which costs
us some 14 \ millions of pounds per annum. At more or less fre-
quent intervals, the time being generally happily chosen when public
attention is not held by a murder or a strike, a scare is raised over
the alleged inferiority of our navy to that of some of our neigh-
bours. The scare-mongers, whose intellectual outlook is severely
restricted by their desire to secure an abnormal supremacy for
England as a maritime power, generally contrast our naval arma-
ments with those of France, and complain that both in size and
efficiency we are wanting very much. To a workman their
arguments appear singularly inconclusive and futile, for everyone
1 In this connection it is interesting to observe that employers are equally
agreed with workmen as to the need for, and possibility of reviving the
ship-building industry in London. In a letter to the Daily Chronicle of
June 28th, 1894, Mr. A. F. Heils, the chairman and managing director of
the " Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company," criticises severely
the policy of the Admiralty in always building its ironclads in its own over-
crowded dockyards, or giving its contracts to firms in the North of England.
He asserts that in spite of wages being somewhat higher, and the cost of
materials greater in London than in the outports, nevertheless the first
tenders sent in by his firm for the construction of the two first-class cruisers
Powerful and Terrible were only 5,000 in excess of those of the
successful competitors in the Clyde, upon a total of about 550,000. And
he further definitely offers to build a new battleship, a year quicker, 20
per cent, cheaper and 5 per cent, better than it can be built, with existing
arrangements, in the Government Dockyard at Chat am. Thus the wish
that London may yet become a building port again does not appear to be
without some hope of fulfilment in the near future.
62 Workers on their Industries.
knows that during the last four years, while France has expended
in building and equipping ships of war the sum of 10,914,000,
England has spent on the same objects no less a sum than
19,873,000. No one, much less these extreme patriots, would
suggest that France has obtained for her smaller expenditure a larger
and better production than England.
An analysis of the labour cost of building vessels of war in
England and France discloses once more the fallacy of the argument
that low wages are profitable, and provides additional proof of the
dearness of cheap labour. For while the English workmen re-
ceive much higher rates of pay, and are engaged for fewer hours
than their fellow-tradesmen in France, the expenses of construc-
tion are considerably higher in the latter country. The cost of
building a Government " ram " in England is 774,000, whilst to
build a vessel similar in material, workmanship, and efficiency in
France would entail an expenditure of 954,000, or over 23 per
cent, extra. In every other respect except that of cost the vessels
may be equal, but it seems proved that the comparative habitual
under-payment of the French workman has checked any great
increase of his craftsmanship, and has resulted in his labour being
relatively more expensive. Once again it is demonstrated that im-
pairment of efficiency is the only result that can be expected from
systematic underpayment of workmen.
In former times the system of apprenticeship was very rigidly
enforced in the shipwrights' trade. Every man was then a thorough
and practical workman at his trade, and could build a ship from
keel to topmast. The growing elaboration of the work, and the
growth of what is really a new industry by the substitution of iron
for wooden ships, has led to a complete and minute system of sub-
division of labour. As a result, instead of one man knowing, and
being able to do practically any part of the work in the construc-
tion of a vessel, the trade is divided to-day into numerous and
detailed classes, each one distinct and separate from the others.
Thus merely in the building of the hull of an iron ship, the work
which in earlier times, and in wooden ships, would have been done
throughout by one man, the shipwright, is now divided amongst
Ship- Building. 63
the men in several branches, such as the platers, riveters, holders-
up, putters-in, and drillers. What may have originally been
branches of one trade, have now become distinct trades in them-
selves. It is true that questions of over-lapping arid demarcation
of work have led to many internecine conflicts, but there is a broad
and accepted division such as that above indicated. The change
in the materials for, and in the character of the vessels, may have
been accountable in itself for the sub-division, but the contrast be-
tween men, whose work in many cases is largely a matter of physical
strength, and men who understood the whole of their trade, acquir-
ing their knowledge by a lengthy and laborious training, and could
successfully pursue any part of it, is extremely striking, and is
evidence of the decay of apprenticeship in the ship-building
industry.
In the construction of a ship, the order and method observed is
briefly as follows. First of all the keel is laid. The stem and
stern are next attached, and " she" (i.e. the skeleton of the vessel)
is then inserted into a frame of wood or iron as the case may be.
"She " is then " skinned up," as it is technically and expressively
phrased, with either planks of wood or iron plates, according to
whether the vessel is to be an iron or wooden one. When that is
finished, the whole hull of the ship is practically complete, and the
only work that remains, important as it is, is to construct the sub-
sidiary portions and the elaborate and intricate departments of the
vessel.
In the construction of an iron ship, the shipwright, firstly, makes
a " templet," that is, a model in wood of the size and shape that is
required for the iron plates which are affixed as a covering for the
vessel. Then the " plater " makes the iron plates to the model of
the "templet." The next process is for the "driller" to bore
holes in the plate and also corresponding holes in the rib
of the vessel to which it is to be fixed. The plate is then
placed on the side of the vessel, the " putter-in " puts the red-
hot rivet into the holes already drilled, and the u holder-up" holds
a heavy and ponderous hammer against one side of the rivet, while
the " riveter " rivets or clinches the other side. By this means
64 Workers on their Industries.
heads are formed on either side of the rivet, which holds the plates
firmly together.
In making a wooden ship the process is a much simpler one.
The shipwright makes patterns as before, but he cuts the wood him-
self to the required shape, and fits the shapes into position, leav-
ing only the subsidiary and less responsible tasks of caulking, etc. ,
to be accomplished by other workmen.
Both in the shipwrights' and the barge-building trades the old
system of legal apprenticeship is still maintained. In the barge-
building trade there is so far no sub-division of labour at all.
Any journeyman, who is a good mechanic, is perfectly competent
to build a barge entirely by himself, with no assistance except
that of a few labourers to aid in lifting and carrying the timber.
But barges, like ships, are rapidly increasing in size and tonnage.
Thus, when I was apprenticed to the trade, a barge was con-
sidered to be of good size if it carried 70 tons, but to-day they
are built to carry 100 or 200, and in some cases 250 tons. This
change has been brought about by the acute competition among
the lightermen, and by the more general employment of steam-
tugs for towing purposes, which renders it possible to easily
navigate barges of so large a size.
The number of shipwrights now employed on the River Thames
is about 1500. They are organised into two Trade Unions, and
every man is a member of one or other of these bodies. The
societies are (1) The Shipwrights' Provident Union of the Port
of London, established 1824, and with about 1400 members now; 1
and (2) the London branch of the Associated Society of Ship-
wrights. This latter society is a National Amalgamated Union,
with headquarters at Newcastle, and has some 100 members in
1 This society had been in existence as a friendly club, and as " the Com-
mittee for conducting the business in the North " for many years previous
to 1824. As a trade society it was, of course, entirely illegal, but upon
the repeal of the Anti-Combination Laws in 1824, it was at once recon-
stituted as the Shipwrights' Provident Union of the Port of London, and
in that form, with the exception of some minor alterations, has continued
uninterruptedly in existence until this day.
Ship- Building. 6$
the London district. There is also the smaller, but equally well-
organised Barge-Bui] ders' Trade Society, which was established in
1872, and comprises within its ranks over 400 members out of a
total of 500 men employed at the trade in London. It has very
strictly maintained for its members a uniform wage of 9d. per
hour, and a uniform working week of 54 hours. There are, in
addition, in the ship-building industry, the iron ship-builders who
are mostly members of the United Society of Boilermakers and
Iron Ship-Builders. This is a very powerful national organisation,
centred in Newcastle. The London branches, fourteen in number,
are strongly and well organised, and contain about 2,250 members
engaged in the shops of the repairing yards on the river. Finally
there are also several unions of subsidiary workers. Prominent
among these are the two London societies of drillers, with about
1,000 members between them. There are also the two London
societies of sailmakers, one of which dates back to about 1750,
and has preserved cash and minute books from early in this
century. Amongst their curiosities is an old banner, which was
carried in the procession at the demonstration in 1820, in favour
of Queen Caroline when her husband, George IV., was endeav-
ouring to obtain a divorce from her. This trade is now a small
and decaying one, and although every man employed in the
port is a trade unionist, the two societies do not possess more
than 300 members between them. There are also small societies
of caulkers, spar and block-makers, boat-builders, and of ship-
fitters, all embracing groups of other minor and subsidiary
workmen engaged in the industry.
The industry has, however, undergone so remarkable a revolu-
tion that the men employed in the construction of the frame of a
vessel have to be supplemented by many others devoted to the
work of furnishing and ornamenting. The ships turned out of
our great yards to-day are practically gigantic floating palaces.
In their production are employed an immense army of additional
workmen, such as painters, cabinetmakers, carpenters, fitters of
electric light, etc., and all the other numerous crafts whose work
is so necessary for securing convenience, or strength, or beauty, in
E
66 Workers on their Industries.
the interior of a vessel. Notwithstanding an increasingly severe
competition of other nations, we are still able to hold our own in
this industry, and to produce the finest ships in the world.
There need be but little fear that with a steady maintenance of
perhaps an addition to that high standard of comfort which our
ship-building workmen have achieved and enjoy, and with a grow-
ing recognition of the need for technical education, and for better
general training for the youths of the trade, and with a more
watchful attention of the trade, and more sympathetic treatment
of the men by the masters, England will long continue to far
eclipse the remaining nations of the world in the beauty, the
strength, and the utility of the ships which she produces.
WOOD ENGRAVING.
By Henry Crossfield.
THE interest which attaches to the art of engraving on wood is by
no means confined merely to its aesthetic significance. It has
been, in many ways, identified with the development of the art of
printing ; and its connection with this important industry would
alone justify its inclusion in this series of essays.
Engraving, in its general sense, is incising, either by cutting
with a tool, or by corrosion with acids, upon any suitable sub-
stance. The word can be traced back to the Greek root "Grapho"
" 1 cut." Limiting the meaning to its pictorial use, it is a
method of obtaining a certain artistic result by the employment
of lines; and the distinguishing feature of wood engraving is its
adaptability to the purpose of the ordinary printing press. In
this respect, as also in the means by which the result is obtained,
it is the very antithesis of its sister art of engraving on steel and
copper plates. Every line of the proof of a copperplate has been
cut into the surface of the plate, or, to use the technical phrase,
"in intaglio"; while the impression is taken in a special press, the
ink being rubbed into the lines, the surface cleaned, and the paper
then forced into the lines by great pressure. In wood engraving
on the other hand, every line intended to be printed is left stand-
ing in relief, the remaining portion of the surface being cut away,
and the print is taken by pressure on the surface of the block, as
it is called, just as in printing from ordinary type.
Lines cut into the wood are sometimes used in modern work,
but they are then intended to print white against a black back-
ground. But in copper every line cut into the plate is intended
68 Workers on their Industries.
to print black, or the colour of the ink employed. The principal
tool in both cases is a lozenge-shaped instrument known as
a "graver," of which all the other tools used are merely modifica-
tions. The graver is pushed or ploughed through the substance
in a manner directly opposite to that in which we use a pencil or
brush. Modern wood engraving is executed on box-wood, cut
transversely, i.e. across the grain, and the careful preparation of
this wood forms quite a special industry in itself.. An interesting
fact, connected with the manufacture of large blocks for engraving
purposes, is the method of building them up by means of
numerous small pieces bolted together in such a way as to be
easily taken apart. This enables work which is urgently required
to be performed very rapidly. The large block is taken to pieces
and distributed to several different workmen, a number of whom
are thus employed upon the same subject. Although this
method arises partly from necessity, as it is unusual to find a piece
of wood of large. size sufficiently free from flaws to be of service in
its entirety, it is a matter of considerable importance to the
illustrated papers, the work for which is necessarily required in
great haste.
The art of engraving, in its widest meaning, dates back to very
remote antiquity. .The earliest artistic efforts of which we know
are the rude images of animals, scratched or cut on pieces of tusk
or stone, by primeval artists contemporary with the mammoth.
When we consider also the inscriptions cut on the monuments
which characterise the early civilisations of Egypt, Assyria, and
Mexico, its use in ornamenting various kinds of metal-work
during the same early periods, and in decorating the weapons of
the most barbaric communities, both in the past and in the'
present, we recognise the art of engraving as one of the oldest and
most widely exercised crafts in the world. And where, in these
instances, modelled forms are added, we see engraving passing into
sculpture, the latter word, indeed, in its origin, signifying both
arts.
The earliest application of engraving to the purpose of im-
pressions appears to have been in stamping. A man's seal was
Wood Engraving. 69
of great importance, in a time before the use of money, as giving
validity to any business transactions. In this service engraved
gems, and the little cylinders from Babylon to be seen in the
British Museum, were first employed. Here also we light on an
early example of engraving on wood. From an Egyptian tomb a
wooden stamp 'has been recovered, in size about five inches by two,
bearing a hieroglyph inscription, cut " in intaglio," signifying,
" Amonoph " or " Beloved of Truth." Bricks also have been
found bearing similar inscriptions, evidently impressed by a stamp
of this kind, and these are attributed to a period contemporary
with the " Exodus." From Assyria, too, we have clay bricks
impressed with cuneiform inscriptions from a stamp of which the
letters or signs have been engraved in relief, and which is con-
sidered by experts to have been most probably of wood. Thus,
with the earliest examples of wood engraving we arrive at the
genesis of printing, which, as practised to-day, is simply an ex-
tension and development, in the form of a wide multiplication of
the basic principle, of taking an impression from a stamp.
This particular application of engraving becomes extensively
exercised throughout the subsequent development of civilisation.
The art of stamping letters and figures on coins reached a degree
of perfection during the best period of Greek art which has never
been surpassed. It seems probable that the Romans possessed
some kind of ink which they used in a similar direction, while the
practice of attesting documents with inked stamps, often in the
form of monograms, appears to have been in vogue during the
Middle Ages. Towards the end of the twelfth century, engraved
blocks, either of wood or metal, were used for giving off impressions
in colour to the surfaces of fabrics such as silk, an art supposed by
some authorities to have come from Saracenic Sicily. There is
also some evidence that the idea of copperplate printing was
suggested by what is known as " Niello " in goldsmiths' work.
This consists in filling in an engraved design with a kind of
black enamel in order to heighten its effect. The enamel being
of a hard nature, was very difficult to remove when once inserted,
and so, before bringing their work to its final siage, the goldsmiths
7O Workers on their Industries.
obtained an impression on damp cloth or paper with suitable ink,
to see how the design was progressing. The possibilities of further
applications of such a practice, when it was once established, must
have been obvious.
When, where, and under what circumstances the value of en-
graving on wood for pictorial purposes was first conceived is a
matter involved in much obscurity. Dismissing the theory that
it was brought to Europe from the East by Venetian merchants
or travellers, as being discountenanced by the known practice of
relief engraving long before the period assigned for its introduction
by this means, we find it employed early in the fifteenth century
for producing figures of saints. These were distributed by the
clergy to the people for their religious edification much as tracts
are in the present day. They first made their appearance in
Southern Germany, and are known as " Helgen," or saint pictures.
One of the earliest engravings which have been discovered, being
dated 1423, belongs to this order. It was found at a convent in the
neighbourhood of Augsburg, and represents St. Christopher with
the infant Jesus crossing a stream. It is a simple outline design,
by no means lacking in vigour, though of course conceived in the
conventional style of early art, and was apparently intended to be
coloured. About the same time, too, engraving on wood begins to
be used for producing the outlines of figures on playing cards,
which were afterwards coloured either by hand or with a stencil.
Cards came into general use in Europe towards the close of the
fourteenth century, the Germans being the first to make their
manufacture a distinct trade; and it is in the Burgess Roll of the
City of Augsburg, in 1418, that the name of Karten-macher, or card-
maker, first appears.
In the absence of exact knowledge it is feasible to conclude that
the first engraver was his own designer, and in the light of its early
adaptation to religious purposes, we may perhaps connect him with
the line of old monkish illuminators. This early work consisted
in simply clearing away with a knife the wood surrounding the
artist's outlines, and in its first rude beginnings would not call for
exceptional skill. As its method became known, and it was made
Engraving. 71
to serve several suitable purposes, there gradually arose a distinct
class of workmen following this particular avocation. Of such -a
class we have certain mention at Nuremberg in Germany in 1449,
under the distinguishing name of Form-Schneider, or figure-cutters.
The wood employed was of a kind, not too hard, and suitable
for drawing on, such as pear or apple wood, and it was cut plank-
wise.
The next marked development is in connection with the produc-
tion of " block-books," i.e. books printed from pages of text, en-
graved on blocks of wood, which form the link between the older
manuscript books and those produced from movable types. Their
origin is attributed to the Netherlands, and several of the more
famous of those which have survived consist of wood-cut illustra-
tions of a devotional character with the addition of explanatory
text. They are printed in a light-brownish ink, of the nature of
water colour, and the impressions were evidently taken in some
cases by friction, possibly with a roller. They are undoubtedly
antecedent to the art of printing from movable types cast in
metal and used in a press, as introduced by Gutenberg and his
associates in the middle of the fifteenth century ; and they are of
interest as an illustration of the close connection between wood
engraving and the development of printing, before mentioned. The
designs in the best of these " block-books " are a great advance on
anything in the same way before accomplished. There is an attempt
at shading in the folds of drapery on figures, by introducing short
parallel lines. Subsidiary objects are introduced in the backgrounds,
and the work bears evidence of a higher degree of taste and feeling
in the execution of the design than is to be found in the earlier
saint pictures.
The multiplication of books through the introduction of the
printing press created a considerable demand for wood-cuts. At
first the work so used was inferior to the standard obtained by
the best of the " block-books." It must be remembered that the
production of these books formed a very large part of the en-
gravers' work, and continued to do so for many years after the
invention of typography. The engravers were now formed into
72 Workers on their Industries.
corporations or Gilds, and, it is probable, were jealous of the new
art of typography, and refused to do work for the printers. In this
case the printer would be reduced to employing a sort of "job"
hand, who was probably also an " illegal man." \ There is in
this connection a curious dispute recorded at Augsburg in 1471
between the printer, Gunter Zainer, and the engravers, concerning
the printing of illustrations in his books. It was eventually com-
promised, through the intervention of a friendly abbot, by an
agreement that Zainer should be allowed to print such illustra-
tions, provided that the engravers executed the work.
But towards the close of the fifteenth century, and during the first
half of the sixteenth, wood engraving of this earlier school reached
its highest degree of perfection, and became employed throughout
the whole of Europe as an illustrative medium to a greater extent
than even in the present day. It was in German}'-, however, that
the greatest development was seen in both these respects. Distin-
guished artists began to turn their attention to providing designs
for the engravers ; and we find the principle of " cross-hatching,"
as it is technically termed, introduced. This consists in crossing
lines one over the other at various angles, in order to obtain a
greater variety of form and colour ; for the greater the number
of lines in a cu% and the closer and more varied in thickness they
are, the greater will be the contrast of light and shade. This light
and shade, or " texture," is entirely absent from all the work
executed prior to the adoption of this method, and its introduction
led to the attainment of a much more complete and artistic result.
It was probably suggested by its use in copperplate engraving,
which was then coming into vogue, many of the artists being
copperplate engravers also. In England, however, the art does
not appear to have advanced beyond a very rudimentary stage
until a much later period. The first book printed here from
movable types with wood-cut illustrations was Caxton's second
edition of his "Game and Playe of the Chesse," published in
1480.
1 I.e., a man who worked at the trade without having fulfilled the re-
quirements as to apprenticeship, etc., of the Gild.
Wood Engraving. 73
In addition to its establishment in this way as a valuable acces-
sory to printed books, wood engraving received in Germany the
direct patronage of the Emperor Maximilian 1. 1 He commissioned
several important works, dealing for the most part with the events
of his reign. One of these, known as the " Triumphs of Maxi-
milian/' extended to nearly two hundred feet in length, and is
probably the largest wood engraving, or more correctly, connected
series of engravings, ever produced. The designs for some of
these were in part contributed by the Emperor's friend and con-
temporary, Albert Barer. This great artist, in addition to his
labours as a painter and copperplate engraver, has his initials
attached to some 200 drawings engraved on wood. The theory
which attributes these works to his own engraving, is, however, en-
tirely erroneous. A great promoter of the craft he undoubtedly
was, and under the stimulus of such a master we see the engraver
himself, mechanical in some respects though his work might be,
developing the feeling and spirit of an artist. These form, on the
whole, the finest series of drawings prepared for the particular
purpose up to this time. The backgrounds are well filled with
appropriate details of landscape, architecture or figures, the latter
being well drawn and skilfully grouped. The composition is
vigorous and animated, the light and shade carefully executed,
and the whole gives a complete and natural effect never previously
attained, while the reproductions are, in many instances, well
worthy of the original. Although these creations are mainly of a
religious character, yet in giving his subjects a national setting,
they stand in many respects for representative pictures of his
time.
But the high water mark of the engraving of this epoch is
reached in a remarkable series of small designs attributed to
Holbein, illustrating the " Dance of Death/' i.e. Death seizing
suddenly and impartially on persons of all ranks and conditions.
These were first published at Lyons in 1538. Death is repre-
sented in them, with most vivid power, as a grim sardonic
humorist who rather enjoys his tragic jest with poor humanity
Maximilian I., Holy Roman Emperor, 1459-1519
74 Workers on their Industries.
But the exquisite delicacy with which the artist's intention has been
rendered exhibits a degree of excellence and of artistic feeling,
which places this series among the most perfect examples of line or
fac-simile engraving ever produced in the whole history of the art.
Towards the close of the sixteenth century there began a de-
cline in the use of wood-cut illustrations, which, beginning in
Germany, spread gradually, though more slowly, throughout
Europe. Between 1590 and 1610, however, there was a slight im-
provement in its practice in England. But the old race of
designers was dying out, and no new school had arisen to fill its
place. Hence the decay of the art which depends so largely for
its success upon the quality of the designs with which it deals.
Its place began to be taken by steel and copper work, which had,
from the first, been chiefly pursued by artists who supplied their
own designs; and though wood engraving continued to be practised
to some extent, it passed for all higher purposes into complete
neglect by the middle of the eighteenth century.
The character of this early work is very clearly set forth in an in-
teresting book published at Nuremberg in 1564, giving illustrations
of almost every branch of employment then known in Germany,
with rhymed descriptions by the celebrated Hans Sachs. It con-
tains a picture of an engraver at work, with the following verse :
" I am a wood engraver good,
And all designs on blocks of wood
I with my graver cut so neat,
That when they're printed on a sheet
Of paper white, you plainly view
The very forms the artist drew.
His drawing, whether coarse or fine,
Is truly copied line for line."
As previously explained, all these designs were line drawings
such as we to-day term "pen and ink" drawings. The engraver's
work was simply to cut away the white spaces between the lines,
and to gouge away the larger spaces to a depth sufficient to escape
the ink. Although the above verse mentions the "graver," there
is no reliable evidence that the tool now known by that name
Wood Engraving. 75
which is properly the copper engraver's tool was actually in use
until a later period. The word is merely employed in its technical
sense, as the picture mentioned most undoubtedly shows. The
principal tool used was, as before mentioned, a kind of knife, and the
labou-r involved in rendering the elaborate " cross-hatching " of
the more advanced work must have been very great, amounting
to at least double what would be required with a modern "graver."
Fac-simile engraving, as it is called, has persisted down to the
present day, and very fine examples of it may be seen in Sir John
Tenniel's cartoons in Punch.
Thus far then had the art advanced, when towards the end of
the eighteenth century it entered upon another and entirely new
path, under the stimulus given by the influence of the great
Thomas Bewick. Bewick was born at Cherryburn, Northumber-
land, in 1753. He was apprenticed to a general metal engraver,
who, among his other work, had occasionally wood blocks to cut,
and these he was in the habit of turning over to his apprentices
to execute. Bewick was thus enabled to obtain some insight into
the possibilities of the craft, which was further aided by his in-
timate knowledge of the methods of steel and copper work. On
completing his apprenticeship, he increased this knowledge by
working for a year or two at wood engraving in London. Return-
ing to Newcastle, he entered into partnership with his former
employer, and in conjunction with him produced the celebrated
books by which he is best known. 1 The illustrations to these
were mostly his own drawings, though he was assisted towards
the end by several able pupils.
Special interest lies in his treatment of the engraving. As a
metal worker, Bewick was familiar with the " graver," and, using
it in connection with box-wood, cutting across the grain the only
way in which it can be used he attained effects which, it is true,
had been attempted before, but only in a very tentative way. In
this he was assisted by being his own artist, which naturally led
him to the most direct method of reproducing his ideas. Recog-
1 " The History of Quadrupeds," published 1790 ; and the " History of
British Birds," published, vol. i., in 1797.
76 Workers on their Industries.
nising that the deepest colour to be obtained in wood engraving is
the plain surface of the block, i.e. solid black, he reversed the
procedure of the older school by working from black to white. 1
This method, known as the white line to distinguish it from the
old fac-simile work, consists really in drawing with the " graver,"
the engraver supplying his own lines. It enables drawings, of a
character resembling painting in washes of colour, to be repro-
duced on the wood. It is on this principle that all modern colour
engraving is founded, and by it may be said to have been raised
into a distinct art, as contrasted with the more mechanical method
of the earlier period.
Although Bewick, in these respects, can hardly be credited with
entire originality, yet his adaptations exhibit genius of a high
order. He was the first to apply wood engraving with success to
the delineation of animals and the natural representation of land-
scapes and woodland scenery, a class of subjects for which it is
especially adapted, and which had previously received only very
formal and conventional treatment. He was a man of marked
personality, and, in the heading and tail pieces to his books,
appears in the character of a humorist and moralist. If the older
system of wood engraving was,, as it seems to have been, originally
a German art;, we may fairly claim that modern engraving is,
through Bewick, an English production.
The publication of these and other books once more drew
attention to the value and resources of wood engraving, particu-
larly in its later and improved form. The interest thus aroused
was well sustained by the labours, both as artists and engravers t
of several of Bewick's pupils, who in some respects even advanced
the high standard set by their master. It gradually regained its
place as the leading medium for book illustration ; the best artists
again bestowed their attention upon it ; and, with the growth of
the illustrated press during the latter half of this century, it has
reached the distinguished position it now occupies.
i By means of lines and dots cut into the wood and printing white.
Proceeding thus, by graduation the black and white lines balance each
other and merge ultimately into pure white.
Wood Engraving.
Here it must be noted that much of the engraving of the first
forty years of this century was cultivated as a distinct art in
itself, the aim of the engraver being to attain a certain technical
beauty of line in which the drawing becomes subordinate to his
own intention. This period represents in the opinion of the
veteran practitioner, W. J. Linton, 1 the highest degree of excel-
lence the art has ever attained. But with the introduction of
photography and its application to the purposes of engraving in
order to preserve the original drawing, which is destroyed when
drawn on the block, together with changes in our artistic methods
generally, aimed at a closer and more realistic treatment of
nature, the most modern work, while retaining all the essential
characteristics previously described, has once more become sub-
servient to the interpretation of the feeling and spirit of the
artist. This is well expressed in the many admirable series of
Old Great Masters, appearing from time to time in the fine art
magazines and journals. Here, for the most part, the engraver's
principal study has been to translate into his own medium the
effect obtained by the painter with his combinations of colour.
This aim is in no way incompatible with the attainment of both
technical beauty and truth, though the latter is, if anything, the
more important. And when we consider what this involves, the
difficulties which present themselves in translating, say, the buff
leather boots, scarlet silken doublet, and dark velvet cloak of an
old time cavalier, with their varying textures, into one medium
ranging only from black to white, we must confess that, in so far
as it attains success, engraving of this order is entitled to a high
; place in the graphic arts.
This line of development has followed in remarkable proximity
-to that of the sister art, engraving on copper or steel. First
starting out as a simple shaded outline, then producing a technical
beauty of its own and becoming valued as a new form of art, and
finally seeking mainly effect and softness, reaching a closer fidelity
to nature where we find only form and colour. And now, in the
1 See " The Masters of Wood Engraving " : by W. J. Linton. [Issued
to subscribers only. 500 copies printed.] New Haven, Connecticut, 1889.
78 Workers on their Industries.
same way, both arts find themselves confronted by mechanical
processes, which seek to achieve a similar result at a lower cost
by the use of photography and corrosion with acids, without the
intervention of the graver.
Since the introduction of steam printing, it is rare that an im-
pression is taken from the wood block itself. The wear and tear
involved in this method is far too severe for the delicate surface.
To overcome this difficulty a cast is employed. This is obtained
by first taking an impression of the block in wax in a hydraulic
press. The wax mould is then placed in a bath of sulphate of
copper in solution. This is deposited on the mould by electricity,
forming a thin copper shell. The shell, being stripped from the
wax mould, and the back filled in with metal, gives an exact fac-
simile of the original block. The printing is by no means an
unimportant stage in the elaborate series of processes through
which an illustration passes before reaching the public. By the
system of distributing the pressure, called " overlaying," x it is
possible to obtain from the steam press a result almost equal in
delicacy to a hand-taken proof. Much of the beauty of the illus-
trations in the art magazines and journals is due to the exquisite
taste and skill displayed in the printing ; while on the other hand,
some good work may be spoiled through lack of this skill.
In a trade demanding such varied gifts and experience as en-
graving, the remuneration is necessarily governed, to a consider-
able extent, by the ability of the individual craftsman. It is, in
many respects, the misfortune of this art that its production has
been largely dominated by the commercial needs to which, on the
other hand, it is principally indebted for its existence. In the
early days of its renascence during this century, the leading en-
gravers of the time held distinguished positions in the art world,
and, in consequence, exercised a certain amount of control over
the reward due to their labour. With the growth of the demand,
however, the art tended to pass into the hands of large employers,
i This consists in arranging pieces of paper between the block and the
press in such a way that the pressure is increased in the dark and modu-
lated in the light spots.
Wood Engraving. 79
who combined business ability with artistic competence virtues
not always found in unison. Still more recently, however, a slight
reaction has commenced in favour of the individual worker, and
this appears likely to increase as the pressure of competition with
other reproductive methods places the art still more in the posi-
tion of a luxury rather than that of a necessity.
With regard to these other methods, it may be briefly stated
that although they have undeniably reduced the demand for en-
graving, they have also, in many directions, created a market for
themselves. Many of the cheap periodicals, which, whether for
good or otherwise, flood the bookstalls, could not have been pro-
duced save for the introduction of these mechanical processes.
In the same way, the growing practice of illustrating almost
everything, even the daily newspapers, is due to this cause. It
must also be acknowledged that the prices paid for engraving
have been similarly affected by the same cause, though this does
not appear to have materially influenced the average remuneration
of the craftsman. That, at best a modest one, has remained nearly
the same for the last thirty years. The pace at which he werks
has been somewhat forced, and on*the whole he does more work
now than he did formerly for the same pay, but it is probable that
his employers' profits have also been reduced. In this connection,
it is only fair to add that on the whole the publishers of Europe
and America have shown a disposition to minimise the effects of
competition^ and to deal generously with the highest order of work.
The English engravers have recently organised themselves into
a society, and with a laudable desire to emphasise the cosmo-
politan character of the art, have entitled it " The International
Society of Wood Engravers." 1 The society is established, to quote
from the preamble to the rules, " for mutual assistance and
support, to protect, advance, and uphold such customs, usages,
etc., as may be deemed necessary, or as special requirements may
demand ; to advance the art of wood engraving by holding ex-
1 This is not strictly a Trade Union, and has, indeed, been registered as
a Fine Art Society. It has already nearly two hundred members, and is
in a sound financial condition.
8o Workers on their Industries.
hibitions, awarding prizes, etc." It has already received the support
of many connected with the illustrated press, and of several of our
most distinguished " black and white" artists, and gives promise of
a vigorous and useful life. A similar society exists in Paris,
while in Germany the engravers form an influential corporation
with about a thousand members, and possess a quarterly organ
dealing with the interests of their profession. This German or-
ganisation partakes more of the nature of a Trade Union than do
the others, and seeks to control such matters as the admission of
apprentices. It possesses also a sick and out-of-work fund. Such
societies, working in harmony with the artist, should exercise con-
siderable influence in the direction of elevating engraving on wood
to that position among the fine arts to which its merits, and the
degree of perfection to which it has been brought, justly entitle it.
Even in this latter respect, its capacity for further development is
by no means exhausted. The proposal, made by one of the ablest
living practitioners of the art, to issue a limited number of signed
proofs of the works of one of our leading painters, engraved in
the highest style, after the fashion in which steel plates are issued
must, if carried successfully into effect, influence the art for good,
and tend to raise it above the mere commercial principles which
have hitherto- so largely dominated it. On the other hand, the
steady diffusion among the masses of a better knowledge of the
principles and practice of art, by means of art and technical classes,
must tend to raise the standard of even the commoner kinds of
work.
Taking these things into consideration, and viewing them in
the light of its long and chequered career, one may conclude that
this historic craft, with its many interesting associations, will con-
tinue to remain with us. To this, more than to any other method
of reproduction, we owe that the scenery, events, and art treasures
of the world have been brought within the reach of all, and not-
withstanding the dangers which it shares, in common with other
industrial pursuits, from the constant changes in tastes and pro.
cesses in the progress of civilisation, we may hope that the sun of
its prosperity is not yet set.
CORN-MILLING, ANCIENT AND MODERN.
By W. Salmon, President of the London District of the Millers'
National Union.
CORN-MILLING is one of the most ancient of all industries, dating
practically from time immemorial. Nor has it undergone, at any
rate until very recent years, any important alterations in method,
and the essential principle of the oldest hand-mill is retained in
the stone mills of to-day, in spite of the numerous improvements
in machinery of every description. Thus we read in Wilkinson's
" Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians," that " their
corn-mills were of simple and rude construction. They consisted
of two circular stones nearly flat, the lower one fixed, while the
other turned on a pivot or shaft rising from the centre of that
beneath it ; and the grain descending through an aperture in the
upper stone immediately above the pivot, gradually underwent the
process of grinding as it passed. It was turned by a woman
seated and holding a handle fixed perpendicularly near the edge.
They had also a large mill on a very similar principle but greater
stones, and could only have been turned by cattle or asses." 1
This description of what is perhaps the oldest form of corn-
milling could be almost literally applied to the stone-milling of
to-day, excepting, of course, that the labour of men and animals
is now replaced by some other form of motive power. No doubt
the domestic nature of the industry accounts to some extent for
the apparent reluctance to change in its methods, though this
1 See Sir J. G. Wilkinson's " Manners and Customs of the Ancient
Egyptians." [Edited by Birch.] London : John Murray, 1878. 84s.
"^ 8l P
82 Workers on their Industries.
may also be in some degree a tribute to the genius of the first
inventor of the mill.
There are many references to mills and millstones in the Old
Testament, but we learn little more from them than what has
already been described in the quotation from Wilkinson. We find,
however, that later on, the mills came to be driven by bondsmen,,
around whose necks was placed a circular machine of wood, to pre-
vent them from putting their hands up to their mouths and so
eating the meal. It seems, too, that the Egyptians possessed
water-mills, for Sir W. Fairbairn mentions the use of the water
for the irrigation of the land and other purposes. 1 From an
epigram of Autipater, it would appear that the use of water-mills
first became common in the time of Julius Caesar. "Cease your
work, ye maids/' he says, " ye who laboured in the mill, sleep now
and let the birds sing to the ruddy morning, for Ceres has com-
manded the water nymphs to perform your task, these, obedient to
her call, throw themselves on the wheel, force round the axle tree,
and by these means the heavy mill." Public water-mills appear
for the first time under Honorius and Arcadius, and the first laws
which mention them, about the year 398, show clearly that they
were then newly established, and that it was necessary to secure
them by the support of the government.
The mills of Rome were erected on the canals which conveyed
water to the city. Most of them lay under Mount Janiculum, but
as they were only able to obtain a small supply of water they
executed but little work. Then, too, owing to the vast number of
slaves, and the ease and cheapness with which they could be kept,
it was found more economical to use slave labour than to perfect
the machinery, and hence all improvements in the latter were
long delayed. After the abolition of slavery, however, the mills
were quickly and greatly improved, and employed more largely.
In the year 536, Vitiges, King of the Goths, led an expedition
against Belisarius and succeeded in stopping the large aqueducts
under his control, and tried thus to prevent him from grinding
itfeeSir W. Fairbairn's "Treatise on Mills and Millwork." London
Longmans & Co., 1878. 25s,
Corn- Milling) Ancient and Modern. 83
corn. Belisarius, however, overcame the difficulty by erecting
water-mills on boats, the motive power being obtained from the
river. The boats were moored so that they could be turned with
the tide, and hence they were kept always going without regard to
which way the tide was running. 1
According to Pliny, the Romans became very far advanced in
the art of corn-milling, their millstones being on the same prin-
ciple as those of the Egyptians. Fairbairn says of this kind of
stone, or quern as it is commonly called, that it is not infrequently
found amongst the foundations of Roman villas, or along the lines
of Roman encampments. 2 Recently, in disentombing the baker's
shop at Pompeii, several large mills of similar kind were found in
an excellent state of preservation. Beckman says that water-mills
existed in France as early as the year 379 ; 3 and in the life of St.
Benedict we read that he had a mill, worked by an ass, to grind
corn for himself and his colleagues.
From all these authorities we may, I think, safely conclude that
after the labour of men and cattle, water was the first motive
power used to grind corn. It is not until much later times that
we first find wind-mills mentioned. In 1332, Bartholomeo Verde
proposed to the Venetians to erect a mill to go by wind, and a
site of land was granted him, but only on condition that he should
surrender it again if his experiment should fail. There were
probably, however, a few in existence in the tenth century, and
we know that in the eleventh century they were becoming fairly
common. It was in that century that the dispute arose as to
whether wind-mills should pay tithes to the clergy or not, The
question was referred for settlement to Pope Celestine III., who
very naturally decided that they should be compelled to pay.
Monopolies of the land, water, food, clothing, and everything
else that it has been possible to possess, have from time imme-
morial hindered the advance of mankind. I do not know, how-
1 This was probably the origin of the floating mills to be found in opera
tion in Germany to-day.
2 See the " Treatise on Mills and Mill work."
3 See J. Beckmann's " History of Inventions, Discoveries, and Origins,"
2 vols., 3s. 6d. each, Bohn's Library Series.
84 Workers on their Industries.
ever, that we can find a more conspicuous attempt at monopoly by
an avaricious landlord than one spoken of by Beckmann. "The
avarice of landlords," he says, a favoured by the meanness and in-
justice of Government and weakness of the people, extended their
regality over all streams, the air, and wind-mills. At the end of
the fourteenth century the monks of the celebrated Monastery of
St. Augustine at Windsheim in the province of Overyssel were
desirous of erecting a wind-mill not far from Zwolle, but a neigh-
bouring lord endeavoured to prevent them, declaring the wind in
that district belonged to him. The monks, unwilling to give up
their point, had recourse to the Bishop of Utrecht, under whose
jurisdiction the province had continued since the tenth century.
The bishop, highly incensed against the pretender who wished to
usurp his authority, affirmed that no one had power over the wind
but himself, and he granted letters patent, dated 1391, for power
to build themselves a wind-mill in any place convenient to them." 1
The Dutch also seem to have had wind-mills at an early period.
Beckman relates a story of a Dutchman who, in 1663, erected in
London a wind-mill for sawing timber. He was compelled to aban-
don his attempt in consequence of the opposition of his competitors
in trade. 2 Many other references to wind-mills can be given, but I
have said sufficient to prove their existence very early in the
history of corn-milling. In all these instances, however, we are
met with the fact, that whether the power used to turn the mill-
stones was that of human beings, asses, water, or wind, the
principle upon which all reduction to meal was accomplished was
the same in all countries and at all times. Whateley Cooke
Taylor says 3 that water-driven corn-mills were probably intro-
duced into Britain by the Romans, and were certainly in use
during the Roman occupation throughout, the period of the Saxon
epoch, and during the greater part of the Middle Ages. These
were commonly attached to the houses of the great nobles and
1 See the " History of Inventions, Discoveries, and Origins."
Ibid.
3 See R. W. C. Taylor's "Introduction to a History of the Factory
System." London : Bentley & Son, 1886. 16s.
Corn- Milling, Ancient and Modern. 85
clergy, and among the obligations of a vassal was that of having
his corn ground at the lord's mill. Such mills were regarded as
essentially appertaining to the land, and as being, in fact, imple-
ments of agriculture rather than of manufacture.
It is very seldom, though, that the millers are mentioned as a
craft or trade, and they do not appear to have been considered a
very great or important body at any time. But gradually as the
years went by and more of the men engaged upon the land were
drawn or driven into the towns, and other industries sprung up
and developed, the corn-mills must have increased in size and
number. Corn-milling, however, seems never to have made any
very rapid strides under the old system of stone-milling. Im-
provements many and varied were made in the machinery for
cleaning the grain, and also for separating the flour from the offal,
but the same principle adopted by the Egyptians, Assyrians,
Greeks, and Romans, obtains down to the present day in stone
mills. The wheat is fed into the centre or eye of the upper revolv-
ing stone, and gradually worked towards the outward edge. From
there it is delivered down the spouts into a conveyer, and thence
to elevators, which carry the meal to the machinery which separ-
ates the flour from the offal.
It is impossible now to say when and where steam power was
first applied to corn-mills, but we may reasonably suppose that it
took place at about the end of last century, when the same change
occurred in most other large industries. The change, however,
was not immediately succeeded by any important effects in this in-
dustry, and the old principle of the revolving stone continued to
dominate the trade for many years after steam was introduced in it.
The modern system of corn-milling is by chilled iron rollers.
One of its chief advantages is the possibility, very early in the
process, of removing the greater part of the offal. Milling experts
claim that by this means they are able to get a superior article
from the same class of material, and in addition can secure more
of it than they could under the old system. This new process
dates only from 1863. According to W. R. Voller, 1 who is the
1 See " Modern Flour Milling," by VV. R. Voller. London, 1893.
86 Workers on their Industries.
most recent authority, in that year a distinct change in process
was made in one of the large mills of Buda Pesth, which was then
the greatest milling centre of the world. Rollers were employed
to do reducing instead of millstones. The change was effected
quietly, and attracted no great notice at the time. But clever
men associated with the Hungarian mills watched the experiment
closely, and soon saw the possibility of a great movement. The
plan for a complete roller system was matured, and in 1869 the
mill just alluded to was fitted up with the first plant of that
description. In a foreign office report for 1885 x there is the
following quotation referring to corn-milling : " This industry has
been undergoing a transformation from the domestic to the manu-
facturing style. The mill of poetry and painting with the acces-
sories of meadow and willowy brook is retiring from the landscape,
and its work is being done in towns ... in the new system the
grain is not ground between stones in the patriarchal fashion, but
is compressed by steel and porcelain crushers." In 1881 an ex-
hibition of milling machinery was held in the Agricultural Hall at
Islington. By that time several roller systems were actually
working in England, and at the exhibition a few complete mills on
a small scale were in full operation. Millers from all parts of the
country attended, and from this point the doom of the millstone
system may be said to have been sealed, as thenceforward the
leading milling engineers were crowded with orders to erect roller
mills. Many mills were built in Germany, France, America,
England, and other countries, on the improved system, and one,
as recently as 1891, has found its way to Jerusalem, fitted out on
the modern system, and rendered complete by an electric light
installation.
Perhaps one thing in connection with corn-milling can be dealt
with here a little more fully, namely, the treatment of the different
products from the raw material. Some kind of sieve was used to
take out the rough bran from the meal at an early period of the
world's history, and we are told of sieves of grass and other fibrous
1 No. 26 ; 1885 ; p, 69.
Corn- Milling, Ancient and Modern. 87
material which have been found from time to time. In this, as in
other things, the improvements in the machinery of the modern
system stand out very prominently. Under a process of gradual
reduction, the various products are passed through silks of the
finest texture. This necessitates constant watchfulness on the
part of the operatives, to see that the machines are doing their
work in a proper and efficient manner, in order that a uniform per-
centage of flour may be regularly obtained, and also that the
offal may be thoroughly cleaned with the least amount of
waste.
But although modern milling has thus retained, until very re-
cent years, the methods of ancient civilisation, a very important
difference in the economic conditions under which the operations
are carried on has occurred. With the ancients the mills were
used almost exclusively to supply the needs of the family to which
they belonged, while to-day they belong to, and are worked in the
interests of, a few persons possessing great wealth. In other words
the system of capitalistic production has long driven the old
domestic system out of "this industry, and all the worst features of
the exploitation of labour in order to gain high profits have
appeared in the trade. But if the economic position of the workers
has thus deteriorated, the same cannot be said of the physical con-
ritions under which the labourer works. In this respect there can
be no doubt but that the modern system is much better than the
old, not, however, owing to any humane consideration for the
workers' health on the part of the proprietors of the mills, but
rather owing to the fact that the unhealthy nature of the occupa-
tion was due to the large quantities of dust which used to fly about
in the stone-mills. This meant more waste and consequently less
profit, and it may be safely assumed that these are the causes to
which the change of system is chiefly due. Nevertheless, there
are still many mills in which some improvements in ventilation are
urgently required. Dr. Arlidge, who has devoted much time and
study to this subject, says that "the milling has within compara-
tively few years been transformed by the introduction of steel rolls
in the place of the old millstones, and of marvellously contrived
88 Workers on their Industries.
automatic machines, scarcely requiring the interposition of human
hands from the beginning to the termination of the whole process
of making flour. By these machines the separation of the bran,
the germs and the semolina is carried on in enclosed box-line con-
struction whereby the escape of dust into the surrounding air is
obviated. Nevertheless, as the miller requires from time to time
to withdraw samples for testing. ... it does not entirely cease to
be a dust producer, and the flour makes itself visible on the clothes
of the miller, as well as on surrounding objects. After the lapse
of years it also produces shortness of breath with cough and other
effects on the chest and lungs." 1
In regard to the intellectual aspect of the trade everyone will
agree that where there is so much, and so valuable machinery
under the control of the operatives they must be possessed of a
fair average amount of intelligence. We shall also agree that
usually those who possess the most knowledge are also the best
workmen, and hence there may be some support here for the plea
raised for technical education for the millers. All that this can
mean, however, with our present system of private ownership, is
that the workmen will become better machines, and thus earn
larger profits for their employers. It must not be inferred from
this that I am in any way opposed to technical education, but I
see clearly that if it is to be of permanent benefit to the workers
it must be accompanied by the collective ownership of the
machines on which they work. That this will be the ultimate
stage of the corn-milling industry I both hope and believe.
Already, indeed, we find the tendency is to build larger and
larger mills, and so crush out the smaller ones, and with this
centralisation the growing cry for collective control must increase
and become more effective.
The wages of men employed in corn-mills are at present very
low. It is, however, impossible to give any detailed statistics of
earnings, as they vary in almost every mill. Thus, if we take
1 See " The Hygiene, Diseases, and Mortality of Occupations," by J. T.
Arlidge, M.D., F.R.C.S., etc., pp. 383-7. London : Percival & Co., 1892.
21s.
Corn- Milling, Ancient and Modern. 89
London, we can find some men employed for no more than 18s.
per week of 58 hours, while others can be found, doing of course
different but not necessarily more laborious work, who receive as
much as 2 per week of the same hours. Overtime is system-
atically worked in almost all the mills, especially by the lower
paid classes of workmen, and it is curious to note that it is
frequently paid for at a lower rate of pay than the ordinary time.
Thus there are men who are paid 6d. per hour in the day who
receive only 5d. per hour overtime, and others at 5d. per hour in
the day only receiving 4d. when working overtime, a state of
things which is certainly not desirable in, or creditable to, any
trade.
The state of affairs in these respects can no doubt be attributed
largely to the fact, that the millers have never had a strong Trade
Union to look after their interests. Thus their wages and hours
have been left to be fixed by the employers, uncontrolled by any
force which could obtain decent conditions for the men. The
absence of any powerful organisation in the trade may be ascribed
in part to the fact, that until the last forty years or so the men
had not any opportunities for mutual association on a large scale,
as wind-mills seldom employed more than one man and a boy.
The small size of the mills in which they worked, and their
scattered and isolated state, no doubt prevented the growth of
combination. But the industry is no longer carried on under
these conditions, and the time has now come for the operative
millers to take their share in the struggle for the emancipation
of labour.
Both in America, and in Australia, Trade Unionism is already
much stronger in the corn-milling industry than it is here, and the
workmen there use their organisations very effectively for their
own benefit. At a meeting- held in the Trades Hall, Victoria, in
the month of June, 1891, it was stated by the Secretary of the
Amalgamated Millers' Association of Victoria, that through the
efforts of the Association aided by the Operative Bakers' Union, all
the flour-mills throughout the colony were, with few exceptions,
working on the eight hours system. And, later, we find that the
9O Workers on their Industries.
Operative Bakers' Union had pledged itself to use every effort to
prevent the use of any flour milled in other than eight hour mills.
The unions in these two industries have thus been enabled by
working together to deal very effectively with this important
question, not so much by strikes, as by obtaining the sympathy
and assistance of the public in boycotting bakers and storekeepers
who purchased or sold flour not made under Trade Union con-
ditions. In January, 1893, the Unions were still actively em-
ployed in this work, as appears from a note in the Miller, a Mark
Lane milling trade journal of that date. It was as follows:
"LABOUR AT THE ANTIPODES. If the reports of the pro-
ceedings of the Amalgamated Millers' Association of Victoria,
which appear in the Australian papers, are worthy of implicit
credence, it is plain that that body of operatives is capable of
putting very severe pressure on capital. At a recent meeting it
was stated that the ' vigilance officer appointed by the Bendigo
Branch of "the Amalgamated Millers' Association to watch for the
arrival of consignments of non-union flour,' had reported ' that not
one bag of non-union flour had come to Bendigo for over three
weeks.' This result had been brought about, it was said, by the
' resolution of the working classes to boycott bakers or store-
keepers found purchasing brands of flour manufactured under
" freedom of contract " rules.' "
The first attempt to form a National Trade Union of Millers in
this country, with which I am acquainted, was made at Liverpool
in 1853, just forty years ago. 1 It adopted as its motto the well-
known text from Isaiah xli., " They helped every one his neigh-
bour, and everyone said to his brother, "Be of good courage."
Only millers and their apprentices were admitted to the society,
and one of the rules contained the somewhat singular provision
! There had been previous trade societies among millers, but of a local
nature only, so far as I am aware. Thus there is preserved in the British
Museum a copy of " The Articles and Rules to be observed by the Generous
Friendly Society of Millers," bearing date, Newcastle, 1813, and it is very
probable that other similar local trade clubs existed among them.
Corn- Milling, Ancient and Modern. 91
that " Any member joining the Militia after initiation shall be ex-
pelled from this Society." Their definition of a miller was one
who dressed the millstones and actually attended to the grinding
of the corn. Thus they excluded from their ranks the ordinary
labourers largely employed about the mills. The organisation
never became a very militant one, and indeed degenerated into
little more than a trade friendly club. It existed many years,
growing gradually smaller and smaller, and at last died out
altogether. T
In 1889 its place was taken by the Millers' National Union, a
militant new union which admitted into its ranks every man em-
ployed in and about a corn-mill. This society spread with great
rapidity, chiefly in the north of England and Ireland, and
numbered at one time as many as 4,000 members. 2 It
obtained many important concessions from the employers. In the
Halifax district of Yorkshire, after a few weeks' strike in 1892, the
working hours were reduced to 53 per week, with time and a
quarter pay for overtime worked, and double time for work on
Sundays and all public holidays. Already, in 1890, it had ob-
tained for its London members a considerable reduction of work-
ing hours by the gain of a Saturday half-holiday a boon long
wished for by the men in the trade. There can be but little
doubt that when the milling operatives are prepared to organise
themselves as strongly as other trades are, they can easily obtain
many other concessions and advantages.
1 This society was a proper national trade friendly society. Its con-
tribution was 5d. per week, and it provided out-of-work, travelling and
superannuation benefits, in addition to a death benefit of 7 10s., and the
proceeds of a levy of Is. on every member to anyone injured by accident.
It appears to have reached its highest point about 1870-4, for in 1871 it
consisted of sixteen branches, with Liverpool as headquarters. Its greatest
strength was in the north of England and the Midlands, though at that
time it had a London branch as well as others at Croydon and Guildford.
2 This society is still in existence and carrying on an energetic and useful
work. But it is considerably reduced in size, and consequently impaired
in efficiency, since 1892, owing to the bad state of trade and some internal
dissensions.
92 Workers on their Industries.
The milling industry is not affected so greatly by foreign com-
petition as some industries are, but nevertheless it has to face a
very keen competition from America. That land is possessed not
only of enormous advantages in the raising of wheat, but also of
the ability to command the assistance of the vast water power
readily obtainable from its great rivers. Speaking on the subject,
Voller says : " The miller in America, though actually over 3,000
miles farther away, is frequently nearer or quite as near to the
baker as his British competitor in point of cost of transit. 1 Mills
of mammoth dimensions are erected in America, but chief among
them stands Minneapolis, the chief town of the State of Minnesota.
These mills are favoured by magnificent water power wherewith
to turn machinery cheaply. They occupy a grand position as a
receiving centre to draw the unrivalled spring wheat grown in the
State of Minnesota, and the adjoining States of Dakota and Wis-
consin, and have a choice of routes to send the manufactured
goods to the coast. It is indeed difficult to conceive a place
better suited for flour-milling, and it is superfluous to remark
that our American friends have utilised to the full every advan-
tage they possess. Mill after mill has been established at Minne-
apolis, till now some 22 mills none of them small have got to
work. They have a total weekly capacity of about 180,000
barrels, and it is said to be the finest collection* of flour-mills in
the world." 2
America is thus in a position to send us the ready milled flour,
but we draw our wheat also largely from other places. Thus
India, Russia, Persia, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Egypt,
Turkey, and the Baltic districts all combine to send their agricul-
tural produce in the shape of wheat to our ports. This is by no
means due to the fact that their wheats make better bread than
English grown wheat. The dry, chaffy loaves we often find upon
our tables nowadays are vastly inferior to the home-baked bread,
1 It is to be noted, though, that the American railroads have, in recent
years, successively and greatly increased their rates for the conveyance
of grown and manufactured products.
2 See " Modern Flour Milling," by W. R. Voller, p. 197.
Corn- Milling) Ancient and Modern. 93
made of flour produced from English wheats, which we still some-
times get in country districts. It is said that we cannot grow
sufficient wheat in England to feed the people. On the other hand,
however, we could obtain an average of 25 bushels of wheat per
acre from 8 million acres of land, and this will feed 32 million people
for twelve months. This being so, there can be no truth in the sup-
position that we could not grow sufficient, as we certainly have this
number of acres of land which could be used for corn growing. But
there are other causes at work. Wheat can be brought to London
from New York to-day at a cheaper rate than it can from many of
our agricultural districts. Thus English wheat is very little used
by London millers, who could not get it if they wished, and while we
are thus allowing our own land to go uncultivated, our people are
being fed from fields 3,000 miles away. This is a state of things
that ought not to exist, and it is certain that by some means
reductions in excessive railway rates must soon be made in the
interests of English producers.
A few words in conclusion may be added. The men employed
in the milling trade must no longer stand aside from resolutely
assisting to solve some of the problems of to-day. They must
join their Trade Union, and, standing shoulder to shoulder with
their fellows, they must fight and advance with the rest of their
class. By this means, and by educating themselves and develop-
ing the necessary administrative capacity, they will be prepared for
the exercise of an increasing and more effective control over their
industry. But all the work will not be accomplished by the efforts
of their trade society as such. Some assistance may be expected
from and must be rendered by Parliament. Powers should be
granted to county and district councils to establish, wherever neces-
sary, municipal corn-mills, perhaps, it may be, in connection with
municipal bakeries. Eventually, too, the railways and canals will
become the property of the community, and, meanwhile, steps
should be taken by Parliament to check the grasping rapacity, and
to reduce the exorbitant rates, of the railway companies. Finally,
something must be done to limit the tax which the idle recipients
of rent and interest levy upon the industry and the enterprise of
94 Workers on their Industries.
the community. The lessening of the burdens upon industry would
probably result in the products of other countries being sup-
planted in our towns and cities by those of our own country.
The corn-milling industry, being then more highly organised and
conducted under municipal or some equivalent control, it would be
lifted out of its present chaotic conditions. The mills would then
be worked for the benefit of the whole body of citizens, and the
employees would be treated with that fair amount of consideration
with which democracy is beginning to treat its servants.
The first step, however, towards the attainment of this better
condition of things is the recognition of the necessity for joining
a Trade Union. Unorganised, unknown, and scattered, the
struggles of the workers are futile and disheartening. With or-
ganisation, and assisted by that development of morale and char-
acter which is always the accompaniment of organisation, the
workers can not only secure those small improvements in the de-
tails of their trade \vhich will make life so much easier for them
now, but can look forward to a time when democracy will be able
to enter upon the possession of the glorious heritage that is
awaiting it.
ENGINEERING.
By J. Swift., Amalgamated Society of Engineers.
THE engineering industry dates, for all practical purposes, from
the introduction of steam as a motive power, and its application
to the purposes of manufacture. Some account, therefore, of the
history of the steam engine is a necessary preliminary to a paper
on engineering.
It is still popularly supposed that James Watt was the in-
ventor of the steam engine. But such is not the case, and the
earliest beginnings of the use of steam power are lost in the
romance of antiquity, leaving us but scanty means whereby to
trace them. These means are historical allusions, and chiefly a
philosophical treatise on the "Inventions of the Ancients," by
Hero of Alexandria. 1 Historically, however, since Hero recorded
the existence of the steam engine, no retrogression marks its
progress.
The earliest mention I can find recorded of the power of steam
or some such agency, is expressed by Homer (927 B.C.), who, in
his Odyssey, makes the Egyptian prince thus address Ulysses the
Greek :
" Now, Sir, be pleased you would yourself declare
Where you were born, and what your parents are,
And your abode ; so that we may instruct
Our ship you to your country to conduct.
We use nor helm nor helmsman. Our own ships
Have souls, and plough with reason up the deep
All cities, countries know, and where they list
Through billows glide, veiled in obscuring mist. "
1 Hero is supposed to have lived about 225 to 150 B.C.
95
96 Workers on their Industries.
This is a glowing description of navigation conceived and
described nearly three thousand years ago. If not partly realised
by some potent agent whose powers seemed illimitable to Homer,
and if the ancient Egyptians employed neither steam nor other
motive power to propel their ships, then Homer conceived and
clothed with brilliant language a great idea, all but literally em-
bodied in modern navigation. In 390 B.C. Plato described a
vapour formed of " water melted by heat into air, which could be
compressed again into water ; " a very correct description of the
generation and condensation of steam, although the word steam
was not used. It is also generally admitted that Archimedes, the
great geometrician and mechanician, was conversant with the
powers of steam and steam mechanism, and he is believed to have
employed it in some of the defensive engines used at the noble
defence of Syracuse against the Romans. Like other sources of
information existing previous to the burning of the Alexandrian
library by the Saracens under Oman, 640 A.D., the records
relating to steam, with the single exception of Hero's treatise,
were in all probability lost. Many of the inventions he describes x
are very ingenious, and display an accurate knowledge of the
properties of steam, air ; and water. Amongst the number are a
syphon, a fire-engine pump, a water clock, steam engines, altar
libation engines, and automatic machines closely allied to some very
recent inventions. Hero gives two illustrations of engines used by
the priests for altar purposes, and they were undoubtedly well cal-
culated to prove extremely efficacious in stimulating that feeling of
veneration with which the ancients regarded their idols. In the
Egyptian gallery of the British Museum is a small altar of libations,
consisting of a central tank, and in the bottom of which are three
holes as if for pipes, the whole being arranged after Hero's design.
From Hero's time no endeavour seems to have been made
to apply the power of steam to any useful purpose until 1543,
when a Spanish naval captain named De Garay proposed to
propel ships by steam. His plan was kept secret, but a
1 Hero describes in all some 78 inventions, claiming some of them as his
own, but not specifying which.
Engineering. 97
steam boiler was on board, and the paddle wheel was seen to pro-
pel the vessel. The result of a trial at Barcelona before the
Spanish court was, -that a vessel of 200 tons burthen was pro-
pelled about 3 miles an hour, no mean performance then, and
interesting now as showing the progress of steam navigation. De
Garay's success was honoured by the court, but his invention was
neglected. In 1577 a rotary steam engine was employed to turn
a roasting spit, and it was described as a great and clean improve-
ment upon the dog previously employed in the work, and who
was not always proof against pawing the savoury temptation
beside him. In 1680 Papin, a French physician, invented the
steelyard safety valve, and suggested many improvements and
valuable inventions that have since been reduced to practice.
Following Papin came Savary and JSTewcomen, two English
engineers, who exerted themselves to bring the steam engine into
general use for draining mines. It was Newcomen who intro-
duced the beam or balance lever. Even on his engine, however,
the various valves and cocks were opened by hand, until a young
lad named Potter, getting tired of having to turn handles half-
way round and back again, ingeniously connected them to the
beams by means of strings and catches. Improved connections
subsequently displaced his temporary ones, but to the necessity of
encouraging Potter's laziness belongs the credit of the introduction
of self-acting gear.
We now reach the period when the steam engine emerges from
the experimental, and enters upon the practical stage, and it is to
James Watt that the credit of this is mainly due. Watt was born
at Greenock in 1 730, and the fortunate opportunity of having to
put in order a working model of a Newtfomen engine, belonging to
the Glasgow University, proved the starting point of his marvellous
inventions. He devoted much of his energy to improving the use
of steam in clearing mines of water, and with a success which as-
tonished the world. The vast improvements he wrought in its
mechanism stamped his name upon the steam engine as if it had
been his own original invention. During, and following his life,
numerous attempts were made to apply steam to navigation, but
Workers on their Industries.
without any great success. In 1802 Symington, a Scotch engineer,
made the first paddle-wheel boat of the modern class, but his in-
vention was rejected as useless, and this efficient steamboat was
laid up in Scotland, and for years was exposed to public ridicule.
It is to America that credit must be given for the successful in-
troduction of steamboats. An American engineer named Fulton
visited Scotland and made himself acquainted with Symington's
neglected invention. Returning to America he promptly introd uced
steamboats which ran on the Hudson between New York and
Albany.
The attempt made to apply steam power to the purposes of
navigation stimulated the minds of men of skill and invention to
apply the same powerful agent to the ordinary requirements of the
road, and long before Stephenson's time, various steam carriages
were made. In 1759 Murdoch, an assistant of James Watt, in-
vented a steam carriage, and in 1763 a yet more remarkable
machine was invented by M. Cugnot, which is still preserved in the
Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers at Paris. In 1802 Richard
Trevethick, a Cornish engineer, took out a patent for a steam
carriage which was exhibited to crowds of spectators on what is
now the site of the Euston Station. He afterwards constructed
another steam carriage for railway purposes, which, in 1804, ran
on the Merthyr Tydvil tramway in South Wales. It drew a load
of 10 tons at the rate of 5 miles an hour, but, having run off the
road, it was allowed to lie in the ditch as a worthless piece of
mechanism.
In 1813 George Stephenson was empowered by Lord Ravensworth
to construct a locomotive engine. It was tried at Killing-worth in
July, 1814, and drew a load of 30 tons at the rate of 4 miles an
hour. Not being satisfied with the result, in 1815 he constructed
and patented another, which doubled the speed of the first. By
gathering together the inventions and suggestions of others, and
adding various improvements of his own, George Stephenson suc-
ceeded eventually in constructing an engine which contained the
gerrn of all that has since been effected. His. name is as indis-
solubly connected with the locomotive engine as that of James
Engineering. 99
Watt is with the stationary engine. The names of many other
scientists and engineers who helped to bring the locomotive to the
point where Stephenson found it, will readily occur to most people.
Sir Isaac Newton who first suggested the steam carriage ; Thomas
Gray of Leeds who suggested the use of iron railways; Mons.
Cugnot ; William Murdoch ; Richard Trevethick ; Blenkinsop of
Leeds, and Blackett of Wylam, must all be honourably remembered
in connection with the system of locomotion which has completely
revolutionised the industrial, and, to a great extent, the social life
of civilised nations.
It is unnecessary for me to trace in detail the growth of the
locomotive engine from George Stephenson's time up to the present.
From 1829, when the Rocket at a public competition drew after it
about 13 tons weight in waggons, and, including stoppages, made
a journey of 35 miles in 1 hour and 48 minutes, 1 up to the present
time, the history of the locomotive engine comprises a vast series
of improvements in detail far too numerous to be mentioned here,
until now it is one of the most perfect and beautiful of all the
machines with which the engineer has to deal, and one of which
he is justly proud.
Side by side with this progress in land locomotion we may notice
similar and equally rapid improvements in the marine engine. Nor
have these improvements been confined to the science of locomotive
engineering. The stationary engine used for manufacturing pur-
poses has progressed in about the same ratio. But it has not
been without competitors. Gas, electricity, and, quite recently,
petroleum, have been introduced as motive powers for manu-
1 It may be interesting to compare this accomplishment, wonderful as it
was in its day, with the achievements of modern engineering science.
Messrs. Dubbs & Co. of Glasgow are building for the London & North
Western Railway Company a locomotive engine, designed by Michael
Reynolds of Wolverhampton, which is estimated to attain a speed of 100
miles per hour. It is to register 2,000 horse-power, the driving wheels will
be 12 feet in diameter, there will be 3 cylinders, 18, 28, and 40 inches re-
spectively in diameter, with a 30 inch stroke. The steam pressure will be
200 Ibs., and it is expected that she will make the journey between London
and Edinburgh in 6 hours.
IOO Workers on their Industries.
factoring and locomotive purposes, and there seems no manner of
doubt that in the future of engineering the two latter will play an
exceedingly important part. In all the other branches of the engineer-
ing industry, such as sanitation, the making of roads, tunnels and
bridges, the same story of rapid and enormous advance could be told.
Before proceeding to deal with the engineering industry as it
affects the workman, it is necessary that some of the great mechan-
ical inventions that have made the industrial history of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries so memorable should be briefly
touched upon. There is a great absence of reliable information
as to the earlier mechanical appliances in use in most industries,
the ordinary course being to summarily close all investigations
into the early history of manufactures with the remark that " all
labour was manual." This was certainly not the case, although
up to the time of Elizabeth, at any rate, the mechanical appliances
used in production were few, and of a very rude kind. There were
water-mills from the time of the Romans, and wind-mills from.the
time of the Crusades, but of the precise character of the processes
performed in these mills, and the extent and nature of the labour-
saving appliances which they contained, there is scarcely any in-
formation accessible. We may, however, for all general purposes,
say that it was in the textile industries that labour-saving machinery
was first introduced to any large extent. The first symptoms of
that jealousy of machinery which afterwards became a conspicuous
feature in the development of English industry, were manifested
in 1482, when a complaint was laid before Parliament "that
certain articles of clothing, hitherto made with hand and foot,
were now being made by the use of tucking and gigge mills," and
a statute was enacted forbidding their use. For two centuries
later, the statute books contain frequent enactments, forbidding
the use of machinery in various industries. In 1543 a machine
was invented for making metal pins. In the latter part of the
reign of Elizabeth, William Lee invented the stocking frame which
he brought to such perfection that it long remained practically as
he left it, without receiving any essential improvement. Aware of
the national importance of his invention, he took it to court, but
Eng ineering. I o I
the period of his visit was not propitious. Elizabeth was in the
last stage of her decline, and her successor, who saw Lee and his
brother make a pair of stockings, looked upon the invention rather
as a dangerous innovation, likely to deprive the poor of labour and
bread, than as a means of multiplying the resources of national
industry, and of giving employment to many thousands of men.
In spite, however, of kingly hostility and courtly indifference, the
stocking frame made steady way, and in time its effect upon the
industry reacted upon most of the other textile trades. 1 For over
50 years, indeed, the tide of invention ran almost exclusively in
the direction of new and improved machinery for the textile in-
dustries, but with the introduction of steam power to manufacture,
invention took a wider scope, and has since flowed into every con-
ceivable industry. The whole trend of modern manufacture, in-
deed, appears now to be in the direction of making machinery do
the work formerly done by skilled handicraftsmen. Thus the
artisan is reduced to a mere machine-minder, engaged in constant
repetitions of a process little more than mechanical, and the results
of this change upon his intellectual and economic status have no
doubt been often detrimental to the workman, at any rate for a time.
The temporary and immediate loss thus sustained by the workers,
has led many to cavil at the introduction of machinery. But we
must not allow ourselves to be blind to the fact that, although its
immediate effect may be detrimental, yet it must tend ultimately
to the advancement of the workers. For the present, how-
ever, inventions have poured upon us so rapidly that the powers
of organisation possessed by the workers have not been able
to keep pace with them, and hence the labourers have been
unable to successfully demand their fair share of the increased
product resulting from the use of labour-saving machinery.
As the manufacture of labour-saving machinery constitutes so
important a part of the engineering industry, it is perhaps desirable
that a few words should be here said upon this side of the question.
And first a few facts as to the rapid displacement of hand labour
1 A full account of the stocking frame will be found in the " History of
the Machine-wrought Hosiery and Lace Manufactures," by W. Felkin.
London, Longmans & Co., 1867. 21s.
102 Workers on their Industries.
by machinery which is actually taking place. In agriculture,
machinery is rapidly replacing the farm labourer. According to
the census returns, between the years 1861 and 1881, some
110,000 partly skilled and unskilled farm labourers were driven
from their usual occupation, and replaced by about 4,000 skilled
artisans making machines, which were worked by about 4,500
semi-skilled labourers. In the production of agricultural imple-
ments also, new machinery has, during the last 15 or 20 years,
displaced fully 50 per cent, of the manual labour formerly em-
ployed. There has also been recently introduced a machine worked
by a petroleum engine which will with four men fell the same
number of trees in the time it would have taken 30 men to ac-
complish in the old style. Even the humble calling of fire-wood
cutting has not escaped, and machines are now in operation which
will do both splitting and bundling. Each of these machines will,
according to its size, do as much work as was formerly done by
12 to 48 men. 1 In boilermaking and iron shipbuilding,
the hydraulic riveting machine will, with one skilled labourer to
attend it, do as much work as 9 men under the old system of
riveting by hand. Mr. Knight, the General Secretary of the
United Society of Boilermakers and Iron Shipbuilders, computes
that 15,000 men have, during the last 30 years, been displaced
by the introduction of this machine alone. Nevertheless, be-
tween 1861 and 1881, the number of boilermakers in the United
Kingdom was more than doubled. In the Cleveland iron mines
drilling machines have been introduced that will, with one man to
attend them, do the work of ten men. We have only to walk
round any of the docks to see to what an extent machinery is tak-
ing the place of the manual workers there. With the introduction
of the elevator, the trimmer, and the hopper, a vessel containing
400 tons of grain which has to be discharged, trucked to the
nearest warehouse, weighed and delivered, and would under the
1 The inventor of this wood-cutting machine, not content with the suffer-
ing thus caused to the poorly paid tire-wood cutters, has placed upon the
machine the motto, " Strikers checkmated," which seems quite an unneces-
sarily cruel way of adding insult to injury.
Eng ineering. 103
old system have employed 108 men, and cost in wages 24 13s.
4d., can now be done by machinery with 36 men, at a cost of
10 12s. Id. Against this has to be placed the cost of the machinery
in the first place, antf the wear and tear of the same, but this is
no advantage to the men displaced, and only means increasing-
some what the work of the engineers in the manufacture of such
machines. Yet another example is that of the steam-navvy or
excavator. The engineer of the Manchester Ship Canal, Sir
Leader Williams, in a testimonial which he has given to Messrs.
Ruston. and Procter, the engine builders, says that about 2,000
cubic yards of good material has been excavated in 10 hours. We
shall however, be quite within the mark to estimate the quantity
worked at 1,000 cubic yards, which will give us the following dis-
placement of hand labour :
Men employed and wages paid per day with steam navvy :
1 engine-driver, 7s. 6d., 3 labourers at 4s. 3d. each, 1 Os. 3d.
12 men employed laying rails, etc., at 4s. 3d. each, 2 11s. Od.
3 lls. 3d.
It would require 50 men to remove the same quan-
tity by hand-labour at 3s. lOd. each, 9 lls. 8d.
Which means 34 men displaced at a saving of 6 Os. 5d.
Nor has the engineering trade itself escaped from this tendency
to replace hand by machine labour. One often wonders how it
would affect the minds of some of the old-time millwrights if they
could revisit the scenes of their labours, and closely examine a
modern engineer's shop, with its complement of labour-saving
machinery. One of Brown & Sharpe's milling machines will do,
in a given time, as much work, and finish it quite as accurately,
as ten men could in the old style ; and it is a common saying
amongst mechanics that those machines can do anything but talk.
In the iron and steel industry marvellous improvements have
been made since 1856, when Mr. Bessemer introduced his process
of directly converting tons of pig iron into wrought iron in a few
IO4 Workers on their Industries.
minutes. Soon afterwards he introduced his method of manufac-
turing steel, which enormously reduced its cost of production.
By this process, from one to thirty-five tons of crude iron may be
converted into steel in thirty minutes, while by the old process it
took from two to three weeks, and instead of only costing 6 or
7 per ton, its cost was 50 or 60 per ton. Even house painters
have not escaped, for at the Chicago Exhibition there was a paint-
ing machine used that did nearly the whole of the painting,
employing only 300 men, whereas in the usual way it would have
taken from 3,000 to 4,000 men ; and when visiting Birmingham
at the beginning of the year, I was shown a machine called a con-
verting machine, which turned leather into pigskin, alligator skin,
or any other fancy hide, by simply passing it through marked
rollers, true Birmingham ware. In the printing and allied trades,
the progress of invention and machinery has been so marvellous,
and its effects are so patent, that there is no need for me to dwell
upon them. In short, there is scarcely a trade or industry in the
kingdom in which some machinery which displaces a considerable
amount of hand-labour is not now employed. 1
I have felt that it is absolutely necessary to enter at some
length into these details, although they may appear to be some-
what outside the scope of my paper. They show, however, far
more clearly and forcibly than would any other means, the extent
of the development of the engineering industry, and enable us to
more readily conjecture its probable future growth. Side by side
with the introduction of improved machinery has grown up the
system of subdivision or specialisation of labour. The advantages
or otherwise of this system are a matter open to considerable dis-
cussion, but I am compelled to differ very strongly from the
opinions expressed by some of the leading political economists in
regard to it. Thus, in his " Economics of Industry," Professor
Alfred Marshall says that "the introduction of machinery, with
its concomitant subdivision of labour, relieves not only the
muscular but the nervous strain of the mechanic, and tends to do
1 Most of the examples quoted are taken from James Samuelson's
" Labour-Saving Machinery." London: Kegan, Paul & Co., 1893. 2s. 6d.
Engineering. 105
away with the monotony of his toil." 1 He further quotes examples,
which clearly show how little practical knowledge he possesses on
this particular point. After stating, for instance, that the ten-
dency of machinery was in the direction of becoming automatic,
he goes on to say that the persons who mind it must have an in-
telligence and an energetic sense of responsibility, which go a long-
way towards making a fine character. This reasoning appears to
involve a complete contradiction, and how far its conclusion is
from the truth, only those who have worked those automatic
machines, or watched the effects of such work upon others, can
form any idea. Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill wrote much in
the same strain as Professor Marshall, and as the subdivision of
labour has been carried to a greater extent in the engineering and
kindred industries than in almost any other, it is perhaps desirable
that a few words should be said upon this subject.
Firstly, then, as to its effects on the skill of the workers.
Fifty years ago there existed a class of engineers known as mill-
wrights, who, so far as regarded scientific knowledge were no
doubt quite uneducated, but who were, nevertheless, men of great
intelligence, whose work-boxes contained the tools of nearly every
trade, and who could handle these tools with skill and dexterity.
Before the days of easy communication, they used to be sent to
great distances in charge of works both extensive and intricate,
and generally executed them with a thoroughness and intelligence
that left nothing to be desired. Through the subdivision of
labour, however, this class of highly skilled mechanics has become
well-nigh extinct. By all but " dry-as-dust professors " it is
generally agreed that it is the monotony of toil that makes life so
disagreeable to the workers. Condemned from early morning to
late in the afternoon to repeat the same operation hour after hour,
day after day, month after month, and year after year, the effect
must be disastrous upon the artistic faculties of the workman.
Think for a moment of its vulgarising and stultifying influence on
human life and conduct. I very well know a certain factory in
i See " The Economics of Industry." London : Macmillan & Co., 1881.
2s. 6cl.
/
Io6 Workers on their Industries.
* H. M. Government works at Woolwich, where the introduction of
labour-saving machinery and the subdivision of work are carried
out to the utmost possible extent. Hundreds of youths are en-
gaged working automatic machines in connection with the pro-
duction of fuses, cartridges, and bullets. All that they have to
do is the merest mechanical work, one operation only, and this
operation having to be repeated in some cases thousands of times
in one day. There is little or no chance for the men so employed
ever to improve their present condition. As the work calls for
very little skill or intelligence, what chance have these youths of
exercising their artistic faculties, or their intellectual energies in
the performance of such tasks 1 Can there be any wonder if they
turn their attention, for the sake of a little excitement, to the gin-
shop, to gambling or horse-racing, and to all kinds of vice and
folly 1 Noticing one day that only youths were employed on these
machines, I inquired what became of them when they grew up to
be men. I was told that some were made " examiners." The
standard of skill required to be an " examiner " may be gauged
\ __ from the wages paid to them, viz., from 19s. to 26s. per week.
Many others drift into the position of yard labourers, and of the
rest, those who are not fortunate enough to die go for soldiers.
This, then, is one of the evil effects of that subdivision of labour
which is rendered inevitable by the necessities of the age. All
mechanics will agree with me that the introduction of machinery
has not raised the standard of skill among workmen. Nay, on
the contrary, it has enormously increased the monotony of their
toil, and limited the scope for the exercise of their ingenuity. It
must of necessity dull their artistic perceptions, and tend to re-
duce them to the mere level of machines capable only of repeating
operation so many times per day. The difficulties in the way
of altering this system are many, and where piecework is worked
the workers will not be likely to insist upon frequent changes of
work, as it would in all probability decrease their earnings. But
of this I am certain, that if our workers are to be something more
than mere machines, we shall have to give them an opportunity
^ _ of using their skill and intelligence in their work. The more
Engineering. 107
diversified the work is made, and the less monotonous the toil, the
more will the inventive faculties of the workers be quickened, to
the ultimate benefit of the state,- the workers, and the employers.
It is, perhaps, hardly necessary for me to say that it requires a J
large outlay of capital to make a modern engineering establish-
ment anything like complete. The tendency is consequently in
the direction of eliminating the private employer, and introducing
the limited liability company with the board of directors and
manager. This, however, is by no means a subject for dissatis-
faction to the workmen, as there is frequently much less sweating /
carried on in large firms, or companies, than in the smaller shops, /
which are governed directly by the employer, who is often forced
through want of proper machinery to work his men at the highest
possible tension so as to compete successfully with his better
equipped rivals. Another advantage of the " grand industry " is,
that the larger factories are generally built with a little regard to
the health and comfort of the workmen. As already suggested,
the greatest blot on the large factories is the subdivision of labour.
This must lessen the interest that the engineer takes in his"
work, for in proportion as the subdivision of work increases, so the
need for skill and intelligence diminishes. I do not mean to im-
ply that the working engineer of to-day is in point of intelligence
inferior to the artisan of 50 years ago, for, on the contrary, he is
undoubtedly far superior. That, however, is not to be traced to
his work, but to increased educational advantages, greater political
freedom, and the effects of Trade Unionism.
Of these three main sources to which the superiority of the
present-day artisan over his forerunners must be attributed, the
first, that of improved educational facilities, is too obvious to call
for remark. The second, that of greater political freedom, will
not perhaps be quite so generally or readily admitted, although it
seems to me to be self-evident that greater powers of self-govern-
ment, and more political responsibility, have materially assisted in
the growth of intelligence and thought fulness among the artisan
class. Of the third of these three factors, that of the influence of
Trade Unionism, more must here be said. It is not my intention
io8 Workers on their Industries.
to inflict upon you a lengthy history of the Trade Union move-
ment as it has affected the mechanic, from its inception up to the pre-
sent time, but only to notice a few of its most conspicuous features.
Before the repeal of the anti-combination laws in 1824, there
were small and more or less local societies in the different branches
of engineering industry. The meetings of their members were
held, we are credibly told, on lonely heaths or sequestered moors,
or more often in some barn or cellar, with a sentinel posted outside,
whose duty it was to give an alarm at the approach of any officer of
the law. With one or two exceptions, not much reliable information
is to be gathered in reference to the Unions connected with the en-
gineering industry during that period. 1 Most of it rests on oral
testimony and tradition handed down from father to son. I have
interviewed some of the oldest men in the trade, but I have not been
able to procure much information of an earlier date than 1830.
One fact, however, has been forced more powerfully upon my mind
than hitherto, and that is the intensity of the struggles which the
members of the earlier Unions must have undergone, and how
much we have to thank the pioneers of Trade Unionism for the
liberty which we now enjoy. If the men of the new movement,
instead of shouting about the " old fossils " and reactionaries,
will only apply the same amount of sincerity, self-sacrifice
and faith to the Trade Union movement of to-day, we should
not hear so much opposition to the theory of a living wage,
and law-makers, law-dispensers, and employers would not treat the
1 A great deal of very reliable information regarding the early history of
some of the Unions in the engineering trades is still in existence. Thus the
Friendly Society of Ironfounders, established 1809, has continued an unin-
terrupted existence since that year, and its archives contain valuable
historical documents reaching back to the early part of the century. The
Steam Engine Makers' Society, also, has preserved a continuous existence
since 1824, when it was, on the repeal of the anti-combination law, recon-
stituted as a Trade Union from some previously existing trade friendly
clubs. For a complete account of the history of Trade Unionism both in
the engineering and other trades, and generally, the reader is referred to
the " History of Trade Unionism," by Sidney & Beatrice Webb (Longmans,
1894, 18s.).
Engineering. 109
workmen as a commodity to be bought at the cheapest possible
price^ or as a mere dividend-producing machine. In 1824 the
Steam Engine Makers' Society was established, and exists up till
to-day, though numerically not very strong, and about the same
time all over the country small sectional societies sprang up, each
working under different rules and conditions. In 1851 several
of the previously existing societies amalgamated, and formed the
now well-known and powerful Amalgamated Society of Engineers. 1
In July, 1851, the men emplo} 7 ed by Messrs. Hibbert & Platt at
Manchester struck against piecework and the practice of putting
unskilled labourers on to the machines. This proved to be the
preliminary to a great contest. The men won a temporary vic-
tory, but the employers formed an association among themselves
for mutual defence. In January, 1852, the Amalgamated Society
of Engineers, which had been agitating against piecework and
systematic overtime, passed resolutions to restrict these two evils
in the trade. The employers met this move with a general lock-
out of all their men. They refused to negotiate or to re-open their
works except upon conditions most humiliating to the workers, in-
cluding the signing of a " document," which pledged them to
abandon their Trade Union, and decline to join any other similar
association. The men struggled gallantly against this for four
months, but were then practically starved into submission, the
whole of their funds being exhausted, and public opinion strongly
prejudiced against them. I have spoken to men who went
through that fight, and who eventually had to sink their inde-
pendence, and sign agreements which they never intended to keep,
forced to act a lie through starvation. Hundreds drifted out of
the trade altogether rather than accept the humiliating conditions.
The employers hoped that the Amalgamated Society of Engineers
was now crushed out of existence, but, as usual, they entirely
under-estimated the strength of the feeling of comradeship among
1 Of these societies, by far the most important was the "Journeymen
Steam Engine and Machine Makers' and Millwrights' Friendly Society,"
established 1826, which had, in 1848, a membership of over 7,000 men, and
an accumulated reserve fund of 27,000.
no Workers on their Industries.
the men, and of their knowledge of the absolute need of a Trade
Union to preserve decent conditions of life for themselves and
families. In less than two years the Society was stronger than
ever before, having 1 1,000 members and over 20,000, and from that
time its record has been one of unbroken progress, both in
membership and funds, till it has now 75,000 members, with an
accumulated fund of .250,000, and has paid out in benefits dur-
ing the last 40 years, no less than 4,000,000. The chief objects
of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers are to obtain a minimum
wage for its members, and to abolish overtime and piecework, but
in neither of them has it been completely successful so far. That it
has been the means of raising wages few will deny, and where the
Society is strongest there wages are highest and conditions of
working best. Overtime has to a certain extent been restrained
through putting a tax upon it, making the employers pay time
and a quarter or time and a half for all hours worked overtime.
On the other hand, this has made the men more ready to accept
overtime, because it gives them 'a higher rate of pay. There is
little to say in favour of piecework. If it were beneficial to the
men, the employers would not be so ready to force it upon them.
Its effect, indeed, is to keep down the rate of wages right through-
out the country. To the casual observer, the system of piecework
seems to be the proper method of payment. It appears to be simply
payment by result. But those who have worked it or thought
seriously about it, know that it means much more. Not only does
it lead to scamping of work, but it brings into play many of the
worst passions of human nature. Men grow suspicious of each
other, and envy, jealousy, and distrust are developed under the
system. Then it is seldom a question of contract. 1 Foremen or
1 In the engineering trades, the so-called " piecework " to which the men
are so violently opposed, is not really a pure "piecework" at all, but
rather a form of "estimate" or "contract" work. No proper list of
prices exists, nor, indeed, would such a list be possible, in view of the con-
stant changes in kinds and qualities of the work performed, and of the
enormous variations in methods of production, etc. Piecework, therefore,
means that the men so employed must themselves give a price for each job
Engineering. 1 1 1
managers fix the price often without consulting the workmen.
Some firms, wisely for the men's sake, set a limit to the earnings
of the men. Where this is not the case, some men, through
special adaptability or greater physical strength, get through their
work easier than others, and consequently earn a greater amount.
These men are taken as standards, and immediately they earn
above a certain percentage more than their ordinary wage, down
comes the prices, and they become the whips whereby their fellow-
workers are flogged. I need not dilate on the effect it must have
on the unemployed. The average earnings of the pieceworker are
one-fourth to one-third more than his day-work rate, and no one
will be wild enough to imagine for a moment that he gets the
extra remuneration without he does at least as much extra work.
This means that, on the average, every three or four men working
piecework are responsible for keeping one man out of work.
The effects of Trade Unionism in the engineering trade may be
briefly summed up as follows. First, it has immensely improved
the morals of the workers. By bringing them closer together, and
placing them under a system of discipline, they are brought to feel
that they are not single units, each fighting for his own hand, but
that, within certain limits, each is responsible to his fellow-workers.
It inculcates thrift and mutual reliance upon each other's sym-
pathy and assistance in need, while at the same time it breeds a
spirit of firm independence, and of strong and united opposition to
all forms of industrial oppression, among its members. It has
raised wages and reduced the hours of toil, and lessened to some
extent many of the other evils of workshop life, such as piecework,
systematic overtime, and the favouritism or bullying of foremen.
That the unions have not been more successful in their objects
than is actually the case is due, to some extent, to their conserva-
separately. In other words, it involves a complete return to the individual
bargain, which is, of course, the very antithesis of the Trade Union or
" collective bargain." It is against this negation of the Trade Union posi-
tion that the opposition o the men is so strongly, and rightly, aroused, and
their hostility to piecework so-called is not in any way due, as is sometimes
supposed, to any theoretic objection to good or quick workmen receiving
more wages than the others.
112 Workers on their Industries.
tive tendencies, and their slowness to change and to take advan-
tage to the full of all their opportunities. But still more is it due
to the selfishness and desertion of their fellows by the non-
unionists, who are content to take all the benefits which the union
has obtained, while unwilling to do their share in paying for these
privileges. But signs are not wanting that the former of these
evils will soon be removed. Already the Amalgamated Society of
Engineers has awakened to its deficiencies, and has broadened the
basis of its constitution, so. as to admit the new branches of the
trade into its ranks. It has also turned its attention to the ques-
tion of educating the youths in the trade in the principles of com-
bination, and has resolved to admit them into the Society as pro-
bationary members. Last, but not least, it has realised the vast
powers it possesses as a political organisation, and has determined
to secure parliamentary representation for its members by men of
their own class. 1 This is a step which it is to be hoped other
societies will soon follow, so that we may ere long see the Trade
Unionists developed into a strong and organised political force,
working together for the interest of labour through the channels
of parliamentary enactments.
The future of the engineering industry is bound to be a great
one, for new sources of employment are opening up in it every day.
With the rapid growth of labour-saving machinery on all hands,
the engineer is taking the place of the unskilled labourer in all
directions. It requires, indeed, no violent stretch of the imagina-
tion to conceive that in the near future there will be little work
other than machine making and machine minding. Nor is this
altogether to be deplored. In spite of the fact that the minding
of machinery is a merely mechanical job calling forth little of the'
better part of a man's nature, it is nevertheless better both morally
and intellectually for the worker than is the constant strain of hard
physical toil. Indeed, if the workers could secure, either by
1 The Leeds delegate meeting of the Amalgamated Societ} 7 of
Engineers, held in 1892, lasted six weeks, and resulted in a complete over-
haul and revision of the basis and policy of that world-wide organis-
ation.
Engineering. 113
legislative action or Trade Union control, a fair share of the ad.
vantages of labour-saving machinery, especially in the direction of
largely diminished hours of labour, its introduction might become
an entire blessing, even to the mere machine minder. There can
be little doubt that could his day's work be accomplished in a few
hours and himself left free to spend the remainder of the day in
mental and physical recreation, most, if not even all, the evils in-
duced by his lack of interest in his monotonous employment would
quickly disappear. For the maker of machinery much more may
be said. His is an occupation in which, if he desires to excel, he
must possess a fair knowledge of mathematics, metallurgy,
mechanics, and even chemistry. The result is that the genuine
mechanic is usually one whose intellect has been sharpened by
study, and whose work calls for considerable mental exertion. It
is true, of course, that the subdivision of the trade removes to
some extent the need and opportunities for the workman to become
a thoroughly skilled mechanic. Engineers, so called, are now in
reality fitters, or turners, or pattern makers, or smiths, or machinists.
But every one of these branches of occupation provides some oppor-
tunities for, and gives encouragement to, the workman to exercise
some of his faculties, and though it is not possible that every
engineer should become a Stephenson or a Watt, yet he may have
the satisfaction of feeling that his work is something more than
the exercise of mere brute strength. With more effective Trade
Union and legal control over the conditions of his workshop life,
many further improvements in the lot of the engineer may be made.
Firstly he requires a shorter day's work, and one beginning at a
later hour than the 6 o'clock in the morning which is now the rule
all the year round. More attention, too, must be paid to the fac-
tories in which he works in order to secure that they shall be con-
structed with more regard to the health and comfort of the workers.
Steps must be taken to insist that every possible precaution is
observed to guard against accidents to the men while at work
among the machines, and they must have secured for them adequate
compensation against such accidents as are unavoidable by a
H
114 Workers on their Industries.
thoroughly efficient Employers Liability Act. Some of these
things the men can obtain direct for themselves. For others they
will need the assistance of Parliament to realise their wishes. But
the men in these trades have long learned the lesson of standing
shoulder to shoulder in a firm combination to secure their just
demands, and they may be confidently trusted in the future to
take such steps, whether Industrial, Political, or Trade Union, as
will secure their reasonable and legitimate ends.
CASK-MAKING.
By W. Crooks, L.C.C., London Philanthropic Society of Coopers.
HISTORIANS, ancient and modern, have alike failed to furnish any
reliable data on which to base an accurate account of the industry
of cask-making. It is, however, not unnatural to suppose that
the inhabitants of the globe, in every stage of their existence and
through every period of history, have always suffered from an un-
conscionable desire to quench an insatiable thirst. It is, further,
convenient to suppose that the dawn of reason, accompanied by
marked variations in the intensity of thirst, must have induced
primitive mankind to have sought for some method of storing the
means of relief. The unreliability of rainfalls, the indefinite
character of river supplies, the changes in heat as a result of
nomadic wanderings, must all have suggested the wisdom of stor-
ing water, to say little of the more attractive nature of human
admixtures. As the race increased in numbers and in knowledge,
the supply of casks, or some similar vehicle of banking, must have
become an important factor in the lives and the happiness of our
ancestors, although no information is accessible concerning its actual
origin or later extent. There is a picture in the National Gallery
which is supposed to convey an impression of the great Biblical
deluge. Too much reliance must not be placed upon this picture
from an historic point of view, for due allowance must be made
for the fertile ingenuity and play of the artist's vivid imagination.
But if the picture is to be accepted as a description of a mytholo-
gical circumstance, the art of cooperage was, even at that ex-
tremely early period, already well advanced. The antiquity and
importance of the coopers' art, however, rests upon what is probably
Ii6 Workers On their Industries.
stronger ground than this, for it may be remembered that Bacchus
selected for his throne a cask of splendid workmanship.
But, leaving the region of picturesque mythology, and descend-
ing to that of prosaic history, we find that Pliny tells how the
people dwelling at the foot of the Alps in his day, made casks and
lined them with pitch. The idea of lining them in this manner
was probably for the purpose of making them tight and sound, an
operation which is but rarely performed now, and only then with
the object of securing cleanliness. Varro and Columella in detail-
ing the precepts of moral economy, mention a trade which seems
to correspond exactly with cask-making. And certainly from A.D.
70, in the time of Tiberius and Vespasian, the art of constructing
similar vessels with pieces of wood was well known and practised
in Italy.
The Romans, living under climatic conditions extremely favour-
able to the extensive cultivation of vineyards, had naturally a large
demand for the carrying power of casks. As their victorious
armies carried the Roman Eagle into every portion of the then
known world, this demand must have been largely increased, for
they forced into subjection the inhabitants of immense territories,
ideally fitted for the production of wines, and laid the foundations
of what are still, even at this great interval of time, the chief
centres of the wine producing industry. It is therefore probable
that both the Germans and the French were initiated into the
mysteries of cask-making by the Roman legions, arid, although,
for the particular purpose of wine carrying, skin vessels were for
long in great demand, the continental cooper had acquired consider-
able skill and a nourishing trade, long before the introduction of
the art into England.
The circumstances under which coopering became a recognised
trade in this country, cannot now be discovered. Indeed, its
origin here is clothed with as much historic doubt as is the reign
of King Arthur, or the glorious victory of St. George over the
Dragon. The earliest references to the trade, known to me, are
contained in the records of the ancient city of London, which help
to throw some light on the history of the trade, and are full of in-
Cask- Making. 1 1 7
terest to the cooper as well as to the general public. Thus we
find that, on April 6th, 1396, in the reign of Richard II., an ordin-
ance was passed to prevent those " of the Mystery of Coopers "
from making casks for beer or other liquors, out of oil or soap tans,
as the flavour of the liquors was thereby considerably injured. 1
Some eleven years later, in 1407, another ordinance was enacted
providing, that in order to secure good materials and workman-
ship, every cooper should have a trade mark of his own, which
should be impressed on all casks made by him, and so enable in-
ferior articles to be traced to their makers. In that year, 46
coopers registered their marks in the city of London, and the
ancient custom thus begun survives to this day, though shorn of
the pains and penalties attaching to its infringement in olden
times.
The date of the establishment of the Gild or Company of
Coopers in London, is not recorded, but we know that, in 1699, the
number of its liverymen was 126. A return made to the House
of Commons in 1724, shows that the membership had increased
to 203, and sets forth that they had existed as a Corporation from
" time out of mind." In the ninth year of the reign of Henry IV.,
it was enacted that casks must be made of pure wood without sap.
Other regulations were made from time to time, and in the 23rd,
Henry VIII., c. 4., the following provisions for the regulation of
the trade were made. Clause 1. The manufacture of casks by
Ale or Beer Brewers, either by themselves or their servants, is for-
bidden. Clause 2. That all casks shall be made of sound and
seasoned timber, and to measure 36, 18 and 9 gallons. Clause 7.
Gives power to the Wardens of the Coopers' Company of the City
of London, to search for unmarked casks in the City, and outside
to a radius of two miles. Clause 17. Compels each Cooper to
black mark his casks under a penalty for failing so to do.
Thus the interests of the public and consumers against deceit
1 1t is curious to note that a somewhat similar complaint is being raised
to-day by the coopers at Cork, in reference to the substitution for butter
firkins,' of boxes, which are, they aver, neither so clean nor so good for the
purpose.
n8 Workers on their Industries.
and fraud in trade were protected by legislative enactments, while,
at the same time, the Gild or Company, by its regulations and
constant watchfulness, endeavoured to uphold and promote the
interests and welfare of those engaged in the trade. Whatever
may be thought now of the policy involved in such constant and
detailed interference in trade matters as was then exerted, both on
behalf of the workmen employed, and of the public as consumers,
such regulations undoubtedly reflected with accuracy the spirit of
theorists and legislators in those days. That the regulations so
made proved themselves of great utility to consumer and producer
alike, is shown by the fact of their constant enlargement and
extension to other industries.
Leaving the dead past with all its interesting problems, and
passing over, for want of space, the intervening period, let us now
turn to consider the present position of the cooper and his trade.
The importance of the industry at the present time may be to
some extent gathered from the following facts. The brewery trade
alone, in the United Kingdom, and without including the wine
and spirit trade, has between eight and nine millions of casks in
use. The annual exports of beer and ale from the United Kingdom
for the past ten years give an average of 460,000 barrels per year,
at an approximate value of 1,500,000, in spite of the steady and
considerable decline in the amount of these exports which is taking
place. Other large items of annual export are one million barrels
of herrings, half a million tons of cement, employing almost as
many barrels, and an equally large quantity of alkali and other
chemicals contained in many hundreds of thousands of casks. In
addition to these staple sources of the demand many other trades
find that heavy goods are more easily handled in casks than in any
other form of package. Birmingham, for instance, employs three-
fourths of its coopers in making casks for hardware and dry goods,
while it is worth noting, for its economic significance, that large
quantities of mule harness are exported from Walsall and London
in casks to the sugar plantations of the West Indies, and the casks
so obtained are used by the consignees for the purpose of return-
ing their sugar and its products to this and other countries,
Cask-Making. 119
There is no doubt that the trade suffered to some extent by the
abolition of the duty on sugar, which caused considerable depression
in the ports where it was landed, owing, amongst other causes, to
the falling off in demand for casks in which we had previously
exported sugar. But whatever alterations in the laws affecting inter-
national trade may hereafter be made, it is very improbable that
this branch of the trade will ever be again revived. It must be
recognised that improved processes for extracting sugar have
rendered it both easier and cheaper to import, without loss to its
value, in other ways than in casks. It is to be hoped that the
growing importation of petroleum and other oils may do much to
fill the gap left by the loss of the sugar trade.
Another source from which the industry has of late years
suffered to some extent is that of foreign competition, considerable
quantities of ready-made casks being imported here from the
Scandinavian countries, chiefly Sweden. In this connection the
recent trouble at Peterhead is perhaps worth recording as being
the first example, of which I am aware, of active opposition to the
landing of foreign manufactured articles of any kind. A ship
loaded with ready-made herring barrels from Sweden consigned to
Peterhead put into the harbour at that port. The coopers with
their wives and families and neighbours turned out and towed the
vessel right out of the harbour again before her cargo could be
discharged. Whether the barrels were landed elsewhere or not I
have been unable to ascertain, but it is commonly reported that
they were returned to their port of origin.
The earnings of a journeyman cooper to-day will compare
favourably with those of almost any other tradesmen, but in say-
ing this, we must remember also that he probably gives more
physical energy, and produces more by hand labour than any other
mechanic in any country of the world. He is, as a rule, extremely
proud of his work, and to emulate a good workman is one of the
strongest desires of the majority of the men. When we re-
member, too, that by hand and eye training alone, without rule or
measure, he can -and does make his casks with what is practically
mathematical accuracy, we must recognise that he is actuated by
I2O Workers on their Industries.
some other influence than that of the mere wages he receives. It
is no uncommon thing for a master cooper to order his men to
make a cask of 36 or 54 gallons capacity, and to allow them a
margin of only two pints for errors. Yet, working by rule of
thumb, and with nothing but his own judgment to guide him, the
cooper will almost invariably perform this difficult feat with com-
plete success. Should he fail, however, he must proceed to alter
it at his own personal cost, as the making of casks is almost
always done by piecework. 1 This degree of accuracy is commonly
attained by all good workmen, and reveals the pride they take in
their trade. But there are a few men in the trade who are so ex-
ceptionally capable that they can turn their hands at once to any
part of the work. They will work hard during the day, making,
from the rough, heavy timber, casks of from thirty-six to two or
three hundred gallons, and will afterwards turn to making one to
hold only a pint or even less, and complete it with such finish
and elegance that it would grace an art exhibition. I am not one
of those who imagine that hard manual work necessarily produces
hard thinkers. Indeed, if that were a necessary consequence,
there can be little doubt but that coopers would be in the very
front rank of intellectual men. Up to the present time, however,
the trade has succeeded better in producing men of strong will
and sturdy common-sense, rather than deep thinkers or philo-
sophers. It may be hoped that the spread of elementary educa-
tion, and the increasing facilities for study and for the attainment
of secondary and technical training now being afforded to the
working-classes generally, will enable us before long to hit the
1 The method of payment in the coopers' trade is either piece or time
work, according to the class of work performed. The making of new casks
is almost entirely done by piecework, and for this the Trade Unions main-
tain fixed " lists of prices," according to the sizes and qualities of the casks.
The repairing of old casks is usually paid by time though sometimes by
the piece, and for this the Unions maintain standard weekly hours and
rates of wages. The earnings of a pieceworker are usually somewhat
higher than those of a timeworker, but there is very little variation in the
amounts, in either case, from town to town, practical uniformity for the
same kinds of work being the rule.
Cask-Making. 1 2 1
happy mean, and to produce men in whom the capacity for hard
work and hard thinking shall be equally combined.
The maintenance of the fairly good wages and conditions of
labour enjoyed by the journeymen coopers is almost entirely due
to the fact that organisation in Trade Unions is so old established,
and so firmly rooted a principle among them, as to be in effect
almost a hereditary habit. It cannot now be definitely ascertained
when Trade Unions were first formed by the men in the trade,
but there is much evidence of their early origin. I have
seen, for instance, the " Articles of Agreement by the
Glasgow Journeymen Coopers' Society, for raising a fund for
the supply of sick members. Instituted upon the 21st
September, 1770."
Already in 1813, too, we learn, from a return to the House of
Commons in 1834, that the master and journeymen coopers of
London had met together, and agreed upon a list of prices for
work. This list was revised at another meeting in 1816. In
1821 the Philanthropic Society of Coopers in London was
definitely established, and it has preserved a continuous existence,
and taken an active and important part in all general Trade
Union movements, since that year. The trial and acquittal of
four of its members at the Old Bailey in December, 1821, on a
charge of conspiracy, led up to the repeal of the Anti-combination
Laws in 1824, and both the masters and journeymen gave
evidence before the select committee of the House of Commons,
which inquired into the operation of those Laws and recommended
their repeal. This evidence is well worth perusal even at the
present day, and even in that age of poor educational oppor-
tunities, the men did not come worst out of the ordeal. In 1825
a great strike occurred in London owing to the men demanding
an increase in prices. It lasted 13 weeks, and ended in a
complete victory for the men.
The early history of the London Coopers' Trade Society is
fairly typical of that of the societies which were established almost
as soon, in almost every other town of importance. In 1854 these
local societies in about 20 towns in the United Kingdom combined
122 Workers on their Industrie*.
together and formed the National Association of Coopers. 1 It
existed until 1868, when, in consequence of several great strikes,
some internal dissensions were aroused, and the association was
dissolved. The local societies remained in existence, however,
although without any central organisation, until 1878, when they
again combined and formed the " Mutual Association of Coopers," 2
which still exists and performs many useful functions to the
Coopers' Societies throughout the United Kingdom.
The Coopers' Unions, in addition to their work in keeping up
the weekly wages, or piecework prices of their members, and
regulating the hours of labour, maintain also a close watch over
the other conditions of their working life, and very strictly con-
trol the methods of entry into the trade. They have maintained
intact the old system of apprenticeship in the trade, and, doubt-
less, it is to this that the excellence of the work still executed is
largely due, The existing regulations of apprentices are well
worth some further explanation. Every journeyman may take
one apprentice, who must, however, be the son of a cooper, and
he may take two apprentices if they are his own sons. The
master coopers are allowed to take any lad as apprentice whom
they think fit, but are limited to no more than 3 apprentices at
once, except in cases where there are 2 or more partners in a
firm, when they may take no more than 4 apprentices at once.
These lads must all serve 7 years at the trade, and must be
properly indentured to their employer, whether master or man.
Notwithstanding these limits and restrictions, the trade is, how-
ever, by no means understocked, and there are" always more prac-
tical coopers than can be continuously employed.
The Livery Company of Coopers already referred to has done
little or nothing for the trade for orer a century, and, so far as I
1 This was a Federal body. Each local society preserved its own inde-
pendence, but the Federal executive had power to levy them up to Is. per
member per week.
2 This Association is also a Federation of local societies. Twenty-eight
societies, including some 40 towns, and about 6,000 members in the United
Kingdom, are now affiliated to it,
Cask- Making. 123
am aware, it cares nothing at the present day for the skill of its
members so long as they can pay their entrance fees. I should,
indeed, be greatly surprised to hear that it contained six members
who were able to make any kind of cask whatever. The whole
of the credit of maintaining the standard of efficiency in the trade
belongs, therefore, to the Coopers' Trade Unions. Certainly, T
am sorry to say, none of it can be given to the masters, who, but
for the determined opposition of their journeymen, would take an
apprentice and instruct him in the art and mystery of drawing a
truck, and then expect him to develop into a first-class mechanic,
If they found he did not so develop, they would then be the first
to complain and deplore the decadence of British skill, and cry
aloud for the establishment of Technical Schools, calmly ignoring
the fact that the practical part of the trade must be acquired in
the workshop, and that if they only did their duty by the lad
properly, he would have become a skilled workman. Thus, for
instance, one of the recently established Trade Unions has had
some trouble about admitting a young man as a member who had
been apprenticed under an indenture which contained a clause to
the effect that the man he served under " agree 1 to teach him
coopering to the best of his ability." This, however, might have
been merely to hoop a cask. No Trade Society could, of course,
accept such a clause. If a Trade Union properly performs its
functions, and is really supported by its trade, its card of member-
ship should be a certificate of competence as a workman to all
who hold it, and if this condition becomes relaxed it must lead to
serious difficulties in the trade in the future.
For the present, however, at any rate, the outlook for the
trade is very hopeful. In spite of some difficulties and some
loss of trade, the craft is still a flourishing one, and the
relations between employers and men are fairly satisfactory. A
new source of trouble has recently arisen. Two or three attempts
have been made of late years to induce the journeymen to work
up into casks materials partially prepared for them by machinery.
So far, however, the coopers have successfully resented any such
encroachments on their trade. The expensive nature of the
124 Workers on their Industries.
plant and machinery necessary, and the cost of its maintenance,
combined with the absence of that discrimination which forms so
large a part of the cooper's skill, have enabled the journeymen to
prevent its advance. Although it might be advantageous to
many of the men to work with the machinery, yet they know
that this would throw out of employment at least twenty-five
per cent, of their fellows, and, under present social conditions, I
admire their courage and comradeship in refusing to take any
steps which must be followed by such disastrous consequences to
their fellow-workmen. Should they ever be compelled to work
with partially prepared material, however, it is to be hoped that
they will never surrender the condition that all apprentices to the
craft shall learn the whole of the trade, and not permit them to be
sub-divided into machine-minders and hand-labourers.
In the past the coopers have, through their very effective
organisations, helped to get many reforms through Parliament
both for themselves and for the workers generally. From 1824,
when they took an important part in the repeal of the old Anti-
combinations Laws, down to this year, when they joined in the at-
tempt to get a proper Employers Liability Act, the coopers have
never been ignorant of the fact that many of the reforms they re-
quire can be better obtained by legislation than by any other
means. It is true that Parliament made a mistake, which in-
flicted considerable injury on the trade, when it took the duty off
manufactured casks and packs or shooks, as they are sometimes
called, but allowed it to remain on the single imported or pipe
staves. This completely handicapped the coopers in England for
a time, but a deputation from all quarters of the kingdom had the
pleasure of convincing the then Chancellor of the Exchequer of
the error of his ways. Some of our men, too, regret that the duty
was ever taken off timber, as they assert that they have had
nothing but " dunnage " wood to work ever since, and it is certain
that that reform had its disadvantages as well as its advantages
to this trade. There are, however, several things which Parlia-
ment might still do with much advantage to our ancient craft.
We should like to see the power of giving certificates of compet-
Cask- Making. 125
ency to workmen in the trade, conferred, either upon the Trade
Unions, or else upon a Gild established for that purpose in all
large manufacturing centres. This would not be a difficult task,
as there is not at the present time a city or town of any import-
ance in the United Kingdom which does not possess a strong
Trade Union of coopers, most of them being federated in the
Mutual Association. The value of some such system of certifying
the competency of a man at his trade would be very great, and it
would do much to preserve and raise the standard of efficiency
throughout the whole industrial class. The House of Commons
ought to insist, too, on seeing that its resolution in favour of the
payment of standard rates of wages, and the observance of fair
conditions of labour is properly carried out. This is not done at
present so far as the coopers are concerned, for the Admiralty still
declines to pay the coopers employed in its dockyards the
minimum rates of piecework prices agreed upon between the em-
ployers and the Coopers' Society. Moreover, the fair conditions of
labour are also infringed in the Admiralty yards by the employ-
ment of labourers to do parts of the coopers' work, which ought to
be immediately stopped. Finally, too, Parliament should at once
raise the minimum age for coopers in the Royal Navy to 21 years,
so as to ensure that none but properly apprenticed and qualified
workmen are employed in that work.
With these necessary reforms accomplished, and with the con-
tinued maintenance and growth in power of their Trade Union
organisations, the working coopers will have but little cause to
look forward to the future with uneasiness or alarm. Throughout
the whole of this century they have maintained, by their own un-
aided efforts, and often in face of the bitter hostility of their em-
ployers and the general public, that high standard of comfort
which their forefathers won a hundred or more years ago. They
have kept, too, that rigid control over their work and the con-
ditions of their daily toil, by which alone the workman can be
securely defended from industrial tyranny and oppression. They
constitute a body of sturdy practical workmen, possessed of a keen
spirit of independence and a deep sense of the need and value of
126 Workers on their Industries.
unity, and mutual aid to the whole of their class. Whatever
difficulties and problems the working classes of this country may be
destined to encounter in the future, it can be safely predicted that
the coopers will not shrink from their share of the work involved
in dealing successfully with these questions. As they have done
in the past so they will continue to do in the future, and standing
shoulder to shoulder they will seek to advance, first the interests
of their own trade, and next the cause of labour generally, and
the well-being of the whole of the class to which they belong.
THE ART OF BOOKBINDING.
By Frederick Rogers, President of the Vellum Binders*
Trade Society.
To the workman whose days are spent in the production of
cheap bindings the title of this lecture may well seem a mean-
ingless phrase. " The Art of Bookbinding indeed ! " he will cry
with a scornful laugh. Why, what art is there in it? It is a
mere thing of mechanism and rapid execution; even the craft
of the hand is of little worth when machines can go quicker.
You can't be artistic on piecework unless you want to go home
without your money, and only here and there can you be so on
time-work. People don't want art, they won't pay for it. It
is not what is done well, but what is cheap, that is demanded
by the public ; not what is artistic or what is technically correct,
but what will pass without notice, that is asked for by the
employer. That there is much truth in this criticism I do net
deny ; but it is not all true, it is not always and everywhere
true of any branch of the trade. And, however much of truth
there may be in it, however low the level of bookbinding may
be on its under side, the fact still remains that on its best
side, fay its history and associations, as well as by its own in-
trinsic merit, it takes rank among the first handicrafts of the
world.
Book, " a volume in which we read ; a register in which a
trader keeps an account of his transactions". In these two
sentences matter-of-fact old Samuel Johnson, aiming only at a
correct definition of the word "book," described with considerable
accuracy, though quite unconsciously, the two divisions that exist
in the art of bookbinding. The cause for these two divisions
is found in the fact that the book in which we read and the
book in which we write, existing as they do for different and con-
trary purposes, are, from the very beginning of their creation, built
up according to different methods, and in entirely different ways.
127
Workers on their Industries.
The "volume in which we read " should be strong, true in all its
details, should open freely so that it does not require to be held down
by the hand while it is being read ; and should be, if only because
it is so often our close and constant companion, as beautiful as the
conditions of its existence will allow. The "register in which a
trader keeps an account of his transactions " is regulated by quite
other principles : it exists to be written in, that is the final cause
of its creation, and therefore it should be thrown up flat where
it is open, so that the pen can be used on any part of the leaf,
without let or hindrance. Therefore it is that two sets of prin-
ciples exist, and that the arts of the bookbinder and account
bookbinder, although akin, are not identical. An account book
need not be beautiful; it is created for the service of mammon. A
book from which we read ought to be ; it may exist for a higher
service. The account book, however, ought to have, and often does
have, as much artistic perfectness, as much technical completeness,
as are consistent with the purpose it is created to serve; and
above all things and before all things a good account book ought
to have strength. The account book needs strength, because
among other reasons it has much hard usage to undergo, and
because too often when the day is over it is treated much as
men treat coals, it is flung into the safe or strong room as a
thing of naught. To the craftsman it is, as far as the employer
will let it be, the outcome of his art : he has put somewhat
of himself into it, to the clerk it is but the badge of his drudgery.
The term " vellum binder " comes from the fact that the larger
proportion of account books, and a great many letterpress books
too, were at one time bound in vellum. It is otherwise now,
though vellum is still an important and essential material in
account book work. But the vellum of to-day is not so good as
the vellum of a century ago ; not much of the vellum of the days
of Victoria will wear like that of the days of Queen Bess. It,
like most things now-a-days, is produced more quickly, is more
brittle, less pliable, altogether of a different texture, to that of the
old church books, which sometimes are such splendid monuments
of the vellum binder's art.
The Art of Bookbinding. 129
The art of bookbinding is among the most ancient of all the
arts of the world. By the side of it printing is a product of
modern days. Even though in this nineteenth century it has
become, like so many of the finer elements of life, somewhat
degenerate, and in many of its aspects can only be called a
handicraft, it ranks among those handicrafts which possess a
spiritual side ; it links, or may link, labour and art together ; in
it the craftsman and the artist may join hands; it is as old
as books, and books are as old as the civilisation of the world,
The oldest form of reading book was the roll : a sheet or sheets
of skin or other material covered with written characters and
fastened to a roller or two rollers as the case might be, for the
purpose of holding it by, and rolling or unrolling it for reading
from. It is this kind of book that is so often referred to in the
Old Testament by prophets and teachers of the law. The oldest
form of memorandum book is undoubtedly the tablets which were
used in ancient Greece and Rome. These were thin plates of
wood, ivory or metal, with a narrow raised margin around them,
giving them an appearance not unlike a tiny slate in a frame.
Within this raised margin was a coating of thin wax, which could
be melted off each day, and on the wax the owner of the tablet
scratched the things he wished to remember with an iron pen,
called a stylus. This stylus often had at the end a small blade
for the purpose of erasure. There is more than one stylus in the
British Museum that in form is strangely like the old metallic
pencil that some of us knew about when we were boys; and
there is no new thing beneath the sun the leaves of the ancient
tablets, like those of the modern magazine, were stitched together
with wire. The man who fastened together leaves of papyrus,
slips of bark, or tablets of the kind here described, was the first
bookbinder. There was nothing more than the craft of the hand
required for such simple work as this; and probably it was done
by slaves, though there was certainly some of the beginnings of
art in the ornamentation of the ancient rolls. It was a clumsy
method of keeping memoranda, this scratching on wax, for a
people so cultured and so practical as those of ancient Greece or
\
130 Workers on their Industries.
Rome ; but it lived well on into the Middle Ages, and the tablet
books of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries that lie about in
the museums of the world differ from those of the ancient nations
only in being more beautiful, in having come under the influence,
in having been touched by the spirit, of mediaeval art.
It is in the Middle Ages that bookbinding becomes an art indeed;
and yet it is not the art of the binder that gives the beauty to
the old gospel books and manuals of the Roman Church. He still
had only to protect the leaves of written parchment from damage
and destruction, and his methods were practical and utilitarian
enough : he sewed them on strips of vellum or other strong
material, and bound them together between oaken boards, cover-
ing them sometimes with reindeer skin or wild boar's hide, or
leaving the boards bare as when the carpenter gave them his final
touch. It was the art of the jeweller, the goldsmith, the worker
in enamel or precious metals, that was called into play, to build
the temples that were to enclose what the devout souls of that
time held to be the oracles of God. The binder was a monk, the
binding room the scriptorium of the monastery ; and the handling
of these ponderous volumes could hardly have been light or easy
work. John of Trittenheim, Abbot of Spanheim in 1486, in his
exhortation to the monks about their besetting sin, idleness,
says he has diminished their labour outside the monastery, " lest
by working badly you should add to your sins, and have enjoined
on you the manual labour of writing and binding books ". The
wainscot boards, solid and strong though they were, did not always
protect the books as the monkish craftsmen hoped they would.
The worms that ate through the wood ate into the precious writings
too, but the boards were well fitted to bear the sumptuous art work
that was built up about the volume. And we shall only under-
stand the meaning and the value of that wonderful work when
we realise that what was aimed at by those who directed it was
nothing less than the incarnation of the book's idea. Nothing-
was too costly, too beautiful, to decorate the covers of the sacred
legend or the book of prayer. To their devout imaginings, the
thoughts that were clothed with spiritual beauty deserved to be
The Art of Bookbinding.
clothed with material beauty too ; and those who did the best of
that old work did it because it was a labour of love, because they
believed that in the doing of it they were working for God Him-
self. " Send me St. Peter's Epistle in letters of gold, even as a
glittering lamp and an illumination for the hearts of the Gen-
tiles," said St. Boniface, the English apostle to Germany, writing
to the Abbess Eadburgha. " Rhetoric, religious passion, untrained
enthusiasm, nothing more," says the critic of to-day when he reads
the words. Be it so. But it is the results of that enthusiasm,
when its words were made flesh, when they took practical and
material form, that have given to the art of bookbinding a glory
and a beauty that is the admiration of all later time.
Some of the methods of modern bookbinding came in with
the invention of printing in the fifteenth century. Books became
more numerous and less costly, and their bindings became less
costly also. The oaken boards began to give way to boards
made of sheets of paper, often of manuscript, pasted together, and
pressed till they were hard. Many a valuable " find " has come
to modern scholars when these old boards have been separated,
and the writing on the sheets examined and read. Lighter
material and other methods of ornamenting were needed ; and the
binding of the printed books was done by the printer himself or
craftsmen whom he employed ; and then from the printer it passed
to the stationer ; and there is no doubt that the term " stationery
binder," which in the provinces is often applied to members of the
vellum binding trade, is a term surviving from the time that the
craft began to divide itself from its old methods, and become an
adjunct of the stationery trade.
Materials for covering increase and vary in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. The goldsmith and the jeweller help the
binder still, but less often. Velvet, cloth of gold, vellum, calf
skin and sheep skin are all finding their way into the craft, as is
also the art of blind stamping, and tooling the cover with gold,
or, as we should say, gold finishing. The joy there is in beholding
a beautiful book is- finely expressed by John Skelton, a poet of the
sixteenth century.
132 Workers on their Industries.
" With that of the boke lozende were the clasps,
The margin was illumined all with golden railes
And bice empictured with grass-oppes and waspes,
With butterflies and fresh pecockes tailes,
Englozed with flowres and slimy snailes.
Engraved pictures well touched, and quickely
It would have made a man hole that had he been right sickely,
To behold how it was garnished and bound,
Encovered over with gold and tissue fine,
The claspes and bullion were worth a thousand pound,
With balasses and carbuncles the border did shine
With aurum mosaicum every other line."
The bookbinder as a person following a distinct craft is heard
of now : the celebrated printer Wynkyn de Worde had a binder
in his employ, who lived in Shoe Lane, Fleet Street, and of whom
he thought enough to leave 20 at his death, a large sum in those
days; and in an Act of Henry VIII., passed in the year 1533, we
find that foreign competition is affecting the bookbinding trade.
Books are being printed and bound abroad and being sent into
England in large numbers, and the craftsmen complain that they
cannot compete with the foreigner; and so the Act commands:
"And furthermore where there be a great number of the king's
subjects within the realm which live by the craft and mystery of
binding books, and there is a great multitude well expert in the
same ; yet all this notwithstanding there are divers persons that
bring from beyond the sea great plenty of printed books . . . and
them sell by retail, whereby many of the king's subjects, having
no other faculty wherewith to get their living, be destitute of
work, and like to be undone, except some reformation be herein
had ... be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that no
persons resiant or inhabitant within this realm, after the feast
of Christmas next coming, shall buy to sell again any printed
books, brought from any parts out of the king's abeysiance, ready
bound in boards, leather, or parchment, on pain to lose and forfeit
for every book bound out of the said king's abeysiance . . . six
shillings and eightpence."
In the minutes of the Stationers' Company of the year 1577, we
The Art of Bookbinding. 133
hear again of the intruding foreigner, and find a resolution passed :
"That the bookbinders that be Englishmen and freemen of this
city shall have work before strangers and foreigners, so that they,
the same freemen that be Englishmen and binders, shall do their
work workmanlie, and as well as any other would do it ".
In the binding of the Elizabethan period the old beauty and
the new mix and combine. Archbishop Parker tried to revive
again the glories of mediseval binding; and the queen herself
was a patron of the art, and loved beautifully bound books,
as did also "God's silly vassal," James I. The gilding of
the outsides of the covers is referred to in a play by John
Webster, entitled " The Devil's Law Case ; or, when Women
go to Law the Devil is full of Business," in a passage which
reads :
" There is in my closet
A prayer book that is covered
With gilt vellum ;
Fetch it".
This play was published in 1623, and James I. had added by that
time to the collection of royal books which in their capacity as
specimens of fine binding are among our national treasures. He
died two years later; and with Charles I. and the civil war the art
passed under a cloud, and with Puritanism it enters upon another
phase of its existence. It is at about the time of Charles, if a
Parliamentary paper of the reign of Queen Anne can be taken as evi-
dence, that milled boards made from old rope are first invented.
The cheap printer is busy; he is cheap and nasty mostly, but he
illustrates for us how democratic Puritanism was. His books are
for the tradesman, the merchant, the small shopkeeper, the crafts-
man and the soldier. He no longer prints for the classes, the
masses are reading books too. They are religious books most of
them, and side by side with the cheap printer there goes naturally
enough the cheap binder.
There is no better object lesson to illustrate the change of Eng-
lish thought and feeling before the Reformation and after than may
134 Workers on their Industries.
be obtained by placing a gorgeously bound missal of the beginning
of the sixteenth century by the side of a volume of Puritan divinity
bound at the close of the seventeenth. They differ as a passage
from Dante differs from a speech by Cromwell. A different spirit
manifests itself in each. The church book, ablaze with all the
beauty that a cultured imagination and refined artistic percep-
tions can clothe it with, brings us close to that old world of
splendid pageant and imposing form, and proclaims to all who
can hear, that inward beauty and outward should correspond
in all things, that art is the handmaid of religion, and is
never employed so worthily as when it is doing her work. The
plain brown covering of the Puritan tome, with its solid, strong,
honest, but withal commonplace work, speaks with another
voice, and says the outward form is nothing, the inward spirit
all. There are noble qualities in the work, but it is the work
of handicraftsmen, not of artists. It has truth and honesty
for its motive and base, but beauty is a thing of naught.
It lacks often those little refinements that come of mere
technical knowledge, there is a clumsiness in the thing as a
whole which marks the labour as of indifferent skill ; but in
its solidity, its simplicity and its strength, there are all the ele-
ments of the Puritan character and the Puritan ideal, and in its
mournful hue, as contrasted with the brighter colours of the other
volume, one almost seems to hear, and to understand anew the
words of the Puritan sonnet, Puritan even though it came from
Shakespeare's pen: i
" Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth,
Fool'd by these rebel powers that thee array,
Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth,
Painting thine outward walls so costly gay? "
The virtues of the second Charles were not numerous, but
among them must be counted a love for good bookbindings. He
never paid for them ; still he got them together, and those bound
by Samuel Merne, his own bookbinder, and presumably therefore
under his own direction, show the merry monarch as a man of refined
The Art of Bookbinding. \ 3 5
taste. Red morocco was evidently his favourite material, but he
never overloads it with gold. The royal cipher is there, but of
other gold work there is no more than is necessary to make a beau-
tiful book. There are a few volumes in his collection which are
exceptions to this rule, notably a prayer book of 1662 which is
English binding, and the tooling of which is as elaborate as it is
lovely.
Chained books were common objects enough from the time of
the Reformation onward, and the chained book implied a solid and
heavy binding, the chain usually being fixed to the oaken board :
any other material obviously would not hold a chain very strongly.
Aggressively Protestant writers have written eloquently about the
outrage to freedom of thought and speech that a chained Bible
implied. It is sad to have to destroy the sentiments of sincere
conviction ; but the chain was simply put there to protect the
sacred volume from the book thief, who, like the poor, is always
with us. What an old author says makes the meaning of the
chained book apparent enough: ''The thievish disposition of
some that enter into libraries to learn no good there, hath made
it necessary to secure the innocent books, and even the sacred
volumes themselves, with chains which are better deserved by
those persons who have too much learning to be hanged, and
too little to be honest."
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and in the
early years of the eighteenth, the finest bindings were done in
France and Italy. Great book collectors, like Jean Grolier,
treasurer of the Duchy of Milan, and a race of craftsmen-artists
without their equals in the world, show that the artistic traditions
of the Middle Ages had never been broken through, that the book
was always a thing of beauty, and that the craftsman and the
artist joined hands in its creation.
The name of John Cosin, Bishop of Durham from 1670 to 1686,
should be held in honour by our craft. He was a great patron of
binding ; he knew the difference between good binding and bad,
would have nothing to do with the shoddy article, but did not
mind what he paid for good work. He was partial to red letter-
136 Workers on their Industries.
ing pieces, and had some technical knowledge of the way of put-
ting them on, as the following direction to his binder will show :
"Where the books are gilded over there must of necessity be
a piece of crimson leather set on to relieve the stamp. . . . The
impression will be taken the better if Hutchinson shaves the
leather thinner with a sharp knife."
To the student of industrial history the eighteenth century is
a howling wilderness, and a dreary waste, but the binders are
heard of at its beginning, its meridian is marked by the work of
the strange genius Roger Payne, and in its last quarter the binders'
Trades Unions come into existence. A Parliamentary paper
dealing with the "Case of the Bookbinders" was published in the
year 1711, and deals with a grievance vitally affecting the trade,
that of a tax on millboards. The paper throws much light on
the condition of the trade in the early years of the eighteenth
century. At the same time was issued a similar paper entitled the
" Case of the Printers," who protested against a tax on paper. The
printers are very certain that the taxing of binding material is
not of serious importance; but are sure also that if their goods are
taxed public morals will suffer. " Many hundred master printers,"
say they, " and journeymen of this city, depend upon the print-
ing of small pamphlets, especially the latter, by which all Britain
is supplied with sermons and other tracts of devotion at a cheap
rate."
"In Duke's Court, St. Martin's Lane, Mr. Roger Payne, the cele-
brated bookbinder, whose death will be a subject of lasting regret
to the founders of magnificent libraries." So the Gentleman's
Magazine for December, 1797, announces the death of a man
whose work marked a new departure in English bookbinding
The eighteenth century was the period in which most of our great
private libraries were formed, and when men of education and
leisure took a lively interest in the pleasures of book collecting.
Many of them were careful too that their books should be well
bound, and the skill and originality of Roger Payne secured him
permanent employment from those who could pay him a good
price for his work.
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
The Art of Bookbinding. \^ 137
Men like Lord Spencer, Mr. Woodhull, the Rev. Mr. Cracherode
and Dr. Mosely owe some of their fame to-day to the fact that
they could appreciate the genius of this man. For it is genius,
the power to see and to create the ideal in his art, that meets us
in the work of Roger Payne ; and never surely dwelt genius in
stranger temple than this poor drunken craftsman gave it for
abode. Born at Windsor in the year 1739, he learned his trade
at the hands of a Mr. Pote, a bookseller and binder to Eton
College. Coming to London, he found a friend and helper in a
benevolent bookseller, one Thomas Payne, whose shop at the
Mewsgate by Charing Cross was the resort of all the book writers
and book lovers of that time. Through the kindness of this
namesake of his, Roger Payne was established in business, and
among the people who met at the shop by the Mewsgate, he found,
no doubt, employment enough. He could do better work than
any binder living in England, and his work possessed originality
and beauty too. To such a man, with such a connection, fame
and competence might be expected to come as a matter of course.
He was founding, and for the first time, a purely English style in
bookbinding. He owes to the French school, as much as genius
ever owes to those who work before it in the same field, sugges-
tion, no more. All else was born of his own instinctive love of
the finer elements in his art. His sewing is as good now as when
it left his hands a century ago ; his backs are flexible, his boards
true, and it is only at his joints and strangely coloured end papers
that the judicious find reason to grieve. He had no sense of har-
mony of colour, but his perception of beauty of form was wonder-
ful. He knew the secret that elemental forms combine best;
and his tools were of the simplest kind, and few in number. Dots,
gouges, simple little circles, a crescent, and one or two flowers
made up his whole stock ; and any one of them taken by itself would
be thought nothing of by the modern finisher. But their marvellous
combinations under the old craftsman's hand are the admiration of
all who admire good bookbinding in the English-speaking world.
The French care little for him, but as an artist he is as great as
their greatest of his day. Even though the French school in-
Workers on their Industries.
fluenced him at the commencement of his career, when he became
a master of his art he stood alone, original and unique.
But, rarely gifted though he was, his life's story was tragic
enough. He found many friends, but his enemy was of his
own household. The ideal side of the man's character comes
out in the excellence and the beauty of his work, into it he puts
all that was best in his strange personality. But when that
work is done and payment had, it is another man whom we see.
The artist has vanished, and it is a will-less, thriftless ne'er-do-
well who is in his place, devoted to what he calls, in the language
of the Restoration poets, "barley broth". He is even poetical
about it, and writes verses on the backs of his bills before he sends
them home with his work. The following lines, which he is
reputed to have sent home with a book On the Wines of the
Ancients, have been preserved by oral tradition :
"Homer, the bard, who sung in highest strains
The festive gift, a goblet for his pains ;
Falernian gave Horace, Virgil, fire,
And barley wine my British muse inspire,
Barley wine, first from Egypt's learned shore,
And this the gift to me from Calvert's store ".
Another specimen of his verse really appears on one of his bills ;
it strikes the same note as the previous lines, but is very different
from them in other ways :
" But history gathers
From aged forefathers
That ale's the true liquor of life.
Men lived long in health
And preserved their wealth .
Whilst barley broth only was rife ".
The glimpse we get of the man's character in these bills shows
him an honest craftsman. His contempt for inferior work comes
out in such sentences as these : " Bound in the very best manner,
sewed with strong silk, every sheet round every band, not false
bands ". Or, " Sewed in the very best manner with white silk, very
The Art of Bookbinding. 139
strong, and will open easy, very neat and strong boards". Or,
again, " The back covered with russia leather before the outside
cover was put on. N.B. The common practice of bookbinders is
to line their books with brown or cartridge paper." 1 "The paper
lining splits and parts from the backs, and will not last for time
and much reading." Or, " Sewed in the very best and most honest
manner on bands outside. . . . Vellum headbands, so as not to
break." There is a picture of him at his work, drawn at the
instance of his namesake Thomas Payne, in which we see a bent
ragged man in a squalid wretched room, bare of furniture, leaning
over a press, and clasping a book with both hands. The walls
broken, the floor black with the dirt that will accumulate even
in the smallest binding room, the whole picture suggesting
nothing but grime and gloom. It was under conditions such
as these that the finest bookbinder of the eighteenth century
lived and worked; and, in spite of his vices, and the levels
they dragged his life down to, he made himself famous in
his craft ; and, as the Gentleman's Magazine puts it, " lived
without a rival, and died without a successor". Of his death
we know nothing. He ended his days in the garret where he
worked ; and the words, "Roger Payne, male, 26th November," in
the register of St. Martin's Church, is the last record we have of a
craftsman who, in a commonplace age, loved for their own sakes
beauty and sound principles in his work.
All work that men do has its humorous side, and the humours
1 When will letterpress binders return to the sound methods of Eoger
Payne, and abolish utterly and for ever paper linings in backs, at least in
whole and half bound work? " Never," will be the reply, " it is impossible."
I answer, It is nothing of the kind. It only wants some one with pluck
enough to make a new departure, and try whether sound principles cannot
fit in with the cheaper methods of work. Neither flexibility nor strength
can be had from brown paper ; and so the general public have been taught
to admire the hollow back, or as it is stupidly called " the spring back".
The idea of the hollow back is borrowed from account book binding. There
it is a sound principle ; in a reading book it is an absurdity. The tight
back is the only sensible method for books that are not account books.
140 Workers on their Industries.
of bookbinding would fill a volume. The craftsman will find
them first in the amateur bookbinder. He is usually young. He
learns his trade from reading articles about it in popular manuals
for teaching all things quickly and nothing well. He spends
much time and energy, and money (if he has got it) in buying
materials and tools. He turns his bedroom into a workshop, and
decorates the furniture with paste and the hearthrug with glue,
to the infinite disgust of the female members of his household.
But he is a perfectly harmless personage, and the attitude of the
craftsman towards him need not be that of a violent antagonism,
but rather a tender pity. He makes far less than he mars. His
work is always valuable as a moral object lesson, and it rests
peacefully among the lumber of the second-hand bookstall at last
usually in the box marked twopence.
Then there is the amateur designer. He is usually middle-
aged, of independent means, and without family, and, therefore,
with leisure to cultivate his fads ; and one of these is a belief
that he can create new designs for the art of bookbinding We
all know him. We have seen the pleasure that beams from his
benevolent face as he brings from among his treasures a strange
and wonderful volume, which he assures you with a self-satisfied
smile has been done entirely after his own designing. Peace be
unto him ! He has relieved the binder of an awful responsibility.
Curious and strange have been the materials used for book
coverings. There is an edition of the Pilgrim's Progress, the
boards of which are made of the oaken beams that were taken
out of the belfry of Elstow church. Books have been covered in
fragments of altar cloths, pieces of bridal dresses, in the skins of
witches, murderers, and members of the French aristocracy ; and
there is a story of an excellent lady who counted among her
treasures a copy of the Whole Duty of Man, bound in a piece of
her first husband's dressing-gown. It would be interesting to know
what her second husband thought of that binding ! In the ill
usage of books food for mirth is often found by the unregenerate
mind. It is shocking to hear of a handsomely bound Shakespeare
being made into a stand for a plate of hot pea-soup. Hannah
The Art of Bookbinding.
More's story of the country village where there was only one
Bible, and that used to prop a flowerpot, causes a feeling as of
cold water at the spine ; but it does not come near the story of
the travelling canvasser who was seeking orders for a newly-pub-
lished work. Expatiating on its merits to one whom he would
fain make a purchaser, he was met with the growl : " It's no use
to me, I never read ". " But then your family," interposed the
indefatigable one. " Haven't got a family, have nothing but a
cat." "Well, you'll want something to throw at the cat." He
got an order. Vellum binding has its share of mirthful legends ;
and one of the most famous of these occurred not a hundred miles
from South Place, and was in connection with a Government
contract. Among those who worked on that contract there was
one man whose sole business it was to sprinkle the edges of the
books that had to be bound. It is terribly monotonous work,
this everlasting beating a brush against a stick, and ought to be
given to a binder rather as a punishment for his sins, than a
constant task. But the hero of my story was a happy soul, who
did not feel the monotony, but took life easily, and possessed
among his many virtues an infinite capacity for enjoyment. And
it happened on one occasion that he enjoyed himself, not wisely
but too well. And when, in the incidents that followed that day's
enjoyment, he was asked by a distinguished and responsible citizen
what his trade was, he replied, with a diction that Dr. Pangioss
himself could hardly have surpassed, that he was "a book-edge
decorator to Her Majesty's Government".
The first Trade Union in the bookbinding trade was formed
by the London letterpress binders in the year 1780, and its
formation was followed by an industrial battle. The story of
that trade union fight, and of many another battle in our trade,
has been written by a skilled and sympathetic pen in the pages
of the British Bookmaker. To those who know something of the
life described that story is as interesting as the pages of a
romance. It is a little world to which it introduces us, this world
of the workshop as it was a hundred years ago. The air is thick
with the dust of small detail ; men's ideas are pinched and low ;
142 Workers on their Industries.
master and workman alike are narrow and bitter by turns in the
fights they wage for what each thinks his right. But heroism
is there in the struggle of the craftsman against unjust laws, that
meet him and trip him at every upward step he takes; self-
sacrifice is there in his patient endurance for the sake of a principle
that will bring him little of worldly good ; tragedy is there, dark
and hideous, in the working of those laws which make criminals
of men who only seek to humanise somewhat their dreary drudg-
ing lives, whose great offence is, in the words of the indictment,
that they did unlawfully conspire, combine, confederate, and
agree together, to take from, lessen and diminish one hour in
each day's work. All those elements, which, seen in historical
perspective, give dignity and beauty to the storm and struggle
of social conflict, are there to round off and make complete this
pathetic drama of commonplace everyday life.
The formation of the societies there seems always to have
been a trinity of societies among our letterpress friends took
place in the years 1780-83 and '85 ; one being called the " Friends,"
the other the " Brothers,' the other the " City Brothers ". The
wages at that time seem to have been seventeen shillings a week
for binders, and twenty-one shillings for finishers; the hours
twelve and a half per day ; and the first strike, like the last, was
for a reduction of hours. The men and the masters were in
closer contact then than they are now. There is an intermingling
of names among them that often suggests relationships between
the employer and the man to be employed : and indeed we know
relationships often existed. And there are changes of fortune,
such as the trade society man of one year becoming the employer
of the next ; his society principles becoming small by degrees and
beautifully less as his business grew larger. But the men who
fought for the hours' reduction in 1786, saving up their money
for three years beforehand, were very fine representatives of their
class. The law and public opinion alike were against them, their
organisation was illegal, and had no protection from fraud or dis-
honesty, but they were in deadly earnest; and in March, 1786, the
battle for the hours began. The first to give it was His Majesty
The Art of Bookbinding. 143
King George III. He only kept one binder, Mr. John Polwarth,
and he was spared the crime of striking the king. But the
master bookbinders did not give way : the law was on their side,
and the booksellers supported the bookbinders in declaring that
the demands of the journeymen were unreasonable, and their
combination without any justification at all ; and what began as
a strike became a lock-out followed by a prosecution. On the
25th of April, 1786, twenty-four bookbinders were indicted at
Clerkenwell Sessions House for unlawful conspiracy. The in-
dictment was long; but the sum and substance of it is found in
the charge that they " did unlawfully conspire, combine, and
agree together to take from, lessen, and diminish one hour in
each day's work; . . . and afterwards did, on the same day,
unlawfully assemble and meet together, and form themselves
into an unlawful society to support each other in such unlaw-
ful purpose".
They were duly committed for trial ; and owing to the skill and
energy of their counsel, Mr. Erskine, the trial was removed to the
Court of King's Bench, where it took place in Feb., 1787, some
ten months after their arrest. Mr. Erskine claimed that the
men had a right to combine, and could legally do so if they did
it in a proper manner. No such right, however, was recognised
by the law in those days ; but the trial ended in the discharge of
eighteen out of the twenty-four men, the other six were ordered
to go back to their work, and come up next term for sentence,
which sentence, they were informed, would be severe. The six
were : Thomas Armstrong, William Craig, William Lilbourne,
William Wood, Thomas Fairbourne, and Alexander Hogg.
They refused to return. To do so, they held, would be to give
up all they had fought for ; and this they could not do. By the
advice of their counsel their society was broken up, but return to
their employers on the old terms they would not. On Tuesday,
May 8, 1787, they came up to receive sentence. One of their
number was discharged on the ground of insufficient evidence ;
the other five, all of them finishers, were sentenced to two years
imprisonment in Newgate, on the State side. Tlirre, the
144 Workers on their Industries.
imprisonment was not so severe as on the felons' side. But
it was imprisonment ; and one of the five, William Wood,
being of a more sensitive nature than his companions, felt it
bitterly enough. Deprived of the society of the wife he loved,
he fretted and pined in sad solitude, until gaol fever brought
his imprisonment to an end before one of the two years had
passed away.
There is a strangely dramatic episode in connection with his
funeral, which will appropriately finish his story. One of the
foremost of the men's opponents was James Mathews, who is
described as "a very respectable bookseller and vendor of medi-
cines at No. 18 Strand". He was also a lay preacher in a chapel
of his own in Holborn, and was the father of Charles Mathews,
the celebrated comedian. Mrs. Mathews was William Wood's
aunt. It does not appear that she was in any way responsible
for the spite with which her husband treated her nephew ; but
when poor Wood's body was brought from Newgate to its last
resting place in the burial ground of Whitfield's Tabernacle,
Tottenham Court Road, the bearers passed up the Strand, set
the body down opposite the house of Mathews, and relieved their
feelings by a deep and mournful groan. It was answered by a
cry from within the house ; and Mrs. Mathews, who had surveyed
the scene from the dining-room window, fell senseless to the
ground, as the cortege went on its way.
Through the kind offices of Sir Matthew Bloxham, one of the
sheriffs of London, the other four prisoners were released soon
after their comrade's death, the hour fought for was conceded; and
so ended the first strike in the bookbinding trade.
The Vellum Binders' Society was founded on the 28th of March,
1823. The title has since been altered to Vellum Account Book
Binders' Society, to suit the conditions of modern trade, the words
(Account Book) being put in brackets; but the term "Vellum
Binder" described with sufficient accuracy the man who bound
account books in the days of George IV. The mysteries of the
modern binding shop were unknown in those primitive times.
But the grinding employer and the bullying foreman existed
The Art of Bookbinding.
then as they exist now; and the old dark phantom, "slackness of
work," hovered over the workman's life and filled it with bodings
of ill, and drew the men together for mutual protection, and caused
the society to be formed. They were a simple straightforward
group of men, who met together at the Savoy Palace in the
Strand not the royal residence, but the public-house to draw
up the first rules and call the new society into being. They had
no large ideas or far-reaching schemes to develop : it was danger-
ous for a workman to have any ideas at all seventy years ago, but
they had a very clear perception of what they meant to do.
And they meant first of all to make provision for out of work,
then to uphold the quality and dignity of their handicraft, and to
protect themselves from the encroachments of unjust employers.
The first meeting place of the society after it was duly formed
was the " house of Mr. Orlando Gardner, Nag's Head, Aldersgate
Street ". The Scribes and the Pharisees take up the trade unionist
now, but he consorted with publicans and sinners then. The sub-
scription was ninepence a fortnight, and out of that the member
received a ticket for one pint of porter. The influence of Mr.
Orlando Gardner and of the Combination Acts may possibly be
visible here. Until these Acts were repealed all meetings of
workmen were illegal unless a " friendly glass" was drunk.
There are certain rules in the book of 1823 which show that
it is the Trade Union, not the employer, who is upholding the
dignity and integrity of the handicraft by which he lives ; that
it is the employer, not the workmen, who is responsible for the
low standard of labour which obtains now. One rule is : " That
from and after the 25th day of March, 1824, no persons can
or shall be admitted a member of this society who has not
served a regular apprenticeship of, or the full term of, seven years
as a vellum binder, machine ruler, or gilder (except those who
have been in the business seven years previous to that date) ".
Other rules make it imperative that a man shall be of good
character or he is not allowed to join, and all the rules affirm
directly or indirectly that before a man has any right to call him-
self a member of a trade he ought to know that trade thoroughly.
K
146 Workers on their Industries.
That if he belongs to a trade society he ought to see to it
that his society contains skilled men, and honest men and good
citizens too. Side by side with these written laws there was
always the unwritten law, that if you found a fellow-workman who
was deficient in the knowledge of his craft, it was your duty, if he
were a society man, to teach him where he was ignorant, and set him
right where he was wrong; and so I claim for our society, and for
Trade Unions generally, that in advocating these sound principles
they are upholding all that is good in their crafts. It is
curious, too, that the principles they advocate are those of the
ancient Church, that the Saxon Archbishop Dunstan laid down
the same law as that laid down by the trade unionists, when he
framed his rules to govern the priest-artisans of the guilds he
formed a thousand years ago. 2
The first minute book now existing bears the date of August
30, 1830, and December 11, 1838, on its last page. It is full of
quaint, odd incidents which illustrate the simple but somewhat
unbusiness-like honesty of the men who built the society up.
It deals with dinners, out-of-work allowances, the best method of
banking what capital there was, of votes of confidence and no
confidence in its chairmen and presidents. The "landlord" seems
to have been regarded as a kind of honorary member of the
society. Its funds when not in the bank rested in his care.
Then comes a minute that only shillings shall be left out of the
savings bank ; half-crowns, crowns there is no mention of sove-
reigns, but, I suppose, they had one now and then being always
placed in the savings bank after the meeting. Commonplace re-
cords, all of them, but suggesting straightforward dealing. No
2 The following passage from the Canons of Archbishop Dunstan is to be
found in Dean Hook's Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury, vol. i., page 417.
It undoubtedly contains the unwritten law of the Trade Union to which
I refer. Its date is probably about A.D. 979 :
" And that every priest do moreover teach manual arts with diligence.
And that no learned priest reproach him that is half learned, but mend
him if he know how. And that no noble born priest despise one of less
noble birth. If it be rightly considered, all men are of one origin."
The Art of Bookbinding.
defalcations, no missing account books, no muddled accounts, even
though often the officials are men with no pretence to a knowledge
of business methods. The out-of-work allowance in the early
years of the society is three-and-sixpence a week, this sum in-
creasing as the funds increase. There is no record of any im-
portant dispute in those early years; in fact, the thing that
bulks most largely is the annual dinner and ball. And in read-
ing the rules and regulations for this solemn function, it is
easy to see how the morals of the conventicle influenced the
Trade Union movement. There is something of the stern upright-
ness of. Puritanism, its knowledge of the weaknesses of human
nature, as well as its narrowness and strait-laced methods of
thought. They have their ideals outside the region of the Trade
Union, these craftsmen, and they try to make them influence their
everyday lives.
In 1839 the vellum binders were able to make two loans of
ten pounds each to the Bookbinders' Society, that society
being then in difficulty The minutes show that the loans were
made with much cordiality; but the term "Bookbinders' Society"
does not show which of the letterpress societies it was to which
the money was lent. There is nothing to indicate the state of the
funds in that year; but in 1841, which is two years later, there
are sixty-two members, and 126 in the funds, the out-of-work
pay for that year being under 14. The debt of the bookbinders
is liquidated in 1847, and there is the usual dinner. Things go on
with a monotonous regularity for a number of years. The society
increases in membership, helps other societies who need it with
gifts and loans, has its own little squabbles and snarls; and then,
on the 31st of December, 18.50, which is quarterly night, an
incident occurs which reveals an infamous system of blackmail
which was levied by foremen on workmen who were weak enough
to endure it. A foreman to a firm in Long Acre engages work-
men, and promises them constant situations if they will pay him
a sum of ten pounds in weekly instalments; and for the sake
of constant work at thirty shillings per week, which was the
wage then, men were found who would plod and pinch and save
148 Workers on their Industries.
to keep up this system. It is apparently a non-unionist who
reveals this to the society, it is the society who kills it so far
as that can be killed that flourishes in secrecy and has its roots
in darkness. Such episodes are common in past industrial history,
and show the morality of business in a curious light.
After the year 1850 the Benevolent Fund comes into existence;
there is little that is exciting, little that makes history in the
society's records; but there is still the struggle, growing harder and
harder every year, to keep up the standard of the craft, to let no
man join who does not know his trade, who cannot prove he is a
good workman ; and the trade is increasing, and the workshops are
growing larger, and the half-skilled workman is being created,
and the Government contracts appear upon the scene.
The influence of Government work upon the vellum binding
trade has been rather the influence of bulk than of quality. It
has as a whole only been fairly good, the work done for many large
banking houses and business firms has been better in every way
than that done for Her Majesty's Stationery Office. But the
great point about Government work is that it comes in large
quantities ; there is plenty of it, and the money is all right. It
has always dominated the London trade, and has always been
eagerly sought after by London employers.
In the contract shops division of labour became almost a fine
art. It was the doctrine preached by all economists then. But,
looking at the results as they are manifested in the industrial
world of to-day, I say, without hesitation, that a doctrine more
fatal to artistic excellence or technical skill, more dangerous to
good workmanship, or more demoralising in its influence on
labour, has never been spoken in England since her industrial
system began. 3 Speed in production it may produce, cheapness it
3 Whatever qualities there may have been in the economic doctrine so
vigorously expounded by the older economists, we have got to the defects
of them now in most of the skilled handicrafts, and it is time we recon-
sidered our position. Divided labour is the cause of that low standard of
work which obtains so largely. We have trained men on it, and created
a race of handicraftsmen who have never been in touch with the finer
The Art of Bookbinding. 149
may create ; but efficiency in workmanship never. From it, as from
some deadly upas tree, has grown the unskilled workman, the man
who is for ever a child at his calling, the inferior work which we
bewail, but the causes of which we are too blind to see ; the half-
starved labourer and the millionaire employer are alike its fruit.
The struggle for a Trade Union rate of wage in Government con-
tracts and other public work is a protest against it, and against
the sweating to which it has given rise. It serves one purpose,
and one alone : the modern desire for rapid production ; and to
do this it lowers the status of the workman, and floods the labour
market with those who, through no fault of their own, only
know one or two elements of the trade which they profess,
and so they are to be got cheap. But in the fierce competition
which has transformed English commercial life into a social
hell, one aim of the employer of labour is to make profits,
honestly if he can, but to make profits. And what more
easy than to take your cheap workman and put him on to well-
paid work? He will do it badly, but it will pass in the rush
and hurry of business life. And how it will help you with an
awkward estimate to base it on a wage of thirty-six shillings a
elements in their craft, and are getting to believe that these elements do
not exist. This is true, not of bookbinding alone, but of all handicrafts
alike. And the British public, with its usual density, blames the work-
man, and employers read papers at meetings of themselves bewailing the
decadence of British labour, and the foreign workman bogey is trotted out,
and causes for the evils deplored sought everywhere but where they may
most readily be found. Technical education is the most loudly proclaimed
remedy, and technical education is good so far as it goes, and those who
are working for it are actuated by the best motives. But all the same it
is worked in the interests of the employer, and the net result of its labours
hitherto has simply been to increase the number of amateurs in many trades.
The remedy lies with the Trade Unions themselves, and if they will not
take it the evils will not be remedied. They must go back so far as they
can to their earlier standards. They must fight for the quality of their
work as well as for its hours and its pay. They must revive the apprentice
system again. Even for the most artistic of handicrafts, the workshop
properly organised is the best training school-. But it must be organised
by the craftsmen themselves, it cannot be done for them.
150 Workers on their Industries.
week, and work it out on a wage of twenty-five ! Your business
credit will rise high in the City, even though you are acting
upon principles that are infamous.
It is the office of the Trade Unions to check this reckless gam-
bling in which the counters are human misery and human need, to
say to those who take no thought for their fellows, you and yours
are a danger and an evil to the commonweal, and it is our business
to check you if we can. But how ? That is the question that rises
to a thousand lips to-day, as the vision of our industrial system
shapes itself before their eyes. The Trade Unions are doing worthy
work in the industrial war, and in that work the unions connected
with the ancient art-handicraft of bookbinding take no second place.
The eight hours fight of 1892 is and will ever remain an honourable
episode in Trade Union history. By the agitation of the Vellum
Binders' Society the Trade Union clause 4 appears now in the
Stationery Office contracts for the first time ; and it will be the
business of that society to see that no breach of that contract
takes place, But is it always to be war ? Must it always be said
of the workers, as it was said of those who worked on the walls of
the ancient city, "They which builded on the wall, and they
that bare burdens, with those that are laded, every one with one
of his -hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held
a weapon " ?
Not always surely, but for a time it must. The desire for
cheapness, and the great mass of unskilled labour in the market,
fight against the trade unionist ideal of the living wage.
Yes ! the living wage that is proclaimed from the pulpits of the
churches now is only the old Trade Union doctrine of a minimum
wage, coming back to ua in another form, The unions have
4 The following are the Trade Union clauses in the contracts for
Stationery Office work. It is but a small mercy that no preference shall
be given between unionists and non-unionists ; but if it is not adhered to
breach of contract is the result, and certainly it prevents the wholesale
boycotting of unionism that has been adopted in some firms who have
done Government work.
" SUE-LETTIXG.
"The Contractor shall not under-let any work to be done under this
The Art of Bookbinding. 151
always maintained that there ought to be an irreducible minimum
in the wages of every trade, such minimum to be fixed by mutual
agreement, below which men should not go, because to go below
it is to fall beneath the level of the man, and go back to serfdom
once more.
The warfare will not be ended until that principle becomes
part of our social life, and out of that warfare the unions will
learn that their logical development is to become producing
organisations themselves. If handicrafts can be controlled,
directed, and princely fortunes made out of them by men who
do not know them practically, but who do know the methods of
business life, and we know well enough they can, then they can
be controlled and directed in the interests of those who live by
them, when they are sufficiently awake to those interests,
sufficiently above the smaller vices of our industrial life to
combine together for their own purposes, and for the production
as well as the protection of their own means of life. Socialists
are teaching us that the functions of the State can be enlarged,
that, in the words of William Pitt, Government is omnipotent to
Contract or assign the Contract to any other person, without the written
consent of the Controller ; and shall undertake that in the engagement
and employment of workmen and others required for the execution of any
work ordered under the Contract, no preference shall be given between
unionists and non-unionists.
" N.B. Attention is directed to the following resolution passed by the
House of Commons on the 13th of February, 1891, and renewed on the 21st
of March, 1893, to the spirit and intention of which all those who may be
entrusted with Contracts for the Stationery Office are expected to conform.
The Controller will be compelled to consider the question of removing the
names of any firms who may fail to comply with the spirit of the resolu-
tion from the list of those allowed to undertake work for the depart-
ment.
"Resolved: that, in the opinion of this House, it is the duty of the
Government in all Government Contracts to make provision against the
evils of sweating disclosed before the Sweating Committee, to insert such
conditions as may prevent abuses arising from sub-letting, and to make
every effort to ensure the payment of such wages as are generally accepted
as current in each trade for competent workmen."
152 Workers on their Industries,
protect. But they make the common mistake of all enthusiasts,
when they say there is one remedy for all social diseases, and that
remedy is theirs. There must be many remedies, since there are
many causes. We shall enlarge the functions of the State, and
control, so far as Government can control, the power of the capitalist
over the labourer more and more. But there must be an in-
dependent life within the State to prevent Government becoming
tyranny, and the Trade Unions will be chief among those who
shall call that independent life into being. In that wise conserva-
tism which causes them to keep up the standard of their labour,
in their feeling that it is better for the many to have the means
of life than for the few to be millionaires, that the elevation of the
race is better than the creation of giants, are the safeguards
that will give solidity and stability to social life. But to realise
these ideals they must grapple with the methods of the business
world themselves; and while on the one hand they aim to control
the capitalist by legislation, on the other they must by co-opera-
tion seek to supersede him and direct the means of employment
for their own use and benefit.
THE AGRICULTURAL LABOURER.
Ey Frederick Verinder, General Secretary of the English Land .
Restoration League.
THERE is one fact too striking to be overlooked, too serious to be
ignored which meets us at the very outset of any enquiry into
the condition of the agricultural industry in England. The agri-
cultural labourer is engaged in an industry which is at once the most
ancient and the most fundamentally important of all industries.
Yet, while the total population, and the total working population of
this country, have been steadily increasing, the numbers of those
who are engaged in agriculture have for more than a generation
past shown a large, steady, and progressive diminution. The
census of 1861 brought to light the fact that three counties 1
agricultural counties had decreased in population during the
previous decade. By 1871 the decrease had extended to eight
counties ; in 1881 fourteen counties had decreased, although the
normal rate of increase in the rural districts was, for the ten
years, about 17 per cent; and fourteen counties although not
the same fourteen again showed a falling off in 1891. All these
are counties in which agriculture is the occupation of the great
majority of the inhabitants. The detailed returns of the last
census are not yet available. But from the figures of the census
of 1881, Dr. Alfred Russell Wallace 2 has arrived at the appalling-
conclusion that no less than two millions of the rural population
(including those directly engaged in farm work, or in dependent
and related trades, with their wives and children) left their native
villages in the ten years ended in 1881, and were added to the
1 Cambridge, Huntingdonshire, and Norfolk.
2 " Bad Times : An Essay on the Present Depression of TradV (Mac-
jnillan, 1885.)
154 Workers on their Industries.
already over-grown population in the mining, manufacturing, and
commercial centres. Nor does the census of 1891 give us any
reason to hope that this process of rural depopulation is at an end.
Even where a county is, on the whole, increasing in population,
there is often a loss in the agricultural parts of it. Thus, taking
only the counties with which my own work during the past two
years has brought me into special contact, Berkshire increased in
population by 9'2 in 1881-91, but more than one half of the in-
crease was in Reading, and thirteen sub-districts, out of the thirty
into which the county is divided, decreased. Cambridgeshire has
only increased by 1 '7 ; only three sub-districts show a normal
increase, and even the small towns are being overtaken by the
dry-rot which has been destroying the villages. Herefordshire has
decreased 4 '3 per cent. Hertfordshire, with an increase of 8 f 4
per cent., is decreasing in eight of its twenty-eight sub-districts.
Norfolk shows a total increase of 10,857 (equal to 2*3 per cent.),
but Norwich has itself added 13,000 to its numbers, leaving a
dead loss on the rest of the county. In fact, out of fifty-nine sub-
districts, thirty-eight are actually decreasing, and seventeen are
losing at least a part of their natural increase. In seventeen out
of the thirty-nine sub-districts of Warwickshire the population
decreases; and the total increase on the whole county (9*2 per
cent.) is fully accounted for in the growth of four of its urban
districts. Wiltshire has a virtually stationary population, having
increased only by 2 '3 per cent, in ten years, and, while Swindon
is growing rapidly, twenty-seven sub-districts (out of thirty-seven)
are being depopulated.
It is an undeniable fact that, both absolutely * and relatively, 2
1 Thousands and Decimals of Thousands (England and Wales].
1851 1861 1871 1881
Farmers and their relatives . . 371 '7 3577 342-9 318-5
Agricultural labourers and shepherds . 1253 -8 1188-9 980 '1 870-8
Nurserymen, gardeners, etc. . . 85 '9 91'3 112'7 83 '4
Drainage and machinery attendance . (no return) 32 3'5 6'0
Breeding and dealing (horses and cattle) 48'2 59'1 64-7 62-3
1759-6 1700-2 1503-9 1341-0
^Percentage, of population engaged in or supported by agriculture in Eng-
ajid Wales : in 1851, 23-7 ; in 1861, 20'9 ; in 1871, 16'5 ; in 1881, 13'2.
The Agricultural Labourer. 155
the agricultural population is, and has for a long time, been
diminishing over practically the whole agricultural area of the
United Kingdom. And this fact becomes even more serious when
we consider the character, as well as the extent, of the migration
from the rural districts. It is unnecessary to quote a long string
of authorities for facts which, unhappily, come within the daily
experience of every one of us. I will only appeal to the testimony
of Dr. Ogle, the eminent statistician. " Speaking statistically,"
his only business being to ascertain what the exact facts were, he
is constrained to tell us of " the continuous migration of the most
energetic and vigorous members of the rural districts," to describe
" the migrants, taken generally, and in bulk," as " the cream of
the rural population," and to complain that "the most stalwart of
the natives of the country are despatched annually to the towns
and manufacturing districts and swallowed up by them as by an-
other Minotaur." 1
I have been able thus briefly to touch upon the question of
rural depopulation because, unhappily, there is no dispute as to
the facts or as to the gravity of the social problem which arises
out of them. It is far more important, now that the depletion of
the villages has become a commonplace with politicians of every
shade of opinion, to inquire into its causes, than to pile up arrays
of figures to prove its extent. I propose to direct your attention
entirely to English counties though Scotland and especially
Ireland have suffered in the same way and even to a greater
degree and chiefly to those counties in the South, West, East
and Midlands, of which my work during the past few years has
enabled me to obtain a fairly complete knowledge. During the
last three summers the " Red Vans " of the English Land Restora-
tion League have been travelling from village to village in certain
counties. The lecturers, who travel in them, have been engaged
in organising the labourers into local unions, and making careful
inquiry into the conditions under which the labourers live and
move and have their being. Over 1000 of the daily reports of
the lecturers, each dealing with a separate village, have passed
i Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, June, 1889, pp. 212-232.
156 Workers on their Industries.
through my hands to be studied and summarised and collated,
whenever possible, with independent sources of information. 1
The result of a careful study of the facts thus brought to light
is to show that the low wages and irregular employment of the
agricultural labourer are the chief causes of the depopulation of
the rural districts. In Suffolk (1891) ; in Berkshire, North
Herefordshire, Cambridgeshire and Somerset (1892) ; and in
Berkshire, Wiltshire, Norfolk and Hertfordshire (1893), the wages
of ordinary day labourers were found to vary from 10s. or 11s. to
11s. or 12s. a week, sometimes, but not nearly always, with a free
cottage. From Warwickshire weekly wages of 13s., 14s., and 15s.
were frequently reported ; often the pay is lower, sometimes
higher ; but cottages are considerably dearer, and the net earn-
ings after paying rent are not greatly higher than in the southern
counties, considering the nearness to Birmingham and the Mid-
land coal fields. For these wages the labourer has to work ten
or twelve hours a day for six days a week. Horsemen, cow-
men, shepherds, and carters usually get Is. a week more than
ordinary daymen, but for this they have to work earlier and later
every day, and to look after the animals on Sunday. Much is
made by some people of the extra earnings of the labourer at
harvest-time. So far as my information goes, the earnings of the
labourer during hay and wheat harvest have, of late years,
averaged about 6 or 7, but last autumn they fell below the
average by some 15s. or 20s., the harvest being short and scanty.
The men are paid in various ways ; by the acre, by overtime in
addition to their ordinary wages, by contract for the whole
harvest, by double their ordinary pay ; and upon the money they
receive, representing, as it usually does, excessively long hours of
abnormally hard toil, they mostly depend for the rent of their
cottages, their annual supply of clothes, and the meeting of " con-
tingencies," of which the absence of employment in winter is one
1 For fuller details than I am able to give in a short lecture, the "Red
Van Reports " (English Land Restoration League : 8 Duke Street,
Adelphi, London, W.C. : one penny) should be consulted ; also the "Red
Van Notes" in the Weekly Times and Echo, May-September, 1893.
The Agricultural Labourer. 157
of the most serious. Many families this last harvest made only
enough to pay the farmer their rent, and, when the accounts
were squared, had no money to take at all, and many strapping
young fellows had no harvest, and consequently no fallback for
the winter. For in the winter almost everywhere, except where
the labourers' unions have been able to keep them up to summer
level, wages are lower by at least Is. a week, and work is far
more irregular than in the summer months. In some districts it
is an established custom to put down the wages on a certain date
after Michaelmas and to restore the docked shilling about Lady
Day. In the winter, too, the meaning of the term " day "
labourers becomes apparent. The wages, which I have quoted at
so much per week, are more commonly and more accurately stated
by the labourers at so much Is. 8d., Is. 10d., 2s., and so on
per day. They are paid usually only for the days they are
actually at work, and in winter they are so often " rained off," or
kept from work by frost or snow, that they frequently place their
average earnings during the winter season at something like three
days a week, and this at a time when the need for extra coal,
food, clothing and doctoring is at its greatest, and the pay for
every day's work at its least. The agricultural labourer enjoys
in winter all the irregularity of work which drove the dockers of
the Port of London into open revolt, without the consolation of
receiving the " docker's tanner " for the hours during which he is
lucky enough to find employment.
There are not wanting signs that the irregularity of employment
is a growing evil in the rural districts. As early as the middle of
July last the daily reports of the Red Van lecturers began to
mention the presence of " unemployed " in the villages, and a
month or two later reports came to hand daily of young fellows
who " had no harvest " and were walking about the lanes in en-
forced idleness during what should have been the busiest time of
the year. And in Berkshire, the winter of 1893-4 has seen an
organised " unemployed agitation " among the labourers, and in
the streets of Abingdon and Wantage the scenes of Tower Hill
and Trafalgar Square have been repeated on a smaller scale,
158 Workers on their Industries.
though perhaps with greater result, for the Labourers' Union was
able to call attention to the needs of its unemployed members in
such a way as to secure work from the Guardians, or otherwise, for
nearly the whole of them.
I shall probably be reminded that these statements do not at all
agree with the optimistic reports about the agricultural labourers
lately put before the Labour Commission and the public by certain
labour sub-commissioners. Perhaps it would be sufficient to say
that wherever the Red Van lecturers and the sub-commissioners
are at variance, such enquiries as I have been able to make show
that the lecturers are right and the commissioners wrong ; and to
add that a conference of delegates from several labourers' unions in
October last, unanimously " protested against the general tone of
the sub-commissioners' reports as being far more favourable than
the facts warrant, and asked the public to withhold its judgment
until an opportunity be afforded of taking statements from the
labourers themselves." But, fortunately, independent testimony
as to the wages actually paid to labourers is forthcoming from
quite unimpeachable sources. The Guardians of the Buntingford
and Koyston Unions are hardly likely to understate the wages
they pay their labourers. A little while ago they protested against
the Hertfordshire County Council for paying their roadmen wages
''exceeding the wages paid to the agricultural labourers in this
district." The " excessive " wages paid by the Council amounted
to no more than 13s. a week a net average income which in-
cluded, of course, none of the harvest and other " extras " with
which the field worker is so often credited. We have it therefore
on the best local authority that the wages of farm labourers in
these districts of Hertfordshire average something less than 13s.
a week. The Maidstone Guardians a few weeks ago cut down
their roadmen's wages from 2s. 4d. to 2s. a day on exactly similar
grounds. And we may, I think, accept as accurate the statement
made by the Abingdon Guardians, as a reason for offering Is. 6d.
a day to the unemployed, that the local farmers were paying their
men no more. Facts like these make it less difficult to believe,
^hat is actually the fact, that some of the Wiltshire labourers
The Agricultural Labourer. 159
were last summer earning only Is. 6d. a day, and that in some
cases, when the fortnightly payment fell due, 3s. was deducted
from the 18s. earned to pay the rent of the cottage in which the
worker and his family had to " live " on the balance of 7s. 6d.
a week !
It is not surprising that under these circumstances the wives
and daughters of the agricultural labourers are so often compelled
to go out to work in the fields, or to toil for the " sweater " at
home. From every county come reports of women working in the
fields for wages of from 8d. or 9d. to Is. 2d. a day ; sometimes
varied by a turn at stone-picking, paid for at 6d. a load. But it
certainly comes as a startling surprise that some of the very worst
features of the " sweating " system should have found a foothold
in the English village. I venture to quote a summary, which I
have just made for another purpose, of some of the reports of the
Red Van lecturers on this point.
" In villages between Colchester and Ipswich, women are em-
ployed by certain London firms to { finish 7 trousers and other
garments. The price which the women get for ' finishing," i.e.
for stitching linings into trousers, putting on numerous buttons,
pressing and finishing all buttonholes, and fixing six tackings is,
in the case of corduroy and moleskin trousers, twopence a pair.
Buttons are supplied, but the worker has to spend threepence for
thread on every dozen pairs of trousers. For tweed and other
materials of a comparatively thin sort only Jive farthings a pair are
paid. In some cases investigated by the lecturer, the earnings of
women at this work averaged only one penny an hour. A firm at
Ipswich sends out linen and flannel trousers (for tennis, boating,
etc.), to be made throughout that is, bundles of a dozen * shapes '
are supplied, and for putting these together with a sewing machine,
making and fixing pockets, putting on eleven buttons, ironing and
finishing, the worker gets sixpence a pair. Boys' knickerbockers
are also made out of materials supplied for twopence a pair.
11 In villages around Abingdon (Berkshire) a good deal of ' slop 3
work is done by women. They are paid 2^d. or 3Jd. per pair for
160 Workers on their Industries.
finishing trousers, for which they have to find their own cotton
and thread. They have also to deliver the goods themselves, or to
pay their carriage to Abingdon.
" The women of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire are largely en-
gaged in another sorely-sweated industry the making of straw-
plait. The work is paid for by the score yards, at from ld. or 2d.
for four-straw ' rustic,' to 5d., or for the most difficult kinds, such
as 1 6-straw brilliant, 6d. or 7d. per score. In some cases the straw
seems to be found by the dealer ; generally the worker has to pay
for it. Thus, when the Van visited Great Offley, women were there
making an 11-straw plait in two colours at 5d. per score, from which
about 2d. must be deducted for the straw. A woman whom the
lecturer interviewed at Hemel Hempstead was making ' 7-straw
split.' She had to provide herself with a 'mill' costing half-a-crown,
and a c machine ' (4d.) for splitting the straws. A bundle of white
straws cost 5d., and one of blue straws 3d., which must be bought
from the dealer to whom the plait is sold. The straws will work
up, if good, into about five score of plait. If the plait is excep-
tionally good, the price paid is 4d. per score, but the price is liable
to arbitrary reduction if the dealer is not satisfied. The five score
would, therefore, not bring more than Is. 8d., from which 8d.
must be deducted for the cost of the straw. 'If I commence
about nine in the morning and leave off at nine at night,' said the
woman, ' doing some housework between whiles, I can do 25 yards,
which will bring me in ' clear ' about threepence. It is poor enough
pay, but as I have the children to look after I can do nothing else.'
Where this sort of work is largely done, the homes of the labourers
are grievously neglected, and intemperance is said to be prevalent.
There is little doubt that the dealers form a ' ring,' in whose hands
the poor workers are absolutely helpless. When the ' Red Van '
visited the Tring Plait Market on September 8th, the dealers,
taking advantage of the fact that harvest was nearly over, and that
many men, whose wives were plaiters, were out of work, were re-
ducing the already starvation prices by a half-penny or more per
score yards !
" The hat-making appears to be but little better. The women
The Agricultural Labourer. 161
who make men's ' boaters/ for instance, are paid by the f score ' at
2 Jd. or 3d. As a ' boater 'will take about three-quarters of a score
of plait, the nett price for making, after paying for thread, is about
three-halfpence per hat."
I have spoken of the uncertainty and irregularity of the day
labourers' employment as one of the chief evils against which he has
to contend. But there is, at least in some parts of the country, an-
other class of workers, who purchase a sort of fixity of tenure by the
sacrifice of their most elementary rights. Our attention was first
directed to this question of "hired servants" by certain agreements
sent up from East Wilts by the lecturer in charge of one of the
"Red Vans." A blank printed form is used for carters, cowmen, and
shepherds, the amount of the wages and of the bonus which may
be earned on certain conditions, and certain details as to work and
hours and fines, being filled in in writing. These agreements con-
stitute a hiring for a year, and generally run from Michaelmas to
Michaelmas. The hiring is, therefore, effected at a time when
wages are falling, and when the period of uncertain employment
is near at hand.
One such agreement which I possess is certainly a remarkable
document. It was entered into by a Wiltshire lad some four years
ago (Michaelmas, 1889) with Mr. W. B. Gauntlett, a large farmer
at Collingbourne, Wilts. The " servant " agrees to serve his
"master to the best of his ability, more particularly in the
capacity of Cowman, but also in any work that may be required of
him within his power when not employed in the particular service
for which he is hired, and to work and lodge, when required, on
any of the farms in the occupation of the MASTER.
" The SERVANT further agrees to be always at his work at all
times required by the Master or his Agent, and to milk not less than
ten cows at a milking, and mwe if required. To be cleanly, quiet,
and quick in milking, not to ill-treat the cattle, or to use profane or
indecent language." *
1 The words in italics are added to the printed form in writing.
L
1 62 Workers on their Industries.
That is to say, the lad is taken on to do any kind of work to
which he may be put, including the full work of a cowman for
just any number of hours during which his master may choose to
keep him at it. And he is to do all this for an average wage of
seven shillings and sixpence a week, with a chance of earning a
bonus equal to another eightpence a week if he does it all to the
" entire satisfaction " of his employer. For "" in return for the
above services the Master agrees to pay the servant Seven Shillings
per week to Old Lady Day next, thence to Old Michaelmas, 1890,
Eight Shillings per week. And at the expiration of his term, if he
shall have conducted himself to the entire satisfaction of his
MASTER during the said term, AND ONLY IN SUCH CASE, to give him,
over and above his wages, Thirty-Jive Shillings. It is also agreed
that any cow found to be only partially milked, the Servant shall
submit to be fined a sum not exceeding Two Shillings and
Sixpence."
The fine of one-third of a week's wages for neglecting a small
fractional part of half a day's minimum task is noteworthy. The
plea that a cow is injured by not being fully milked would appear
more reasonable if similar consideration were shown for the human
slave who milks it.
Not only must this unfortunate " hired servant " show sufficient
self-control " not to use profane language " under circumstances of
great provocation, he must also exhibit the virtue of punctuality.
Assuming that his master is merciful to his man as well as to his
beast, and, in spite of the privilege which the agreement gives
him of working his slave " all round the clock," only exacts an
average of 10 hours a day for the seven days a week, the wages
come to about 1-Jd. an hour. This is the computed value of the
servant's work when the master has to pay him for it. But when
it is a question of fining the poor wight for not doing his work,
his services are valued at the rate of a mechanic. For " it is also
agreed, that should the said SERVANT absent himself at any time
(by being late in the morning or otherwise) from his work, it shall
be lawful for the MASTER, as he may see fit, either to rescind this
agreement, or to deduct from the weekly wages of the said
The Agricultural Labourer. 163
SERVANT a sum not exceeding twopence for every quarter of an
hour he is so absent."
Once more : there are no " extras " beyond the bonus already
mentioned, not even, in this case, the usual " house rent-free," and
the agreement is carefully framed so as to relieve the employer of
every sort of liability, while bringing home the fullest responsi-
bility to the other high contracting party :
"It is also hereby agreed that should the said SERVANT be pre-
vented by accident, sickness, or any other cause whatever, from at-
tending to his duties, an amount equivalent to the time he is so in-
capacitated shall be deducted from his wages ; and it is further
agreed, that should there be any negligence or misconduct on the
part of the SERVANT, the MASTER shall have full power to set aside
this agreement, and the SERVANT shall make good any loss the
MASTER may sustain from either of these causes."
A clause like this and similar provisions against liability for
accident^ or during sickness, are found in other agreements in use
in Berkshire, Yorkshire, etc. deserves the attention of a Home
Secretary, who has shown so much interest in the question of
Employers Liability. And surely the next Truck Act should con-
tain a clause making these " fining " clauses plainly illegal. 1
It only remains to add that the lad, now grown up to man's
estate, was still working, in 1893, under an exactly similar
agreement, except that his wages had been raised to 10s. a
week.
Head shepherds in this district appear to be paid 12s. a week
with certain bonuses, contingent upon the number of lambs they
rear, and a cottage ; under shepherds, 11s. a week, with a smaller
bonus; carters, 12s. a week, and <3 at Michaelmas; cowmen, 10s.
i The Law Officers of the Crown have given it as their opinion that the
effect of the decision in Howlett v. Allen is, not that fines are illegal, but
that deductions from wages on account of fines are not authorised, and
therefore are prohibited under the Truck Act. Mr. Gauntlett says that
the fines are very rarely enforced. This may be so, but does not alter the
fact that a man who is compelled, in order to obtain employment, to sign
such an agreement, is no longer a citizen but a slave.
164 Workers on their Industries.
a week, their agreements being in other respects like the one
reprinted above.
How the country labourer with his proverbially large family
makes both ends meet on his scanty wages is a standing puzzle to
townspeople like ourselves. " How do you all manage to live on
10s. a week 1" I have often asked a labourer's wife. " Sir," is the
frequent reply, " we dont live ; we only linger" Of course the
garden, and sometimes the allotment, helps them out with vege-
tables ; but it is not fair to count this in, as is often done, as if it
were part of the wages they get for their work on the farm ; it re-
presents very hard work when they should be resting. The Red
Van lecturers have been at some pains to collect a number of
" labourers' budgets." Nearly one half of the total income of the
family is usually spent on bread and flour. Tea, butter (or is it
margarine 1) or lard, cheese, sugar, a hundred weight of coal, oil,
candles, blue, soda, pepper, and salt, account for most of the
balance. Luxury is represented sometimes by an ounce of " shag " ;
thrift, frequently by the weekly " club money " paid to an In-
dustrial Insurance Company, or local Provident Fund. Butcher's
meat seldom appears on the labourer's table ; a vegetarian might
say, so much the better. But it is surely an intolerable scandal
that in pastoral districts, which send milk by the thousand
gallons to London, there should be no milk for the young children
of the men who work on the dairy farms, and that in the rare
case in which a somewhat better paid labourer confesses to the
use of milk, it should be in the form of a tin of condensed milk
once a fortnight.
We are told on official authority that in the Devizes workhouse
the cost for provisions, necessaries and clothing is one shilling a
day for each inmate, of which 8d. a day is for food alone. Yet, in
East Wilts, outside the workhouse, married labourers with families
are expected to provide food and clothing and all other necessaries,
and to pay rent, out of 10s., and sometimes even out of 9s., a week,
with a small uncertain addition at harvest. " When I asked how
they managed for clothes," says one of our lecturers, "Mrs.
replied, 'That when clothing was bought, they had to do with
The Agricultural Labourer. 165
something less to eat.' " When you win the confidence of the
labourers, many of them reluctantly admit that they do not " make
both ends meet" on their weekly gettings. The young fellow of
19 or 20 is probably earning as much as he will ever earn in his
life, for one of the most hopeless features of the labourer's life is
the total absence of any "career" for him in his native village.
When he is married, and his quiver begins to fill, he gets no more.
While his children are young he is often compelled to run into
debt. However ingenious his young wife may be in contriving
unheard-of economies, the bare minimum of bread and cheese, and
bacon and groceries, upon which it is possible to exist and work,
cannot be bought with the weekly wages, and if consumed, have to
be, in part at least, owed for. " I could take you," said a country
miller, "to several men here who, while their children were young,
ran up baker's bills with Mr. W to 30 or 40. When their
children commenced to work they started to pay the debt off, and
some of them have been paying for 10 or 12 years and are not
clear yet." The honesty of the father, and the affection of the son,
combine to drive our country children out of school and into the
fields, at the earliest moment permissible by law, and, not only
does the child lose the advantage of the extra schooling, but he
actually becomes a competitor in the restricted labour market of
the village against the father he is loyally trying to help.
The late Professor Thorold Rogers proved by unquestionable
documentary evidence that in the fifteenth century the ordinary
wages of agricultural labourers in this country were equivalent to
about 24s. of our currency, with an increase of about 50 per cent,
in harvest time. Work was probably far more regular than now ;
eight hours was a working day. When women worked in the fields,
which they rarely did, they were equally well paid with the men.
Provisions were extraordinarily cheap. The peasant's hut and
curtilage was occupied at a fixed rent of 2s. a year, which would
be less than 6d. a week of our money ; the curtilage of his cottage
was far larger than the villager's garden is in our time ; he had
his share in the common of pasture ; he was able to keep poultry,
probably a cow, certainly pigs ; his employer constantly gave him
1 66 Workers on their Industries.
portions of food under the name of " nonschenes " daily ; in harvest
time his wages were not only increased, but he was frequently
boarded as well. 1
For four centuries, since the " Golden Age of Agriculture," the
landlord, as legislator, administrator, church patron and justice,
has swayed the destinies of the rural districts. Statutes of
Labourers, Laws of Parochial Settlement, Enclosures of Commons, 2
Poor Laws, Game and Corn Laws, the Substitution of Indirect
Taxation for the feudal dues of the landholder, the letting-down
of arable land to pasture, and the rack-renting of the farming
class, have in the meantime reduced the agricultural labourer to
the condition in which we find him in this year of grace 1894.
But it may be said it often is said that the farmers cannot
pay better wages than they do, because they have been ruined by
agricultural depression. It is not worth while to delay now to
discuss the fact that in almost every district some farmers pay
higher wages than the average, and find it quite worth their while
to do so. It may readily be admitted that the agricultural depres-
sion has hit the farmers very severely, and that, although as a class
they are not perhaps so badly oft 7 as they profess to be, many of
them are in a very bad way.
The historian of English agriculture and prices expresses his con-
viction 3 that the effect of " unpropitious seasons " has been trivial
as compared with other causes of depression, and that " foreign
competition " has had "no effect except in the muddled and selfish
1 "Six Centuries of Work and Wages " (Ed. 1884), pp. 327 ff., 540 ff.
2 Between 1702 and 1796 there were passed 1,776 Enclosure Acts dealing
with 3,142,074 acres (Committee of House of Commons, 1797). Between
1719 and 1819, 2,100 Acts were passed (Report 011 Agricultural Distress,
1836). In the first 42 years of the present century, there were 1996 such
Acts. In 634 cases the acreage is not stated. The other 1,362 Commons
had an area of 1,892,552 acres (House of Commons Return, 1843). It is
estimated that 7,000,000 acres were enclosed between 1702 and 1876
( "Clifford's History of Private Bill Legislation," I. 25, and Appendix B.
II.) i and that the area enclosed under 4000 Acts " exceeds on a moderate
calculation 10,000 square miles ( "Macaulay's History," c. 3).
3 Thorolcl Rogers, " Six Centuries of Work and Wages," pp. 518, 519.
The Agricultural Labourer. 167
heads of protectionists, as may be proved by obvious and measure-
able facts." The " other causes " to which he refers are (a) insuffi-
cient capital ; (b) excessive rent ; (o) insecure tenure ; (d) inefficient
labour. All the facts go to show that (a) is the result of (6)
and (c) and the cause of (d). In one word, therefore, the cause of
agricultural depression, of the poverty of those, whether farmers or
labourers, who till the soil, is landlordism.
"For centuries," wrote Thorold Rogers in 1884, x " the law and
the government " [i.e., practically, the landlord class] " interposed
on the side of the employer in order to lessen the labourer's share.
... At last they gained their object, and gradually reduced the
labourer's share to a bare subsistence, so bare that in order to get
their necessary work from him they supplemented his wages by a
tax on the general public, as they do in a less degree to this day.
The worst time, however, in the whole history of English labour
was beginning when [in 1796] Eden collected the facts which he
gives as to the labourer's earnings. This condition of things was
continued for twenty-five years. The farmers competed against
each other for occupancies, and constantly offered higher rents,
which the enforced cheapness of the labourers' wages enabled them
to pay, and the necessities artificially created by the Corn Laws
enabled them to increase. They made common cause with the
landlord, and worked against the interests of the labourer and the
general public, the body of consumers. They achieved the former
by driving wages down to a bare subsistence, and the latter by
maintaining an artificial dearth. . . . But though there was a
shrinkage on both sides in the quality and quantity of labour, in
the prices of certain farm products, and in the profits of agriculture,
rents went on steadily increasing. It was an open secret that even
when these enhanced rents were being paid, the farming class had
so narrow a margin of profits that even slight reverses would be-
come serious. It was known that agricultural capital had greatly
diminished, and that the cultivation of the soil was gradually
becoming slovenly and imperfect. At the last the crisis came, and
the foolish payment of excessive rent, and the equally foolish re-
1 Ch. xvii. ad fin.
1 68 Workers on their Industries.
ceipt of excessive rent, have produced a disaster in English
agriculture to which there is no parallel in the annals of that
industry. The case is made worse by the fact that there appears
to be no prospect of an early and vigorous recovery, even though
much rent is sacrificed." 1 Or, to take the testimony of another
recent and acute observer, " It thus appears that in both portions
of the United Kingdom so heavy a burden is placed upon the
agricultural industry, in the shape of the charge for the use of land,
that the profits of industry are rapidly disappearing, and the capital
of the farmers is being absorbed in rent." 2
The " appreciation of gold " has aggravated the evil, for every
sovereign paid in rent now represents a larger share of the pro-
duce and a diminishing produce at that than it did formerly.
And even the efforts of the labourers to better their condition
have only intensified the evil, because the essentially unjust basis
of rural society has remained unchanged. On this point let us
hear a very competent authority on rural matters. What the Rev.
C. W. Stubbs 3 says of Bucks is just as true of other counties :
" The agricultural labourers' agitation, under the leadership of
Mr. Arch, succeeded in raising the wages from 12s. to 15s. a week.
The farmers protested that they could not afford to pay the extra
wage. They were not able, however, to resist the pressure of the
Union, but were compelled to give the extra 3s. a week, but they
avenged themselves, as they thought, by employing less men.
At first the plan seemed in every way excellent. A farmer
employing 10 men knocked off 4, and thus saved 2 8s. per week
on his labour bill. To the remaining 6 men he gave the extra
wage of 3s., or an increase of 18s. on his weekly labour bill. The
net gain to the farmer in money was thus 30s., and his net loss in
men was 3 labourers. But the money was in his pocket and the
1 Rather, however, by way of exceptional remission than of permanent
reduction.
, 2 Mr. Arthur O'Connor, M.P., Minority Report on Trade Depression.
"Final Report of Royal Commission," 1886, p. Ixxv., and compare "Draft
of Observations on the Evidence," p. 91.
8 " The Land and the Labourers " (Swan Sonnenschein, 1884), p. 21.
The Agricultural Labourer. 169
men were out of sight. This was all very well for the farmer, but
how about the land 1 ' Ay, there's the rub 1 ' It was starved for
lack of labour. Then came the wet years, when more than ever
labour was needed. But the labour was not now to be had. It
had been driven out of the country."
" In the towns," says Dr. Jessopp, " bad houses do not drive
men away ; in the country they do." And bad enough, in all con-
science, is the housing i of the labourer who tills the landlord's
fields. For over the greater part of England it is still, unhappily,
as true as it was in 1878, that the labourer " is obliged to live, or
is willing [?] to live in houses where the very first principles of
morality, cleanliness, decency, modesty are impossible." 2 Very
often the dilapidated walls and roof are proof neither against wind
nor wet. " You may shut the doors and windows of my house,"
said a Suffolk labourer to me, " but you can't keep the cat out ! "
The country cottage looks very picturesque in the summer, but it
is often shockingly overcrowded all the year round. Frequently
the walls and the floor reek with damp. The sleeping accommoda-
tion is horribly inadequate, whether from the point of view of the
sanitarian or from that of the moralist. The bedrooms often
the one bedroom wretchedly small, sometimes not high enough
to stand upright in, damp and draughty, are, in many cases, mere
lofts or sheds, less comfortable than the stables at the village inn,
far less habitable, probably, than the kennel in which the owner
of the cottage keeps his hounds. Bedrooms without windows ;
sometimes without even fireplace or windows ; with windows that
will not open at all, or that open only on to a pigstye or cesspool ;
with no ventilation except the draught that whistles through the
1 See, for a fuller treatment of this subject, the " Red Vau Reports " ;
" First Report of the Royal Commission on the Housing of the Working
Classes " (1885) ; " Life in our Villages " (Cassells) ; Dr. Gresswell's
"Report to the Local Government Board on the Sanitary Condition of
N. W. Bucks" (1889); "Report of Special Committee of the Cornwall
County Council" (1890); E. O. Fordham, "The Home of the Farm
Labourer"; the present writer in Echo, December 16, 1893; George
Edwards, Echo, January 3, 1894 ; etc., etc.
2 Rev. C. W. Stubbs " Village Politics," p. 18.
Workers on their Industries.
walls or pours down on to the bed through the roof what wonder
that rheumatism and typhoid, pleurisy and bronchitis, diphtheria
and influenza are rife in the villages to which we send London
children in search of health, and from which they sometimes
return from their holiday " in coffins hermetically sealed." * And
"apart from serious illness," as Dr. Thresh points out, the
wretched condition of the cottages is " the cause of depression of
vitality, generally affecting the bodily vigour as well as the
spirits, and -rendering the system unable to withstand the actual
onslaught of disease." Even of such cottages the supply is be-
coming inadequate to the demands of the population. The
pulling-down of cottages goes on steadily," not nearly so rapidly
indeed as would be the case if the sanitary laws were enforced,
but the pulling down becomes an almost unmixed moral evil when
no steps are taken to replace the old cottages by better ones.
When the cottages are held direct from the landlord, their
inmates frequently suffer under the neglect or tyranny, or both, of
the owner. Some few landlords have made great improvements
in the housing of their labourers in recent years, but in many such
cases the inhabitants of the model village groan under such an
intolerable despotism that, as one of them put it, " you mustn't
sneeze in this village without the permission of his lordship's
agent." In one case, at least, an agreement has to be signed, by
which the landlord reserves for himself and his agent the right to
enter and inspect the whole of the cottage without notice at any
hour between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., and to say " what portion, if any,
of the garden shall be used for the cultivation of flowers."
But, undoubtedly, the worst evils of cottage tenure show them-
selves in those villages where the cottages are " tied " to the
farms. The farmer then becomes the work-giver and the house-
lord to all his " hands," in fact, a deputy landlord. In Wiltshire,
out of 2958 cottages in 45 parishes, 1660 were found to be tied,
and the case of Norfolk is probably nearly as bad. The tenant is
liable to eviction at a week or a fortnight's notice, and is often
1 " Life in our Villages," pp. 141-2
2 See returns of inhabited houses in Census Reports.
The Agricultural Labourer. 171
subject to the most vexatious restrictions. He may not work for
any other farmer save the one from whom he holds his cottage.
Sometimes he is forbidden to keep a pig or to take in a lodger, or
is bound to worship at a certain place. He is liable to eviction if
he affords houseroom to a daughter who has returned from service
" in trouble " ; or if he harbours a Union meeting, or even joins
the Union or agitates for better wages ; or if he votes for or sup-
ports a candidate of the wrong colour ; or if he commits an offence
against the Game Laws ; or if his grown-up sous refuse to work
on the farm on the same conditions as their forebears. But what-
ever complaint he may justly have as to the condition or tenure
of his cottage he has seldom any option as to paying his rent, for
that is deducted from his weekly or fortnightly wages.
Closely connected with the insanitary condition of the cottages
is the question of water supply. Water " as thick as swill "
drawn from roadside ponds supplied by the surface drainage of
the fields, is often the only water obtainable for all domestic pur-
poses. These stagnant ponds, into which every passing dog may
plunge, and to which cattle and ducks and geese make frequent
resort, yield a liquid which, at its best, teems with minute life,
and at its worst is nothing but dilute sewage. A heavy rain
washes the fields and replenishes the village " water-works."
Shallow wells are little, if at all, better ; and within a few yards
of them may often be found the pigsty and the cesspool. The
privies at one point drain into a stream from which at another
part of its course the villagers dip for their water. In how many
English villages is the water supply throughout of a satisfactory
character pure and abundant ?
Local Government in the villages has been reduced to its
simplest terms. Maybe the whole of the land is in the hands of
one landlord, often an absentee. He lets the land, and the cottages
on it, to one or more farmers, who pay him the rent and sometimes
the tithe. The farmers control (during his lordship's pleasure) the
cultivation of the land. In their hands are all the opportunities
for work and all the homes of the village. They are the church-
wardens, the overseers, the guardians of the poor, the school
Workers on their Industries.
managers; they control the charities, and, if there are any, the
allotments. On Sunday the labourer, if he goes to his parish
church, " sits under " a parson appointed by the landlord. When
he is at last unable to work any longer, he must apply for relief,
grudgingly given, to the farmers who have sweated him all
his life, and whose highest ideal is to " keep down the rates." He
cannot even meet with his fellows in the state-aided schoolroom
without obtaining the consent of the authorities against whose
tyranny he seeks to combine. This is no fancy picture; it almost
exactly describes the condition of such villages as the Earl of Pem-
broke's Stariton St. Bernard, or Mr. Penruddocke's Compton Cham-
berlayne, or many another village where landlordism stands
" naked and unashamed."
Go into any village you like, and ask the labourers about their
charities. They will not improbably tell you that " the charity
money was sifted through a five-barred gate, and what was left
on top was for the labourers ; " that the poor's land is rented to
So-and-so for so much a year, but that " they never heard tell of
any poor person who ever had any of the money ; " that if there
are any allotments they have been obtained with great difficulty,
that they consist of the " worst land in the village at the best
rent," far higher than the farmers pay for similar or better land,
grudgingly let on stringent conditions, not large enough, with no
right to erect suitable buildings, not near enough to the cottages
to enable their holders to make the best use of them. Under the
almost uncontrolled sway of landlordism, small farmers have been
evicted to make way for large capitalist holders, and the labourers
have been kept off the land. When we realise how much the oc-
cupancy of even a small allotment at a fair rent adds to the
labourer's independence; how he learns in his evening work on
his little patch, the difference between what he produces and what
he gets when working for the farmer under the landlord, and how
much more the land might produce if the big farm were as well
worked as the small holding the strenuous resistance of the
landlord class to the extension of allotments becomes intelligible, x
1 F. Verinder in Church Reformer, Jan. 1892 ; Rev. J. Tuckwell, " Allot-
The Agricultural Labourer. 173
and we begin to understand the eager desire of the labourer to
rent a small patch on fair terms from a public authority rather
than to buy, or to hold under a rack-rent on an insecure tenure
from a private landlord.
I have dwelt so long upon the grievances of the agricultural
labourer that I have left myself little time to speak of the remedies
for them. I think, however, that some at least of the most ur-
gently needed remedies will have already suggested themselves
to you during the unfolding of the terribly depressing story
which it has been my duty to tell. The labourer wants better
wages, shorter hours, a Saturday half-holiday, more regular
employment. He wants a healthy home on a secure tenure
and an abundant supply of pure water. A drastically-amended
Truck Act would be of great benefit to him. If I dared, I
should like to suggest a great raising of the compulsory school
age shall I say to sixteen 1 Some of these things he will ultim-
ately get through the agricultural labourers' unions which are
springing up in connection with the Red Van crusade. At least
the promise and potency of some others are offered to him by
Parliament in the Parish Councils Act, which will lay the founda-
tions of local self-government in the rural parishes. But one re-
form above and beyond every other is needed before the labourer,
now a mere slave mocked with the title of freeman, really becomes
an enfranchised citizen. He needs free access to the land, on
which and from which he and all of us must live. While the land
is the private monopoly of the few, the industrious tiller of the
soil must necessarily remain the slave of the land-" owner." " He
takes my life who takes the means whereby I live." Tax land values
20s. in the , and the difficulties about allotments and small
holdings will naturally right themselves. Landlordism must be
abolished if the agricultural labourer is to be set free. But, as
Henry George once put it, " don't kick the landlords out " that
might seem unnecessarily harsh to men who are, after all, only the
creatures of an unjust system; "don't buy them out " that would
ments (Jarrold & Sons); Stubbs, "The Land and the Labourers;" C
Wicksteed, " Village Politics " (Reeves).
174 Workers on their Industries.
only be to remedy one wrong by another ; " but tax them out."
So could we relieve the working farmer and the working labourer
of the load of indirect taxation under which they now groan ; so
could we make the people of England the landlords of the soil of
England. The labourer cannot do this either by himself or through
his Union, but he can use his Union as a means to organise his
vote, and to make Parliament his obedient servant in the working
out of Land Restoration.
BRICKLAYERS.
By Alderman H. R. Taylor, L.C.C., Secretary to the Central
Committee of the Operative Bricklayers' Society.
THE origin of the art of bricklaying, and the methods of working
pursued by the earlier bricklayers, are subjects about which very
little, if any, information is now known. The industry, however,
in some shape or form, must have existed for many ages, as is
evidenced by the numerous remains which have been discovered
in recent years. Thus, well-burnt bricks have been found in the
remains of submerged towns in the channels of the Nile in Upper
Egypt, in the buried ruins of the ancient civilisation of Mexico,
and in other sites of pre-historic activity. There have also been
found specimens of the sun-dried bricks, or " adobes " as they are
called, of the Egyptians, which bear the stamp of the king who
ruled at the time of their manufacture. The revolt of the Hebrew
Bondsmen in Egypt, in B.C. 1490, against being required to make
bricks without straw, and other facts of equal authenticity, all go
to furnish ample proof that the industry has nourished among
many peoples and races of the past.
It is, however, highly probable that, in earlier times, the term
bricklayer included all those who were engaged in the building-
industry. The workman then was equally capable of working in
mud, wood, stone, or brick, and no differentiation of the numerous
classes had taken place. But with the development of the
architectural art, and the growing magnificence and more
elaborate conceptions of buildings on the one hand, and the
natural inclination and aptitude on the part of the workmen for
Workers on their Industries.
particular branches of the work on the other, the present sub-
division or sectionalisation of the trades arose. Even now,
however, in many of the smaller provincial towns, the term brick-
layer denotes a workman able to do not only bricklaying, but also
tiling, slating, plastering, and masonry work. But the tendency
is all in the direction of even further sectionalism. The larger
the town or city is, and the greater the volume of business falling
to the building trades, the stronger is the tendency to split up
and sub-divide the trades even further than they are at present.
This tendency the workmen naturally resist as far as they can,
knowing full well the evils it brings in its train, and having so
many object lessons as to its results, from the effects which it has
produced in those other trades where it is already further advanced
than in their own.
Whilst there is abundant evidence of the existence of highly
skilled artisans in this branch of the building industry in our
country for many hundreds of years, very little is known of the
conditions or movements of the operatives before this century.
During the Middle Ages we know that their wages were regulated
by Acts of Parliament * as were those of other trades. With the
repeal of these Acts at the end of last century, the workmen, find-
ing their standard of life no longer supported and maintained by
legal enactment, were thrown upon their own resources, and began
to form combinations for their own protection. The earliest
instance of this movement among the bricklayers, with which I
am acquainted, took place in Kent, in 1810. I have seen an old
card of membership of "The Kent United Friendly Society of
Bricklayers," instituted March 19th, 1810, at Maidstone, and
bearing the motto, " In God is all our trust." No doubt this is
only an example of many similar societies which must have sprung
up all over the kingdom. In 1820 the bricklayers of London pre-
sented "a dutiful and loyal address" to Queen Caroline, expres-
sing their indignation at the injuries and insults offered to her,
1 Dr. Brentano has noticed that the great majority of the legal regulations
of wages in the Middle Ages relate, if not to the agricultural industry, to
the building trades.
Bricklayers. 177
and hoping for her acquittal. 1 To this Her Majesty returned a
gracious reply. Little more than is here indicated is known of
these early combinations. There is, in addition, however, evidence
of the existence of societies of bricklayers in Glasgow, Dublin, and
Belfast between the years 1810 and 1820, and altogether we may
fairly conclude that they were not behind the other artisans of
that time in organising themselves.
In 1833 the first known national organisation of bricklayers
was established, 2 and it continues in existence to this day. The
previous year had seen the birth of that remarkable federation of
trades known as the Builders' Union. 3 This organisation, which
appears to have embraced every section of operatives engaged in
the process of building, spread with remarkable rapidity over the
Midlands and Northern Counties. Under its direction great
strikes occurred, early in 1833, in Liverpool, Manchester, and
other towns, in which the whole of the building trades came out
together for various improvements in their conditions. In
September, 1833, it held a great Builders' Parliament in Man-
chester, which lasted six days, and was addressed by Robert Owen,
and in December of the same year the foundation stone of a great
National Builders' Gild Hall was laid in Birmingham with much
pomp. But this period of activity and excitement soon after
came to an end. The employers were victorious in their conflicts
with the men on all sides, and by 1834 the Builders' Union was
defunct, and its great hall was never completed. 4
1 From the charges brought against her by her husband King George IV.
in his efforts to obtain a divorce.
. 2 The United Operative Bricklayers' Trade, Accident, and Burial Society,
established in Manchester, 1833.
3 The Builders' Union published a weekly penny newspaper, The Pioneer,
or Trades Union Magazine, which contains much interesting information of
the concurrent Trade Union struggle. For further information concerning
this movement see "The History of Trade Unionism," by Sidney and
Beatrice Webb (Longmans, London, 1894).
4 For an account of this ceremony and the subsequent collapse of the
movement, see "An History of Birmingham," by W. Hutton (Sixth
Edition, London, 1835). The building was afterwards completed by the
landlord, and now stands as a metal warehouse in Shadwell Street.
M
178 Workers on their Industries.
The bricklayers own Trade Union, established in 1833, con-
tinued, however, to grow slowly but steadily, and gradually
spread over the North of England. It did much useful work in
providing accident pay and death benefits to its members, and
appears to have taken a considerable amount of actual trade
action. It was, however, confined almost exclusively to the North
of England, and seems at no time to have secured the support of
the Southern men. In 1848 the London bricklayers, finding out
the great need of some combination among themselves, established
the Operative Bricklayers' Society as a purely trade organisation.
By the end of that year this society had about 120 members, and
a cash balance of about 15. But from that time forward it has
continued to increase both in numbers and power, and has spread
over the whole kingdom. At the end of 1893 it had no fewer
than 22,500 members, and a cash balance reaching the enormous
sum of 40,000. From the time of its formation until 1860 it
remained a purely trade society, the members paying a subscrip-
tion of only twopence a week, with extra levies in times of strikes.
This, however, was found to be insufficient, and in January, 1861,
the contribution was raised to threepence a week. In October,
1867, it was again increased to fourpence halfpenny a week, and
trade, sick, and funeral benefits were then provided. The con-
tribution was again found insufficient to meet the benefits offered,
and in 1869 it was raised to sixpence per week, where it remained
until 1885, when superannuation benefit was added to the Society
and the subscription raised to Is. per week, due provision being
made for a reserve fund to be kept intact, to meet the superannua-
tion claims.
The great strike and lock-out of the London building trades, in
1859, severely tested the strength and solidarity of the Union,
but after a protracted struggle, in which the men, and their
wives and families, suffered untold misery and privation, and in
spite of the determined opposition of the employers and the mis-
representations of the press, the men were successful. Instead of
the struggle breaking the Union, it gave it additional strength,
and embued its members with an enthusiasm and earnestness
Bricklayers. 1 79
which all the "flouts and jibes and sneers " of its enemies could
not efface. The men had tasted the sweets of victory, aud knew
and recognised that they could not have won had they not been
thoroughly united. The struggle further demonstrated that a
Union of Unions was both desirable and necessary, and steps were
immediately taken to form a council representing the various
sections of the building trades, which gradually developed into what
is now known as the London Trades Council. From that council,
which now represents 70,000 organised workers, sprang the Trades
Union Congress, representing to-day a million and a half of the
workers of the United Kingdom.
Until 1862 the bricklayers were paid by the day. In that
year payment by the hour was introduced by the employers,
when asked for an advance of sixpence per day. It was during
the strike for this advance that a "Free Labour Association of
Bricklayers" was formed, but in spite of the efforts of its founders,
and the subsidies of the employers, the Unionists again won their
point. "The Free Labour Association" never survived the
defeat, and its members, who had been raked together from all
parts of the country, and to whom all sorts of inducements were
held out, even to the extent of promises of at least three years
constant work to lead them to become " blacklegs," were left in
the lurch by their employers, who speedily got rid of them when
they had served their turn, and the Unionists had returned to their
work.
As time passed and the building trades developed, the piece-
work system began to be introduced, firstly on small house-building
known as "jerry building" or "field ranging," then to larger
works, such as railways, docks, etc., and by degrees it was gradu-
ally extended into other firms who had previously been in the
habit of having their work done by the day. The passing into
law of the Employers Liability Act of 1880, gave a great im-
petus to this system, because employers were enabled to evade
their responsibilities under the Act by sub-letting their work-
The sub-contractors, being in the eyes of the law the employers,
and being also invariably men of straw, attempts made to secure
l8o Workers on their Industries.
compensation were almost always unsuccessful. In 1882 a com-
mittee, of which I had the honour to be secretary, was formed
with the object of remedying this grievance, and a deal of corre-
spondence took place with Sir Henry James, M.P. ; Henry Broad-
hurst, M.P. ; W. Laurence, M.P. ; C. Bradlaugh, M.P. ; Professor
Thorold Rogers, M.P. ; and Arthur O'Connor, M.P. The latter
gentleman undertook to bring in a Bill, which, if passed, would
have remedied this evil by making the original contractor respons-
ible and liable for compensation in all instances, but the Bill
was unfortunately dropped owing to the dissolution of Parliament
in 1885.
Up to this time there was unfortunately no such thing as Trade
Union Wages Clauses, or clauses prohibiting sub-letting, inserted
in public contracts. Amongst the public bodies in the United
Kingdom the London School Board was, and is to-day, one of the
worst offenders in this matter. With the assistance of its mem-
bers, fourth-rate and "jerry builders " blossomed into contractors,
and by cutting down their prices, secured the greater portions of
the work of building the various schools for the Board. Had the
Board possessed any practical knowledge or business capacity, it
would have known that it is false economy to accept the lowest
prices without having regard to the characters of the firms or the
work they execute. The ratepayers are now having to pay for
the misdeeds of those whom they were foolish enough to elect to
such responsible positions. This system of giving contracts
to inferior builders went on for a few years, things going;
gradually from bad to worse, until the few who had for years been
" crying in the wilderness " without much avail, were listened to
and their advice accepted. The Board that was elected in 1885,
passed a resolution at the instigation of Mr. A. G. Cook and Mrs.
Annie Besant, for the insertion of the Fair Wages Clause in con-
tracts, and also for a clause prohibiting sub-letting except under
certain conditions. At the very next School Board election, how-
ever, the workmen, by their apathy and negligence, allowed a re-
actionary majority to be elected, with the immediate result that
these clauses have remained absolutely dead letters ever since.
Bricklayers.
The London County Council was the next prominent body that
inserted these clauses. We then began to make more rapid progress
than we had ever made before, and in the spring of 1892, the
London members of the Operative Bricklayers' Society sent in a
notice to the Master Builders' Association asking for an increase of
one penny per hour, a reduction of working hours, and a revised
code of working rules. The Master Builders' Association refused
to concede these demands, although they agreed to receive a de-
putation on the subject. The conference took place on May 2nd,
1892, and was adjourned with a view to bringing about a confer-
ence with the whole of the sections of the trade. The strike of
the bricklayers which should have taken place on June 1st, was
postponed, and the adjourned conference with the whole of the
trades took place on June 10th. It resulted in an increase of
wages of 6 per cent., or of one half-penny per hour to all sections,
besides a reduction in working hours of 5 per cent. This may not
appear at first sight to be a great gain, but if we assume that our
London members, who number, say 6,500, work 40 hours per week
for the 52 weeks of the year, the readjustment has caused an in-
crease to them of over 28,000 per annum. In addition to this
the eight hours day has been practically secured, the average
working time being now 8 hours and 7J minutes per day. But
we have gone further than this. The placing of an additional tax
upon overtime has resulted in its virtual abolition while the re-
fusal to permit any acceptance of piecework x has secured the com-
plete overthrow of that method of work in London. Finally, the em-
ployers have agreed to erect proper shelters on the works, so that
a man can now cook and enjoy a meal free from the interference
of inclement weather. Incidentally it may be mentioned that the
advance of one half-penny per hour has become nearly general
throughout the country, for the action of the Union has secured
1 Piecework in the bricklaying trade always means sub-contracting. The
contract for labour only is given to any ordinary workman at piece prices,
and he engages others at hourly wages to work under him. This invari-
ably leads to sweating, and provides an obvious reason for the men's objec-
tion to the system.
1 82 Workers on their Industries.
an increase in no fewer than thirty-four towns during the
year.
The system of apprenticeship to the bricklaying trade is now
practically extinct, at any rate, in London and most of the large
towns. The causes for this are many and varied. The master
builders-of to-day are somewhat different from their predecessors
of years ago, and many of the largest businesses are now carried
on by men who are merely managers. The firms and joint-
stock companies are constantly changing their hands, and their
whole system of conducting business renders a proper system
of apprenticeship to the bricklaying impossible and even un-
desirable. Many of the builders are of merely mushroom growth,
here to-day and in the bankruptcy court to-morrow. Others
have been in the habit of sub-letting their brickwork to sub-
contractors, issuing circular letters to all the sub - contractors
they know, asking them to quote prices for the work on the particu-
lar jobs. They have then accepted the lowest price although they
must have known, if they know anything about work at all, that
it was altogether impossible to turn the work out at the prices
quoted. This system has been the means of introducing specialists,
men, that is, who can only work at one branch of the trade. Many
a lad and many a man has been practically ruined by this means.
Their knowledge and skill are confined to one small branch of the
work, and it is obvious that under such a system it is impossible
to produce good workmen. To many lads, too, the rough arduous
labour, the exposure to wet, bleak and wintry weather, and the
restless, roving, unsettled kind of life, offers no inducements,
and many prefer to be free to pick up the trade if they can,
and as they can, so as to be in a position to leave it and try
something more congenial, if they find it unsuited to their
tastes, incliuations and constitutions. Hence apprenticeship, at
least as far as bricklaying is concerned, has practically dis-
appeared, and there seems but little likelihood of it being re-
vived .
In many respects our position as a trade is unique, we have no
female labour to compete with, nor any machinery, except what is
Bricklayers. 183
called a rubbing table, used for cutting, to steal our work from
us. Foreign competition does not affect us, as it is impossible to
manufacture dwelling-houses or warehouses abroad, and import
them made ready to drop just on the site prepared for them.
Neither are we in the least afraid of foreigners being imported to
take our places or to compete with us, for the English bricklayer
cannot be matched, let alone surpassed. Employers of labour
who have any large undertakings abroad in the shape of railways,
docks or sewers, are well acquainted with this fact, for they in-
variably employ the English bricklayers and generally at very
high rates of wages.
Up to the last year no general charge of bad workmanship or
shoddy work had been laid at the door of either the workmen or
the Unions. But in December, 1893, a paper was read before the
Architectural Association in London, entitled, " London Work-
men, their Workmanship and Education," in which the writer
made a serious charge of inferior work against the workmen and
the Unions. The bricklayers were specially held responsible for
the construction of all the bad and shoddy work, and, above all,
for the materials used, as if the bricklayers supplied their own.
Builders and architects, with one or two exceptions, joined in the
condemnation, and various remedies were suggested, amongst
them being technical education. My belief is that the builders,
architects, and the general public are alone to blame, and that
very little can be attached to the workmen, who are just exactly
what their early training, their employers, and their industrial
and social environments have made them. The workmen are
compelled to rise early in the morning, and often to travel many
miles to work through all kinds of weather, and then frequently
have to hang about the greater part of the day through stress of
weather, with no place to take shelter in except the nearest
public-house. When they are at work no facilities are given
them to obtain a cup of tea or coffee or anything but intoxicating
liquors. They are compelled oftentimes to use the worst of
materials and to scamp the work through being allowed neither
time nor materials necessary to produce good work. They are
184 Workers on their Industries.
then expected to tell any number of lies to screen the employer, or
resort to any means to increase his profits or to enable him to cut
the prices still lower. With such conditions as these, how can it
be expected that the workmen are to be either saints or artists 1
Then, too, the cut-throat competition amongst the employers,
in their feverish haste to get rich the demand of employers,
architects and public for "cheap work and nasty;" and the prac-
tice of making quantity the first consideration, with quality the
last or no consideration at all, have all tended to demoralise the
workmen, and the only wonder is that they are half as sober, or
industrious, or thrifty, or as intelligent as they really are. If
shoddy work has been produced it has been according to order.
Let the demand be for good work, and the supply will be equal to
it. We may be ignorant, but what have the employers or archi-
tects or the public, who are always ready to condemn, done to
enlighten us 1 And if we are demoralised what have they done
to make us otherwise 1 By a strange coincidence, however, the
architects did not become aware of shoddy work being done until
the men themselves had taken the matter in hand and refused to
scamp work any longer. One thing is certain, however, and that
is so far as we are concerned the days of slavery are past and
gone. The bricklayers of to-day, and of the future, will never
again do as they have done in the past. Quality will be. made
the first consideration, and I believe, in a very few years, the
sweater will be unknown amongst us.
The future for our trade is full of promise, and if our members
are wise and discreet, we can be absolute masters of the situation.
There must not be, however, any cavilling or any schism. The
strike, as a weapon of industrial war, is rapidly becoming obsolete,
and educational work will occupy its place. Education is cer-
tainly destined to be the most powerful factor in the labour
movement, and I firmly believe that the more enlightened our
members become, and the more they study their real interests, the
plainer will they see the desirability, and, indeed, the absolute
necessity, of forming not sectional societies, but one powerful and
thoroughly united organisation extending not only to London,
Bricklayers, 185
but to the whole kingdom, and in time, perhaps, to the whole civil-
ised world. I feel equally certain that until this is so, intermit-
tent internecine warfare will always prove a source of grave
anxiety to the real friends of labour, and a source of weakness
and danger to the labour movement itself. With a rising genera-
tion coming into our ranks, equipped with a better education
than it has been our lot to receive ; with a more enlightened and
generous public to demand good work ; with the facilities now
offered to those willing to learn, of securing a good, sound techni-
cal education practically free of cost ; with the numerous free
libraries, polytechnics, and places for the physical and intellectual
improvements of the workers ; and with the shorter hours of
labour, it will be strange, indeed, if those engaged in our craft do
not avail themselves of the opportunities thus afforded them to
lead happier, healthier, brighter and more useful lives.
POTTERY. 1
By S, J. Thomas, Secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Pottery
Moulders and Finishers, London.
IT is impossible for me, in the brief space at my disposal, to at-
tempt to give an elaborate history, or a detailed description of the
pottery industry. Its great age, combined with the extremely
technical and complicated nature of the processes of the
trade, and the vast proportions which the industry has now
assumed, would require a very large volume to be thoroughly
dealt with. All that I can hope to accomplish is to speak very
briefly of the origin of the art, and endeavour to describe some of
the chief features of its present condition.
In an interesting article 2 by Mr. Grant Allen, that delightful
philosopher has endeavoured to provide a theory of the origin of
the potter's art. He describes the savage, boiling his food in pud-
died holes in the ground, the water therein being heated by drop-
ping into it red-hot stones prepared in a fire close by. In time
the savage, noticing the power of clay to retain water, is struck
with the brilliant idea that by coating a gourd over with a thin
layer of clay, and scooping out the pulpy inside of the fruit, he
might be able to boil his water directly in the fire, and thus avoid
the troublesome and cumbrous method of puddled holes and red-
hot stones. Although this explanation is necessarily no more
than an ingenious theory, it has received considerable support
from specimens of early pottery ware which have been discovered.
Thus pottery has been found in the remains of pre-historic
America with the rinds of gourds still inside the coatings of clay,
1 This lecture was illustrated by various shapes turned on the wheel, on
the platform, by Mr. Dupuis.
2 "The First Potter," by Grant Allen, Longman's Magazine, June, 1885,
1 86
'
Pottery. 187
and also examples of partially baked ware bearing the impressions
of plaited bark or twigs on the outside, thus showing that it was
moulded inside some rough wicker-work frame. If this be really
the earliest method of forming the shapes of pottery ware, then
the " moulder " who is still at work on a practically identical
method has the honour of belonging to the first branch of what
is probably the oldest of all the skilled handicraft trades. A
branch, indeed, which must have existed thousands of years
before the introduction of the potter's " wheel," with which the
manufacture of pottery throughout the world is now identified.
Whether this ingenious theory be a true explanation of its
origin or not, all authorities are agreed as to the enormous age
of the pottery industry. Learned geologists have proved that it
is, indeed, almost as ancient as the human race itself, and we
know that at a very early period it had reached a state of great
perfection. The Chinese and the Egyptians were, it is supposed,
the two nations which first excelled in this art, and the very high
degree of excellence attained in this work, both by these
two nations and by the ancient Greeks, may be seen by all in the
numerous and beautiful specimens of their ware preserved in our
museums to-day. In some respects, indeed, the ancient Egyptians
and Greeks carried the potter's art farther even than we are able
to take it now. Under their guidance the arts of design and of
glazing in pottery made such wonderful progress, and approached
so nearly to perfection, that we have never succeeded in equalling
them, and we are unable now to produce the beautiful results in
these two respects which were achieved by them thousands of years
ago.
The pottery industry in England, did not, so far as I know, as-
sume the proportions of a grand industry until about the end
of last century. Prior to that time, its reputation here rests
rather upon the excellence of the productions of a few special
firms, such as the makers of the Royal Derby or Worcester Ware,
than upon the great size or importance of the trade. There is
very little evidence so far as I am aware, of the condition of the
workmen, or the methods under which they worked during this
1 88 Workers on their Industries.
period. Such evidence as I have been able to find appears to show
that the relations between the employers and their workmen in
those days were distinctly patriarchal. 1 The workmen appear to
have made, decorated and fired their own productions ; each one
had his own specialities in design and colour schemes; and, indeed,
they appear to have been regarded more as artists than as mere
journeymen workers. Their earnings, too, if we may believe this
authority, were considerable, and it was no very unusual circum-
stance for one of them to ga off and start in business on his own
account, with the reputation his work in his old shop had gained
him for goodwill.
From about the middle of last century, however, the trade began
to grow a large one, and to become more and more localised in the
neighbourhood of North Staffordshire, which is still the principal
seat of the manufacture in England. Although we have no
'reliable information of the condition of the trade even at this
time, we may not unreasonably suppose that the increase in the
size of the industry, and the introduction of the factory system,
very speedily led to a more or less complete differentiation of the
workers and sub-division of the trade. With these changes
would come, no doubt, a steady decline in the position of the
worker, who would find himself degraded from the condition of an
artist to that of a mere factory hand. His earnings, too, would be
slowly but surely reduced by the falling prices of the ware
occasioned by the ever-growing competition of his employers to
find a market for the largely increased output he now produced.
Under all these adverse circumstances, and finding that appeals
to Parliament for assistance, and the redress of his manifold
grievances, were in vain, he would naturally fall back upon the
last resource left to him, and combine with his fellow-workmen
for their mutual protection.
Under some such circumstances as these it was, no doubt, that
the trade clubs, which existed among the Staffordshire potters
very early in this century, were first formed. We know but little
1 See, for instance, " The Old Derby China Factory : the Workmen and
their Productions," by J. Haslem (London, 1876, 4to).
Pottery. 189
regarding them, except that on the repeal of the Combination Laws
in 1824, the sectional clubs, embracing several of the sub-divisions
of the trade, united and formed an amalgamated association. But
the trade was then in a very depressed condition, and nothing
appears to have come of this early attempt by the men to improve
their position. We hear no more of their Trade Unions until
1833, when the steady reduction in wages which still continued,
once more goaded the workers into forming an amalgamated
union which included every class of operatives in the potteries.
Its first act is said to have been to take a factory for the manu-
facture of pottery on the co-operative principle, under the influence
of Robert Owen's teachings. This attempt, however, proved a
speedy failure, and was quickly abandoned. Nevertheless the
union continued, and grew so powerful that in 1835 it induced
the employers to form a joint-committee with its officials, and
drew up a revised and uniform list of piecework prices for the
workmen throughout the whole trade. In 1836 this list of prices
was again revised, after much agitation and a considerable
number of strikes, and the still famous " Green Book of Prices of
1836 " was gained by the men. They also succeeded in getting
the Employers' Association, or Chamber of Commerce as it was
called, to appoint a small committee of three of its members to
act with three of the men's representatives as a Joint Conciliation
Board, 1 to settle disputes arising out of the list of prices, and to
fix prices for new articles.
The men, however, were still dissatisfied. The system of
" Good from Oven " 2 was a very great grievance with those
sections of the men who actually worked in the clay, while, in
addition, all classes agreed in wishing for a limitation of the
1 This is one of the very earliest instances of the existence of a Joint
Conciliation Board known in Trade Union history.
2 " Good from Oven " is a system still in operation throughout North
Staffordshire and some other pottery districts, by which the men who make
the ware from the clay are compelled to suffer the loss of payment for all
such articles as do not, from any fault or cause, whether one which they
could control or not, come " good " from the first, or " biscuit," oven.
190 Workers on their Industries.
number of apprentices or learners. The men's union endeavoured
to obtain some concessions on these points from the Employers'
Association, but finding that the employers steadily refused to
agree to any alteration in the trade customs in these respects,
they determined to strike for their claims. The employers,
however, determined to forestall the men. They drew up an
agreement by which their men were to bind themselves to their
employment for periods of a year at a time, terminating at
Martinmas, Nov. 11, annually ; and they also inserted a clause bind-
ing themselves to find their workmen only " so much work as they
conveniently could," which, of course, might mean only one day a
week, and yet leave the unfortunate workmen without redress or
the option of leaving their service. The result of these pre-
posterous demands was that the men resolved upon resistance at
all hazards. In September, 1836, accordingly, a number of them
struck work rather than sign the agreement, and on November 11
of that year, the sixty-four employers in the association, which
included all the largest manufacturers, closed their works, and
16,000, out of a total of about 20,000 persons employed in the
whole industry in Staffordshire at that time, were thrown out of
employment. After a struggle lasting ten weeks the men were
completely defeated, their union was totally destroyed, 1 and they
were compelled to return to work, in January, 1837, on the
disgraceful terms dictated by the employers.
But although their union was destroyed for the moment, the
men never lost faith in combination as the only method to
improve their position. Gradually the sectional societies embrac-
ing one or more of the sub-divisions of the trade were reformed,
and gained the support of the operatives. In 1842 the great
1 This union left a debt of some 6,000, a large part of which was
subsequently repaid by a later union in 1844 to 1850. It may throw some
light on the condition of Trade Union organisation in England at that time
to show whence this large sum came. 2,200 were lent the potters by
the combined Sheffield trades, in addition to a large sum which they gave ;
the London trades gave 800 and lent 750, and the other 3,000 lent were
contributed by various trades and by private individuals,
Pottery. 19!
strike of the North Staffordshire miners occurred, which, under
the influence of the Chartist leaders of that time, developed into
the well-known Potteries Riots. This agitation in their midst
gave a considerable impetus to the potters' organisations, and
resulted in 1843 in the formation of a federation consisting of
the unions in various branches of the trade. This federal union,
which appears to have gained considerable strength, published, in
October, 1843, the first number of The Potters' Examiner and
Workman's Advocate, a penny weekly journal which was continued
for many years, 1 and is full of information relating to the potters'
trade and their Trade Unions, as well as of the general labour
movements of the time.
The union thus established received a great impetus in 1844
from the attempted introduction of machinery to the industry.
In that year the now universal " Jolly " made its first appearance
in the trade at a place in Yorkshire, The Staffordshire potters,
acting under the advice and eloquence of their leader of that day,
determined to resist its introduction, and raised a large fund by
special levies to be devoted to striking the shop and emigrating to
America the whole of the workmen of any firm which brought in
the machines. Fortunately, however, no need for such a struggle
was occasioned. The machine did not at that time make any
further progress, partly, it is supposed, through the desire of the
employers not to come into conflict with the men, but chiefly on
account of the fact that owing to some defects in its construction
it was less useful than the employers supposed it would have
been. The scare caused by its appearance, however, led the
Staffordshire potters into the wild venture of a farm colony in
America. A vast tract of land was bought with the accumulated
1 This paper continued until July, 1848, when, under the influence of its
editor, who had started an emigration scheme, it was changed to the
Potters' Examiners' and Emigrants' Advocate, which lasted until 1851, and
then finally died out. In 1856 the union re-started an organ of its own, a
weekly journal called The Potter, published at |d. In 1863 this was
enlarged and again appeared at Id. weekly as The Potteries Examiner and
Workman's Advocate. This continued until 1881, when the unions were so
crippled that the paper had to be sold to. a joint-stock company.
192 Workers on their Industries.
funds, and christened " Pottersville," and a number of unfortunate,
out-of-work potters and their families were exported thither.
They appear to have suffered many hardships. Nothing seems to
have been prepared for them, and they were simply dumped down
on a tract of prairie land with no funds to support them even
until the first crops could be grown. Constant disputes and
mutual recriminations between the officials at home and in
America ensued, and ultimately the whole thing collapsed and
fizzled out. 1
This abortive and expensive experiment appears to have ab-
sorbed the whole of the energy of the potters from 1844 to 1856,
when the union began again to devote itself to more immediate
and practical objects, and a considerable revival in its influence
took place. In 1859 the men obtained, in consultation with a
committee of the employers, a new list of prices for flat and
hollow- ware pressers, which gave them considerable improvements.
Little more of importance took place until 1866, when the long-
continued agitation of the men against the system of annual
hirings came to a head. In that year the ovenmen, whose union
had become very strong, and who occupy a very important position
in the industry, determined to make an effort to abolish the
custom. It was agreed that on November 11 the whole of the
operatives should come out on strike and refuse to sign the annual
agreement. When the time came, however, only the ovenmen
struck, but their unique position in the trade, and the complete
organisation they then had, enabled them in two weeks to para-
lyse the whole industry. The result was that at the end of the
second week the employers gave way, and the hated annual hiring
was thus abolished and its place taken by a monthly notice to
leave on either side.
This unexpected but very welcome victory put great heart into
the men, and their unions in every branch of the trade grew
rapidly stronger. In 1867 they commenced an agitation for the
1 What became of the land bought with the potters' money nobody now
knows or cares. It was probably appropriated by the individuals who
happened to be located upon it.
Pottery. 193
establishment of a Board of Arbitration in the trade, which was
successfully brought to a conclusion in 1868, when a permanent
Board of Arbitration was established. During the years 1871 and
1872 all the sections of the trade gained revisions of their price
lists, obtaining advances of 10 to 15 per cent., entirely by negotia-
tions with the employers. In 1876 the employers appealed to the
Arbitration Board for a 10 per cent, reduction all round, but Mr.
H. T. Hinckes, M.P., the umpire to whom the case was submitted,
refused to award a reduction. In 1879 the employers again
appealed for a 10 per cent, reduction, and after a lengthy hearing
Lord Hatherton, the umpire appointed, awarded them a general
reduction of 8|- per cent., or Id. in the Is. off the workmen's
wages. The men were much disappointed at this, and in 1880
appealed to the Board for the return of the reduction. The case
was referred to Mr. T. (now Lord) Brassey, M.P., who, however,
refused to award the return of the Id. in the Is. The conse-
quence was that in November, 1881, a general strike of the whole
trade took place for the return of the reduction taken off in 1879.
After being out six weeks, however, the men were completely
defeated and compelled to return to work at the old wages, and
the Arbitration Board was of course broken up and disbanded by
the strike. From that time Trade Unionism among the Stafford-
shire potters remained at a very low ebb until 1885, when a slight
revival took place and the Arbitration Board was reformed on a
new basis. During 1889 to 1890 the unions among the men
grew rapidly stronger, and in 1891 they again appealed to the
Board for the return of the 8J per cent, reduction taken off their
wages in 1879. The case again went to an umpire, this time Mr.
Davenport being chosen, and he again gave a decision averse to
the men's claim, and they therefore continue to work with the re-
duction of 1879 off their pay. The men were extremely dissatisfied
with this decision, which was, they alleged, arrived at after an
inquiry not held in accordance with the Rules of the Board, and
accordingly, in 1891, the men in all the branches of the trade
withdrew their representatives from the Board, which was there-
upon again dissolved.
N
194 Workers on their Industries.
At the present time Trade Unionism in the potteries is repre-
sented by seven separate societies. They are the National Order
of Potters, consisting chiefly of the flat pressers, who are now the
least skilled and most numerous branch of the trade ; the Hollow
Ware Pressers' Society, which includes the moulders and sanitary
ware pressers, and has also branches in Newcastle-on-Tyne and in
Derbyshire; and theThrowers',Turners', and Handlers' Society, which
comprises a small section of very highly skilled workmen. These
three societies combine all the operatives who actually work "in the
clay." There is also the Printers' and Transferors' Union, consisting
of those who print the patterns on to the partially baked ware ; the
Gilders' Union, 1 which embraces the few remaining men employed
in gilding the ware ; the Ovenmen's Society, which consists of
those who place the ware in the ovens and withdraw it when
baked ; and finally the Women's Union, which accepts women
employed in any branch of the trade except " transferring," the
women transferrers being expected to join the Printers' and Trans-
ferrers' Union. 2 These societies are at present without any
Federal Union other than that provided by the North Stafford-
shire Trades Council. In addition, the potters of South Yorkshire
have a " Yorkshire Order of Potters/' which is an amalgamated
society embracing all classes of the operatives. The Scottish
potters have a number of very powerful sectional societies all
federated together in the Potters' Federal Union of Scotland ;
while in London the Moulders and Finishers have a good, strong
little union of their own, which is affiliated to the London Trades
Council.
From this large number of sectional societies, each embracing a
completely different class of workers, it may be seen that the
trade is now very greatly sub-divided. Its great extent may be
1 This society has since dissolved. Pottery-gilding is now nearly all done
by women, and the union, which accepted men only, was reduced to a
very small membership.
2 These seven societies include all the actual makers and decorators of
ware. The packers, crate-makers, and some other subsidiary trades have
their own separate societies also.
Pottery. 195
gathered from the fact that the North Staffordshire potteries
district comprises no less than five separate and distinct towns,
each of considerable importance, namely, Longton, Stoke, Hanley,
Burslem, and Tunstall, as well as the two minor districts of
Shelton and Cobridge. Practically the whole population of this
vast stretch of country, closely packed as it is with human beings
and their habitations, is dependent entirely upon the pottery
trade for its living. At the present time there are probably not
less than 30,000 persons directly engaged in the industry in
North Staffordshire alone, to say nothing of some 4,000 in
Scotland and considerable numbers elsewhere.
It is not an easy thing to attempt to describe the conditions
of a trade which is so large and so completely sub-divided as
this. In many details each branch differs considerably from the
others, and in what is said hereafter, therefore, it must be
definitely understood that a brief generalisation only is proposed.
The first group of persons employed directly in the trade are the
" slip-makers." These men mix and prepare, with the aid of
steam machinery and mills, the " slip " or clay, ready for the
potter. They are a special kind of machine-minding labourers,
but are not essentially of the industry. The clay when ready is
passed to the " potter," that is the operative who actually shapes
the ware. Of these the largest class is that of the "flat pressers"
who fashion such articles as plates, saucers, and ordinary plain
round articles such as cups or pots. They work upon the "Jigger,"
a revolving table, which is now generally turned by steam power.
Their trade has been largely revolutionised since 1870 by the
introduction of the " Jolly," a kind of lever which presses down
on to the clay placed on the " Jigger," and forces it into the
desired shape. Up to 1870 the flat pressers were almost all men,
but on the introduction of this machine they endeavoured to
. resist its application to the trade. The result was that they were
largely replaced by women, for with the aid of the machines the
trade is little more than an unskilled one. It is now largely
carried on by women and girls, though a number of men still
work at it. The next most important branch is that of the
196 Workers on their Industries.
hollow ware pressers. This includes all those who shape ware by
pressing it into moulds made to the desired form. The moulds
are cast in plaster of paris and the clay pressed into them by
hand. Finally, there are the throwers, turners and handlers, who
form a small group, doing the highly skilled work. The words al-
most explain themselves. The thrower is the man who works at the
potter's wheel ; the turner receives the ware when partially dried,
as it comes from the presser, and with a steel tool takes off the
rough surface ready for the printer or painter ; and the handler
makes the handles for all kinds of articles. There are many sub-
divisions of these groups, but they constitute the main body of
the actual workers in the clay. Their work is not particularly
dangerous, except in one portion of it, and that is the " fettling "
or surfacing the partially dried goods. The articles when made
are allowed to dry sufficiently to handle without being spoiled,
and then a moderately fine surface must be given by the use of
sand-paper or some other means. The clay dust which is given
off by this process, consisting, as it does, of little jagged particles
of china clay and flint, is very unhealthy. Its constant entry
into the lungs is the cause of that particular form of asthmatic
complaint known as "potter's rot." 1 The evils of this branch of
the work can be minimised by the provision of a proper system of
ventilation, and of " fans " to carry off the dust, and it is to be
hoped that such provision may be more completely and success-
fully enforced by the law in the future than in the past.
When the ware is ' ' fettled " and has left its maker's hands,
it goes to the " ovenman " and undergoes its first firing in the
" biscuit " kiln. From thence it passes to the " printer," who,
having a copper plate engraved with the desired pattern, takes
prints on fine paper from the plate, which are transferred by his
woman assistant on to the ware. It is then passed to the
decorator j who illumines the print so put in the ware, if such is
desired. Neither of these branches is in any way a dangerous
iSee "The Pottery Manufacture in its Sanitary Aspects," by J. T.
Arlidge, M.D., F.R C.P., etc. (Hanley, 1892. 8vo
Pottery. 197
trade. They require, of course, special skill and ability, and a
period of apprenticeship is usually served to them.
From the printer and decorator the ware passes to what is
perhaps the most dangerous operation, that of "dipping" or
glazing. This consists in dipping the piece of ware into a pail or
bath of glaze made of a mixture of various articles such as
felspar, soda, flint and glass dust, and oxide of lead. This latter
ingredient it is which is the chief source of danger, cases of lead
poisoning among the women and children engaged in this branch
of the trade being by no means uncommon. It is to be noted
that a glaze almost if not quite equal to that produced by the use
of lead can be obtained without its admixture, and indeed several
large firms have for some years made a point of never using a
lead glaze at all. It is strongly to be hoped that the committee
recently appointed by Mr. H. H. Asquith, the Home Secretary, to
inquire into the question of the lead poisoning in pottery works,
will lead to drastic regulations for the prevention of any further
such cases, and for the protection of the health and lives of the
workers in the future.
Finally, there remains, when the glazing is done, the last stage
of baking, which is performed by the ovenmen. The ware is
placed in large, coarse earthenware boxes, somewhat the shape of
cheeses, called " Saggars," and these are piled up, one on the top
of the other., from the floor to the roof of the oven. Then the fire
is lighted, and the whole kept in an intense heat for some days.
The work of the ovenman is very skilled, much depending upon
his judgment, and a mistake on his part might lead to the com-
plete destruction of many weeks' work of the other men. His
trade is not necessarily dangerous by any means, but it has of late
years, owing to the keen competition among the employers, been
rendered at any rate unhealthy, by the fact that in their haste to
get the ware from the ovens, they have forced the men to start
emptying them while still far too hot. So much is this so that
the Staffordshire ovenmen have had to pass a stringent rule for-
bidding any member to start unloading any oven while over 120
degrees of heat prevail in it, and we have it on the testimony of
198 Workers on their Industries.
Dr. Arlidge 1 that before that rule was enforced 180 and 200
degrees were no uncommon heat in which thes*e men had to work.
As to methods of payment it may be said briefly that practically
throughout the industry the method is piecework. In the cases
of the workers in clay, that is the makers of the ware, the trades
are all pure piecework, so much per dozen articles being paid,
according to their size and shape. In the flat-pressing branch
prices are very low, the large amount of machinery and of woman's
labour in use having seriously reduced the earnings, so that it is
difficult now for a man to get a living wage at it. The other
branches are not so bad as this, but even the most skilled artisans
can seldom earn more than 7d. or Sd. per hour at the good work,
while in the very cheap shops they get much less. The printers
and transferrers work on a curious system of piecework with a
fixed weekly output, and accordingly a fixed weekly wage. The
ovenmen receive day wages of 4s. 7d. per day, and have a fixed
task of work to perform, that is to say that so many men are
allowed so many days at 4s. 7d. a day each, to fill or empty an
oven of a given size. In Staffordshire the men's union insists on
a certain number of men being allowed to each group, and will
not allow more than one boy to be employed bo each five men.
The greatest evil, however, of the trade is that the piecework
prices are not uniform either throughout Staffordshire or with the
rest of the country. This absence of uniformity in wages appears
in all the branches of the trade, but more especially with those
engaged in sanitary work. Thus Derbyshire makes some wares
cheaper than any other place, while other articles are made more
cheaply in Staffordshire, and the workers are therefore competing
against each other, and tending to reduce prices all round. For
this there is only one real remedy, and that is a strong and powerful
Trade Union, either amalgamated or federated throughout the
whole kingdom. With such an organisation a uniform piecework
1 See " The Pottery Manufacture in its Sanitary Aspects," by J. T.
Arlidge, M.D., F.R.C.P., etc., who suggests that 105 degrees is a prudent
maximum, p. 17.
Pottery. 199
list might quickly be obtained, and a fair living wage secured for
all the workers.
The industry has received a great impetus in recent years from
the increasing application of pottery ware to sanitary purposes.
Thanks to our valuable beds of suitable clay in Dorsetshire, we
are without a foreign rival in this trade, and our exports of
sanitary ware to other countries have therefore enormously
increased. In short, in this branch, England for the present
practically monopolises the market, and very large orders have
been executed for many continental and American countries.
This branch has also been considerably improved by the action of
the London County Council, which has determined that every
house shall be fitted up with proper sanitary appliances. London
is thus being made one of the most healthy cities in the world,
and it is to be hoped that the use of this very valuable form of
sanitary appliance may be even more largely increased in the
future, and so help to strengthen our hands in the battle against
all forms of disease. This branch of the trade is, and has for
some time been, very busy, and we may venture to hope that it
may long continue so both for the sake of the trade and for that
of the public health and convenience.
Another recent application of the potter's art to modern needs
is to be seen in the manufacture of terra cotta for building pur-
poses, the pressers and finishers of this material forming a large
and well-occupied class. Terra cotta is made in. almost every
county in England. The buff-coloured terra cotta is made from
the Poole clay beds, and it is largely manufactured in the South
Devonshire potteries at Tamworth, where that used at the Natural
History Museum in South Kensington, London, was made. A
good deal is made in other places, however, and some of the most
beautiful red terra cotta is made in Wales, from the clay beds
situated there, which are exceedingly valuable for that purpose.
This work, like the making of sanitary ware, is pressed in plaster
of paris moulds. The men are paid piecework by measurement,
and considering the difficult and laborious nature of the work, the
men's earnings compare very unfavourably with those of other
2oo Workers on their Industries.
skilled artisans. They suffer, too, from the want of uniformity in
prices, a difference as great as 30 per cent, occurring in the piece-
work rates paid by different firms for the same kind of work,
which is a very serious handicap to those firms which pay the
higher rates.
I had intended to have said a few words upon the services
rendered by some of the employers to the trade, but space forbids
that I should now do so. In an industry such as this, which is,
to a great extent, still an artistic handicraft, the employer can,
if he is so minded, do much to maintain a high level of quality
and workmanship in the productions. The fame of English pottery
in the past rests mainly upon the works produced by a few first-
rate firms who turned out work of the finest quality. In spite
of the keener competition of these days, and of the sub-division
and sectionalism of the trade, some employers are yet striving to
keep up the standard of excellence of English ware. In this
direction the names of Wedgwood and of Minton, will, doubtless,
recur to the reader as those of Staffordshire firms which still
maintain a high reputation for excellent productions. London,
too, has cause to be proud of one of its manufacturers, Sir
Henry Doulton, who has done much to raise the art to its
present high level, and from whose magnificent works in Lam-
beth some of the most beautiful specimens of works of art in
pottery are produced to-day. It is a matter for much regret,
however, that the employers should always have regarded with
so much disfavour the attempts, which have from time to time
been made by the men, to improve their Trade Union organisa-
tion, and to bring about a greater uniformity in the wages, both
in London and the provinces. I cannot refrain from expressing
the hope that the time may not be far distant when a better
understanding of our mutual interests may exist between the
employers and our Trade Unions. Such a feeling, if it could be
once established could not fail to be productive of much good,
both to the employers and the men, and to the trade at large.
THE NEED OF ORGANISATION AMONG
WOMEN.
By Emilie A. Holyoake, Secretary of the Women's Trade Union
League.
THE grave evils under which the women workers in many of the
industries of our great cities are compelled to toil have been so
frequently brought to the public notice that it is unhappily no
longer possible to doubt either their existence or their gravity.
Facts 'which have long been obvious to all inquirers into these
questions have lately been brought more prominently into notice
by the evidence given before the Royal Commission on Labour,
and by the testimony of the Women Assistant Commissioners to
that body. So striking were the disclosures regarding the sani-
tary and other conditions of the factories and workshops in which
women work, and the general economic conditions under which
their labour is carried on, that the four commissioners who signed
the minority report of the Royal Commission on Labour * were led
to use the following weighty words : " The evidence obtained by
the Assistant Commissioners indicates that, especially in the
* sweated ' trades in great cities, many hundreds of thousands of
women are working at wages far below those of 'even unskilled
men, often, indeed, at rates which are insufficient for healthy and
decent maintenance. Women, too, are special sufferers from long
hours and insanitary conditions We regard the economic
degradation of the women and girls in many of the industries of
i Messrs. William Abraham, M.P. (Mabon) ; Michael Austin, M.P. ;
James Mawdsley, J.P. ; and Tom Mann.
201
2O2 Workers on their Industries,
the great cities as constituting one of the most serious of industrial
problems." 1
There can be but little surprise that, with the knowledge of
such facts as these constantly before them, working women are be-
ginning to demand great and drastic changes in the conditions
under which they work. Happily, too, they are beginning to
recognise that thorough organisation is the first step towards
securing these changes. The teachings of experience amply show
that the combination of those concerned is absolutely necessary
before any important improvements in the industrial conditions of
any class of manual workers can be achieved, and the knowledge
of this fact is already spreading rapidly among the women
workers. But after long years of economic and social dependence,
during which all attempts on the part of women to take indepen-
dent action in their own behalf have been severely discouraged, it
is not surprising that the doctrines of combination and mutual
support should take some time to gain the general adherence of
the women workers. It is probable, however, that women have
made quite as much progress in Trade Unionism during the twenty
years it has been known among them, as men did in the first twenty
years during which they began to organise themselves. But it
may be safely predicted that in the future the progress of Trade
Unionism among women will be much more rapid, partly because
they are beginning to see more olearly its need, and partly because
the opposition and indifference of men are beginning to disappear,
and their Trade Unions and Trades Councils all over the country
are now assisting the women to organise. Trade Unionism, to be
successful, must, like charity, begin at home. If men will hence-
forth bear this in mind, and begin to advise their wives and
daughters to become Trade Unionists, the task of organising the
women workers will be appreciably lightened. A gospel which is
not preached in one's home cannot help being less effective when
preached abroad, and men will find that their own spirit of unity
i See " The Minority Report of the Royal Commission on Labour," pp.
18, 19. Reprinted by the Labour Press Society, Manchester, 1894 ;
price 2d.
The Need of Organisation among Women. 203
will not be weakened by the participation in it of their wives and
daughters.
There are many difficulties in the way of inducing the great
mass of women workers in our industrial cities to organise their
forces. Some of these difficulties arise from mere ignorance, and
can only be overcome by improved education. In most factory
districts the girls are now expected to enter the mills as early in
life as the boys, and the education of the two sexes should there-
fore be further assimilated, and the girls taught to prepare them-
selves for a working life, and to understand the necessity of
protecting their trade interests. Other difficulties are the results
of their economic position, and for these other remedies must be
sought. Undoubtedly, one of the chief obstacles to the more
complete combination among women workers is to be found in
their general expectation of marriage, and the hope that they may
be thus released from the necessity of competing in the labour
market for their living. Unfortunately, however, a very large
proportion of them have to continue at work after marriage, and
experience should, therefore, teach them the necessity of clinging
to the support of their trade society. Women, too, must learn to
recognise that they, cannot stand apart in the world, but that they
must, indirectly at any rate, share the fortunes of men. When
the men have their great struggles for a living wage, such as that
of the great coal lock-out of 1893, the women have a part also to
play, and a very sad and weary part it often proves. At the
women's great meeting in St. James' Hall in aid of the locked-out
miners, it was urged that, even if the men were not to be helped,
at any rate their wives and children should be provided for. It
is, however, quite as hard to starve quietly as to starve fighting,
and this many of the women had to do.
Women are placed at a great disadvantage in regard to the
wages they receive, by their disorganised condition, which
accounts, to some extent at any rate, for the miserably low
standard which is generally considered sufficient for them. We
have Mr. Giffen's authority for the statement that wages in any
trade are influenced in a downward direction by the number of
204 Workers on their Industries.
women engaged in it. No doubt this may be partly accounted
for by long custom, and the ingrained habit of regarding women's
requirements as being smaller than men's ; and also partly by the
facts that great numbers of women work at unskilled labour only,
which is always poorly paid, and that many of them are not
entirely dependent upon their own earnings for their livelihood.
But, in addition to all these minor causes, there can be little
, doubt that the absence of organisation among them is the chief
cause of the low pay which women receive. We know, for in-
stance, that in Lancashire the women weavers are paid exactly
the same piecework prices for the same work as are the men
weavers, and that their earnings are almost identical. The same
is true of the women workers in a few other industries where they
are equally well organised with the men, and it is a matter of
regret that such instances should be exceptional. It is strange,
too, that so few employers should regard it as a good investment
to pay wages that will keep their workers in a healthy condition.
One would have thought that the truth of the " dearness of cheap
labour " would have impressed more of them than is so far the
case. They do not work half-fed horses, nor do they begrudge
the necessary expenditure and labour required to keep their
machinery in thorough order, but the most important of all, the
easily damaged human machines, are expected to work as well,
both in regard to quantity and quality, whether they are well or ill
fed, whether in good or bad health. From a social point of view, too,
the existence of a large number of persons able to demand no more
than the barest necessities is a source of grave evil. It tends to
keep back the progress of the whole of the working-class, and to
retard the growth of Trade Unions and other associations for their
improvement. Everything which tends to educate women, and to
raise their hopes of the possibility of a more comfortable existence,
draws them towards the path of progress. When they fully
realise that more wages and more leisure mean better health and
more happiness, they may be trusted to discover the best means
of securing those advantages.
Although much has been done for working women in the way
The Need of Organisation among Women. 205
of factory legislation, they do not reap the full benefits of those
enactments. The provisions of the Factory Acts are unknown to
the great majority of women, and although the law provides that
an abstract of the Act shall be placed in a conspicuous place in
every workshop, it is sometimes found to be kept in a cupboard,
or hung upside down in a dark corner. Again the law relating
to dismissal from work, fines, and payment of wages in cash, is
by no means so well known to the workers as it should be. One
of the most useful functions of a Trade Union, and one which
ought to recommend such an organisation, especially to all women
workers, is, that it gives its members an opportunity of readily
ascertaining the law upon such points as these, and also assists
them in their efforts to secure its enforcement.
In my capacity as secretary of the Women's Trades Union
League, many applications have been made to me as to the
legality of charging girls for the thread used in tailoring work, as
is done in workshops in Oxford. In some cases the girls are
actually sent out to buy thread for their employers at Is. per
dozen skeins, which is afterwards sold to them for their work at
just double that price. It was thought that this system could be
stopped by means of the Truck Act, as the deduction of these
amounts appeared to involve payment in kind, but, unfortunately,
the first prosecutions brought by one of the newly appointed
women factory inspectors were not successful. Another such
deduction, which even long custom fails to justify, is that fre-
quently made for gas, an absolute necessity to enable the work to
be done and for which the employees ought not to be taxed. It
becomes even more preposterous when the charge is continued
throughout the year as is the case in some factories, when it
amounts practically to a charge for daylight. Indeed, there
seems to be no limit to the charges and fines imposed on women
in factories and workshops, involving often the loss of as
much as a third of the total weekly wage to the sufferers.
Many complaints have been made to me of fines imposed for
laughing, speaking to a neighbour, looking out of a window,
and a host of other similarly trivial offences. Such numerous
206 Workers on their Industries.
fines substantially reduce the small wages paid to the women, and
they betoken a state of tyranny which men would not tolerate for
a moment, and can successfully resist by the aid of their organis-
ations.
But until women have had a certain amount of education in
these matters they do not even appear to realise the gross injus-
tices they suffer. I have heard intelligent working women protest
against the Eight Hours movement on the ground that they
" did not want shorter hours, or overtime abolished, they were
quite content." That they should be content is the sad part of
it, for to be so shorn of hope and imagination as to be unable to
picture what increased leisure would mean to them, is a deplor-
able state of things. The root of the matter is that they fear
shorter hours would mean less money. They do not dream that
their small wage would not be diminished, and when they find
that Trade Unionists, while seeking to diminish the number of
hours worked, at the same time depend on the better work done
in the shorter time to allow of equal wages being paid, a different
tale is heard. Shorter hours are most essential to women, as
without them there is no comfort in their homes, and little health
in their families. They have no time to prepare proper food,
without which health cannot be maintained.
Some optimists try to persuade us that there is no need for so
much agitation. They content themselves with the idea that
public opinion has grown so strong in favour of fair conditions for
all classes of workers, that no employer at the present time would
dare to take advantage of his employees, or to evade the Factory
Acts. This, unfortunately, is not the case, or there would not be
the long record of prosecutions brought by the women factory
inspectors on behalf of women, which was recently published in
the Women's Trade Union Review* In December, 1893, for
instance, a working tailor of Spitalfields had to answer to eight
summonses for employing four women from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
without allowing them a total period of two hours for meals.
Many other similar cases might be cited to prove that there are
1 See the Women's Trade Union Review, vol.
The Need of Organisation among Women. 207
employers who are all the better for having no option as to the
length of time they work their employees. Public opinion being
so important a factor in these cases, and largely influencing the
judgments of the courts, as well as the judgments of the news-
papers, it is necessary to be unwearying in efforts to make known
the necessity of improved conditions for women's work. Another
grievance is to be found in a new custom which is springing up
among tailoresses, and which will have a very bad effect if continued?
In a short spell of work they are only paid for the actual amount
of time worked, although they may have been kept waiting in the
shop half the morning. Formerly, never less than half a day was
paid for, and it is quite a new departure to pay only for a few
hours. The necessity of waiting in the shop, and not being
allowed to call at a later hour on the chance of work, is a great
imposition. The employer refuses to give the women the work if
they are not on the spot the moment the work comes in.
The Women's Trades Union League exists for the purpose of
helping women to make such grievances known. Its influence is
used to increase the number of women in the Trade Union ranks,
to form new societies, to strengthen those that exist, and especially
to guard the interests of women in any fresh legislation proposed.
Trade Unions of which women are members are affiliated to the
League, and by this means a knowledge of the progress of the
women's movement as a whole is spread all over the United King-
dom. As a proof that there are some large and successful unions
in existence which include a large proportion of women workers, I
may mention the Northern Counties Amalgamated Association of
Weavers, which has a total membership of 72,000, of whom
43,000 are women and 29,000 men ; the Amalgamated Associa-
tion of Card and Blowing-Room Operatives (of Lancashire), which
has 35,000 members, of whom 21,000 are women and 14,000 are
m.en ; and the West Riding of Yorkshire Power Loom Weavers'
Association with 5,000 members, of whom 2,000 are women and
3,000 are men. In two of these instances it will be seen that the
women greatly outnumber the men members. There can be no
real reason, therefore, as some people would have us believe, why
2oS Workers on their Industries.
women cannot be as effectively organised as men are. What has
been done in the north of England can be done elsewhere, al-
though, perhaps, with more difficulty, as factory life cultivates
that esprit de corps which exists to a greater extent among working-
men, and is so essential to the existence of a strong Trade Union.
The women engaged in cigar-making in Nottingham and Leicester
have a very strong and successful union of their own. The
hosiery workers of Nottingham and Leicester are making great
efforts to organise the workwomen in the trade, and have succeeded
in enrolling over 2,000 of them, and in almost every other in-
dustry where women are largely employed the work of organisa-
tion is making steady progress.
In January, 1893, when the appointment of women factory
inspectors was under the consideration of the Government, the
Women's Trades Union League sent up a deputation to Mr.
Asquith, the Home Secretary, consisting of delegates from its
affiliated societies. The deputation was entirely composed of
representatives of women working in factories, who would be
directly affected and benefited by the appointment of women
inspectors. It seemed time that the claims of this large body of
women should be recognised, and they were recognised by Mr.
Asquith. Some of the information as to the condition of the
factories had to be given in writing, as it was considered too un-
pleasant to be mentioned publicly. It struck many with surprise,
that respectable women should be compelled to earn their living
under conditions that were too unpleasant to be spoken of openly.
Many of these facts had not been previously made known, o wing-
to the circumstance that women will not complain to men, even if
they are factory inspectors. The deputation from the Women's
Trades Union League represented 65,000 working women, and,
with the other deputations received at the same time, more than
half a million of working women were declaring themselves in
favour of the new departure. It was a question on which the
women employed in factories had felt very strongly for many
years, and one on which several ineffectual attempts to gain
reform had been made at intervals, Mr. Asquith declared him-
The Need of Organisation among Women. 209
self as being entirely in sympathy with the demand, and at once
appointed two ladies as inspectors of factories^ .promising, when
circumstances permitted, to increase the number. If a Govern-
ment is to be moved, only large bodies of the people can do it.
The grievance of an individual may be as serious as that of many,
but unless there is unanimity in the plea for change it will be
unavailing. Nearly twenty years' steady, unobtrusive work had
been done before this innovation was gained. Emma Paterson, in
1874, first started the agitation in favour of women factory
inspectors, and the Women's Trades Union League, which she
founded, has carried on the work ever since until this successful
issue has been attained. This was the first women's society, and
for many years the only one, which took the question up, and it
is the time to relate the fact when some measure of success has
been achieved.
There have been many instances of women combining in order
to get rid of some special injustice, but many of these successful
organisations have been lost sight of, owing to the societies having
been dissolved when their objects were realised. When Mr.
Matthews' Factory Bill was before the House of Commons some
time ago, the laundresses of London combined and formed many
branches of a union, with the avowed object of demonstrating to
Mr. Matthews that they had a real desire to be included under
that Act, in order that they might secure the same protection as
was afforded to workers in other factories and workshops. Mr.
Matthews, however, refused to receive a deputation from the
laundresses. A canvass of the workers was made, and 65,000
laundresses were found to be favourable to the proposed inclusion
of their trade under the Factory Act. The workers who had or-
ganised themselves with a view to bringing the disabilities of laun-
dresses before the public, were greatly disappointed by the want of
success in even gaining a hearing, and it caused the women to
abandon their Trade Union. Women have hitherto suffered a great
deal from their inability to get their claims attended to. For this
reason working women would specially welcome the vote, as
legislation touching their trade interests vitally affects their power
2io Workers on their Industries.
of earning a livelihood. In the case of the laundresses the shock-
ing conditions under which they work make it very desirable that
some pressure should be brought to bear on the employers.
Women who work fourteen, and in some cases sixteen hours a day,
in a hot and moist atmosphere, sometimes standing in water an
inch in depth, must be morally and physically degraded. Their
health soon fails them, and their work becomes inferior. Such
conditions lead directly to intemperance and other evils. Laundry
work is an employment in which the bogey of " foreign competi-
tion" need not deter the workers from forming a union, as our
washing must be done at home, but there are great difficulties in
the way of getting women with so little chance of leisure for im-
provement to realise the necessity of combination. However, the
laundresses took up the cause and worked with great spirit at the
time I allude to, and we have hopes that in the near future they
will secure that protection of the law which they so sorely require.
It is generally admitted, I think, by all parties, that improved
sanitary arrangements in factories and workshops, shorter hours,
and larger wages are the chief requirements of women workers.
The question is the best policy to pursue to gain these ends. It
seems certain, however, that very little can be done unless the
workers are organised in some way. We cannot get at the facts
of the case from isolated workers, and they are unable to give the
information required before steps towards improvement can be
made. Their horizon is too near. True and lasting reform must
come from below and not above, and, therefore, instead of spend-
ing our lives pointing out the deficiencies of employers, and re-
gretting that they as a body do not do more to lessen the toil of
their workwomen and thereby brighten their lives, let us endeavour
so to assist the workers as to make it easier for them to help
themselves. At the present time great interest is being shown in
the subject, and we must await the practical results of this new
enthusiasm for the working-classes, meanwhile doing everything in
our power to educate those most nearly concerned. However
much we are in the right, it is difficult to make others recognise
it, and impossible to enforce our opinions unless we can prove a
The Need of Organisation among Women. 211
certain unanimity among the class for whom the reforms are
advocated. Indeed it is only when we can prove that we have
their support that we have any right to enforce our opinions. To
first organise the workers is therefore a necessity, and must be the
first step towards educating them and inspiring them with higher
ambition, and a desire to enjoy healthier and happier lives.
THE NEED OF LABOUR REPRESENTATION.
By Alderman Ben Tillett, L.C.C., General Secretary of
the Dockers' Union.
THE necessity of direct labour representation on all governing
bodies, is one which is becoming daily more apparent to the
workers of this country. On all sides we find that the organisa-
tions which are specially representative of the working classes are
beginning to recognise this necessity, and to take such steps as
they think best fitted to meet it. The annual Trades Union
Congress, held at Belfast in September, 1893, passed the now
well-known resolution in favour of the establishment of a proper
fund and organisation for the purpose of assisting independent
labour candidates in all local and Parliamentary elections. x The
London Trades Council has taken up the same cry, and is now
engaged in formulating a scheme whereby the same need may be
met. Many of the most important of the Trade Unions have
taken steps in the same direction. The Miners' Unions, which
have long been more forward in politics than those of other
classes of workers, have, for many years, maintained direct repre-
sentatives in the House of Commons. Their example has been
more recently followed by the National Amalgamated Sailors' and
Firemen's Union, while the Amalgamated Society of Engineers
i Resolution moved by the writer of this paper, at Belfast Congress,
1893. See "Report of the Twenty-Sixth Annual Trades Congress, 1893,
Published by the Authority of the Congress and the Parliamentary Com-
mittee," pp. 44-46 (Manchester. Is.). The Congress of 1894 has carried
the matter a step further by appointing a special committee charged to
carry out the proposed plan of raising funds, etc., for this purpose.
212
The Need of Labour Representation. 213
has, by a vote of its 75,000 members, declared itself ready to pay
a levy of 3d. per member, which will realise over 800, for the
expenses of Parliamentary candidates. The National Union of
Boot and Shoe Operatives, the Amalgamated Society of Railway
Servants, and the Amalgamated Society of Tailors, have each
voted to maintain a member of Parliament, while the National
Union of Teachers has two candidates already in the field. 1
Many other Trade Societies have endorsed the candidature of
their officials for parliamentary and municipal offices, and the
number of these is being increased almost every day. Under
such circumstances as these then, when it can no longer be
doubted that the workers are awakening to a sense of their great
need in this respect, it may be well worth our while to devote a
little time to the consideration of the history of the question, and
to the causes which have tended to produce this growing feeling
in favour of the direct representation of their interests, which is
so rapidly spreading among the artisan and labouring classes of
this country.
If we may place any reliance whatever upon the lessons of
history as taught us by our professors and economists, it is
reasonable to believe that in remote centuries the civic spirit,
the sense of common rights and duties in the state, was not only
absent from the breasts of the bulk of the inhabitants of these
islands, but was, indeed, necessarily so absent. In the days
before the growth of the large towns, the population of this
country consisted chiefly of the lords of the manors and their
retainers, the High Church dignitaries and their subordinates,
and the serfs and vassals upon their estates. The workers, secure
as they may have been in the tenure of their small plots, or
portions of plots of land, were nevertheless dependent upon the
lord of their manor for practically all the means of life, and
1 There are at present six members of Parliament maintained directly
from the funds of their respective Trade Unions. The Northumberland
and Durham Miners' Associations send three ; the Miners' Federation
sends two ; and the National Union of Sailors sends one. The number of
Labour members upon local bodies is not known, but must be considerable.
Workers on their Industries.
almost for the very right to live itself. They were far too
occupied with their work upon the land, of which they were
practically the peasant proprietors under certain conditions, to
feel any interest in civic affairs, or to take any part in the work
of government. Their system of farming was perhaps as wasteful
and extravagant as any that could well be conceived. They had
to render service upon the lord's demesne just at the time when
their own crops most needed attention ; they were without the
use of any but the rudest kinds of mechanical appliances; and they
had no scientific system of drainage or of manuring the land.
Under such circumstances the mere getting of a living from the soil
must have entailed such hard and engrossing toil, as to have left
the serf neither the energy nor the time, even if he had had the
opportunity, to take any part in the affairs of the government of
his country.
I do not suggest that they felt the need of any such action.
It is indeed probable, that in spite of the untoward circumstances
of their lot in many ways, they were far happier and more con-
tented, and secured a larger share of the wealth they produced,
than is the case with many thousands of the highly civilised and
highly Christianised people who now occupy their places. But
this absence of desire and of opportunity on the people's part to
interest themselves in these questions ultimately cost them
dearly. / The lords of the manors were not so fully occupied that
they could not find time to study their own interests in the
State. After many struggles they succeeded, as we know, in
wresting from the monarch the charter of their own rights and
liberties. In this work they were by no means slow to avail
themselves of the assistance of their serfs. But having gained
the powers and privileges they claimed, they did not scruple to
quickly use them against the simple and unsuspecting class by
whose efforts they had been so largely attained.
It was under such circumstances as these that the groundwork
of our present system of land tenure was first laid. The rich and
powerful lords exerted all their powers to increase and render
more secure their own possessions. No doubt some of the
The Need of Labour Representation. 2 1 5
changes they effected on their own behalf, were subsequently ad-
vantageous to the nation as a whole, but they were carried out
with a savagery, and a disregard of the rights of the people and
of all civic responsibility, which must have resulted in enormous
and overwhelming misery to whole classes of the population. The
transformation of the security of Tenure, formerly enjoyed by the
serfs and tenants in return for the fixed services rendered to the
lord, into a money payment of Rent, simple as that act may have
appeared, enabled the lords to eventually dispossess their tenants
without compensation of any kind for disturbance or improvements.
The enclosures of the Commons which went steadily on from the
end of the fifteenth century, were carried out with total disregard
to the welfare, or even the rights of the poor, and led to much
suffering among them. 1 In every direction the landowning and
governing class spared no pains to secure their own interests, and
if those interests happened to clash with the previously accepted
conceptions of right and duty, it was simply so much the worse
for those conceptions." 2
Against this spoliation the mass of the people, simple and
ignorant as they were, had absolutely no remedy. They did in-
deed rise in spasmodic rebellions under the leadership of a few
more sagacious men such as Wat Tyler, or Ket the Tanner of
1 The earliest known enclosure took place in 1488-9, and they continued,
with brief interruptions, until the middle of this century. (See Professor W.
J. Ashley's "Economic History and Theory," vol. L, p. 289.) According
to the figures given in Porter's " Progress of the Nation" (1847 edition, p.
146) there were 3867 Enclosure Acts passed between 1760 and 1844 only.
Of the savagery with which the earlier enclosures were carried out, Ashley
says that "the language of the Statutes concerning the pulling down and
destruction of towns, so that where once 200 persons had been employed
there were now but two or three herdsmen, is no exaggeration, but a sober
description of what had really taken place." ("Economic History and
Theory," vol. i., p. 280.)
2 See, for instance, the circumstances under which the evictions of the
" tenants by custom " were carried out by the lords of the manors in order
to turn their land into sheep walks, in defiance of all custom and precedent
and of the express dicta of the judges and the law books. (Ashley,
" Economic History and Theory," vol. i., p. 278,)
216 Workers on their Industries.
Norwich. But all such movements were rapidly and ruthlessly
suppressed by the authorities acting under the orders of the
dominant class. The " dim inarticulate multitude " of those days
had very few means of even making their grievances known, and
the full extent of their sufferings at this time have probably never
been revealed. But the extreme miseries caused by the dis-
possession of the serfs, and by the transition from a state of
feudalism involving a fixed occupation and a certain living, to that
of a workless and homeless freedom ; the intensification of those
miseries by the enclosure of the commons in order to make sheep
farms, combined with other causes such as the depreciation of the
currency, have left their mark upon the Statute-book. Laws
containing the harshest and most stringent provisions for harrying
and repressing beggars, tramps, and out-of-works, formed practi-
cally the entire industrial legislation from 1350 to 1550. Whip-
ping, branding on the forehead, the loss of one or both ears,
slavery, and in the last resort death, were the punishments
awarded by these statutes in graduated stages of refined cruelty,
to those who should be unfortunate enough to wander about
workless. Even these terrors, however, were not found to be
sufficiently effective as deterrents. For while the main part of
each new statute was devoted to increasing with the utmost
severity the cruelties of its predecessors, the preambles to these
same acts are full of plaintive confessions of the impotence and
uselessness of the preceding provisions, and of complaints of the
great increase in the numbers of ' ( valiant beggars " and of
" sturdy rogues and vagabonds." 1 During the reign of King
Henry VIII. alone, enormous numbers of such persons were
executed as tramps and vagabonds. Thus the old, old game
was played. First make your criminals by depriving the
poor of every chance of obtaining an honest living then punish
them severely for the offence. But it is needless to dwell
longer on the misrule under which the people at that time
suffered, and against which they remained for centuries without
J See Sir George Nicholl's " History of the English Poor Law," passim,
and the Statutes of the Realm of these years.
The Need of Labour Representation. 217
any means of redress. They were deprived of any voice in the
conduct of government, and compelled to accept whatever their
lords and masters chose to give them. Mr. Gladstone has sum-
marised the position exactly when he says that up to the time of
the great Reform Act of 1832 " the determining influence of our
government lay with the peerage and the possessors of the land.
They formed a partnership harmonious enough, and strong enough
to hold the citadel of the constitution against the people. And
the people were governed this way or that way with their will or
without it." 1
It was under such conditions as these that the growth of in-
dustry and commerce led to the rise of the great towns. For a
time it looked as if the inequalities in wealth and power created
by the land monopoly were to be to some extent remedied by a
more equal distribution of property and influence in the towns.
Industries grew up largely as small crafts, carried on by the
master craftsman himself, and strictly controlled by the gild or
company of the trade and the corporation of the town. In both
of these communal organisations the master craftsman, even if not
also his assistants, took a share in the work of government, and
it is probable that it is from this period that the growth of the
civic spirit largely springs. How far the gilds embraced the whole
working population is a matter of considerable doubt. There was
probably always a large class of unskilled labourers, belonging to
no handicraft, who were debarred from the exercise of any muni-
cipal rights. But at anyrate the bulk of the skilled artisan class
must have exercised during mediaeval times, either as members of
their gild or as freemen of their city, considerable influence in the
corporate life and government of the towns.
But whatever may have been the part played in municipal
government by the ordinary town artisan or master craftsman of
1 " The Rights and Responsibilities of Labour," by the Right Hon. W.
E. Gladstone, p. 4. London : reprinted from Lloyd's Weekly News, 1870.
It is as well to remember that as lately as 1831, 150 persons returned a
majority of the House of Commons. (Molesworth's " History of the Reform
Bill," p. 347.)
218 Workers on their Industries.
the Middle Ages, he was not destined to survive. With the rapid
growth of commerce and the discoveries and inventions of science,
a new order was ushered in. The vast improvements in mechani-
cal processes, combined with the growth of great organising
capacity, led to the supersession of the old handicraft system by
the modern " grand " industry or factory system. The new
capitalist class which now arose, consisting largely of offshoots
from the landowning class, began promptly to study how to
secure to itself the rapidly increasing wealth produced by the
nation. In their turn they strove to wrest from the dominant
landowning class the powers of government, and to use these
powers for their own interests. But to do this they found it
necessary to secure the assistance of the mass of the population.
With this help they succeeded, after long struggles, in gradually
securing their own predominance in the state, and in their turn
they have not scrupled to use their power to the detriment of
the class which had helped them to gain it.
The period which followed the industrial revolution was with-
out doubt that in which the working classes of this country
reached the very lowest level they have ever touched. Economi-
cally, socially, and industrially, their position was hopelessly bad.
Every increase in the productivity of their labour, whether
it was brought about by increased severity of their toil, or by
longer hours of work, or by the introduction of new processes,
served only to enrich the already wealthy. The workers were
not only not allowed to take any part or share in the rapidly
increasing work of Imperial government, but were even de-
prived partly by economic causes and partly by statutes, of that
share in the government of their own towns which they had
previously enjoyed. The privileges which the freedom of their
city obtained by seven years indentured apprenticeship within
its walls, or by patrimony had conferred upon the skilled handi-
craftsmen were abrogated, partly by the almost general abandon-
ment of the apprenticeship system, and partly by changes in the
law, which imposed a property qualification upon citizenship. By
1830, in short, the whole artisan and labouring class in this
The Need of Labour Representation. 219
country were practically left without a single means whereby
they could secure direct expression of their opinions or repre-
sentation of their grievances upon any public body in the kingdom,
whether local or national. The results of this absence of any
particle of political power soon became obvious in the rapid
degradation, both morally and physically, of the working class
and the conditions under which they lived. The workers, finding
that their standard of living was being steadily yet surely de-
pressed, endeavoured to find a means of redress. But every
attempt on their part was futile, and they found themselves
bound down by laws, in the making of which they had no voice,
but which forbade them to take any step whatever for their own
protection. The dominant class, whether landlord or capitalist,
rigidly refused to administer such laws as were yet upon the
Statute Book that might have ameliorated the condition of the
workers. Their attempts to put in force the statute of apprentices,
or the Acts authorising the justices to fix the rates of their wages,
were all failures from this cause. On the other hand the laws
which prohibited combinations of workmen were strengthened,
and administered with a harshness which exceeds belief. 1
There can be little wonder that under such circumstances as
these the working classes were turbulent and riotous, and easily
led into sedition and incipient revolt. Gradually, however, they
began to find other and surer methods of defence. In spite of
all anti-combination laws, Trade Unions grew up and nourished
in almost every industry. Side by side with this movement
commenced also a steady agitation for political reform. The
early years of this century saw the skilled workmen everywhere
well organised for trade purposes, and beginning to take part in
most of the forward political movements of the time. 2 From then
1 For a full history of these events see " The History of Trade Unionism,"
by Sidney and Beatrice Webb, chap. ii. passim. During the whole of the
years 1799-1824, while the anti-combination laws were being rigorously
enforced against workmen, no single instance of its application to a com-
bination of employers can be discovered, although such combinations were
both frequent and open.
2 The great part played in the early Reform movements by the mass of
22O Workers on their Industries.
till now the workers have steadily pursued their progress on these
lines. They have been, it is true, temporarily led away by other
and chimerical movements, but the sturdy common sense of their
leaders, and the law-abiding instincts of the masses, have always
brought them back to the true and constitutional line of progress.
Gradually and slowly their strenuous agitation for political reform
has affected its objects. Little by little the property qualification
of citizenship has been reduced, until now, although the qualifica-
tion remains essentially that of property and not of manhood,
it is so far minimised as to be no longer a restriction upon the
great mass of the workers.
But although the workers have thus been steadily gaining
influence in the State since the passage of the Reform Act of 1832,
they have not yet managed to take anything like full advantage
of their position. Since 1884 there has been a total of about
6,000,000 voters annually placed upon the lists, out of a popula-
tion of about 40,000,000, or roughly, two out of every three adult
men. 1 Thus for ten years, at any rate, the workers have held
in their hands the enormous power to make or unmake govern-
ments. But they have not yet fully realised their power or their
opportunities. A competent observer has said that although the
ultimate power of political action in this country is in the hands
of the masses constituting the democracy, yet our institutions
have not been democratised. 2 This is the task which lies before
the labour movement to-day. It is in order to secure the de-
mocratisation of our institutions that the workers are beginning
to realise the necessity for direct labour representation.
For what are the facts of the situation 1 In spite of the
democratic machinery of our government, and the wide extension
the working classes, who themselves gained nothing by the extensions of
the Franchise at the time, are sometimes overlooked. The Act of 1832
was obtained very largely through the strenuous agitation of the workers
and their trade clubs.
1 A proper system of registration would add at least another million and
a half to the total of voters.
2 Mr. Gladstone in the pamphlet already quoted.
The Need of Labour Representation. 221
of political power and responsibility, the whole of the work of
governing the empire is still practically in the hands of a small
minority of wealthy people. They, by virtue largely of their
greater leisure and superior educational opportunities, monopolise
all our public offices and fill our elective councils. Lawmaking,
the executive, administrative and judicial functions are all centred
in their hands. Even in local matters every class but the workers
has been fully represented, and in short every conceivable office
has been manipulated by, and run in the interests of the wealthy
and not of the poor. An analysis of the membership of the
present House of Commons reveals the fact that of its 670
members no less than 656 belong to the monied class, or one or
other of the well-paid professions, leaving only 14 to represent
the working classes. Of the House of Lords there is no need to
speak. Everyone is well aware of the number of working men it
contains. Yet no one, least of all the workers, can doubt that
the legislation turned out would be vastly different from what it
actually is, if a majority of the House of Commons were working
men, as of course a very large majority of the voters are. There
would be first of all less insistence on the mere shibboleths of
party. The war of words over party trifles would give way to a
stern fight for social progress, and the annihilation of poverty and
its attendant ills. In this stern fight the workers are beginning
to realise that men who have " Lived the life " are above all
things necessary if their claims and difficulties of their class are
to be understood properly, much more so if they are to be dealt
with successfully.
But when the workers, recognising for the first time this fact,
seek to secure the adequate representation of their class in the
councils of the nation by means of the ordinary constitutional
methods which other classes have previously adopted for the same
end, they are adjured by their "superiors" to be careful that
they do not make bad worse and ruin our country. We are told
that it is right that the powers of government should be ex-
clusively in the hands of the wealthy and " cultured " classes, who
alone can be expected to understand the gravity and importance
222 Workers on their Industries.
of the issues with which they deal. But let us examine what
have been some of the social results of this abnegation of its
power by the working classes, and of the last 100 years of
government of the "superior" and "cultured" ones whose homilies
we have been describing. It will not, 1 think, be generally dis-
puted that a comparison of the condition of the working classes
now with that in which they were 100 or even 50 years ago,
would show a very considerable advance. 1 In spite of this
advance, however, the position of the workers to-day is far from
enviable. Notwithstanding the great increase in wealth and
productivity, whole sections of the people, comprising at least
5 millions, are unable to obtain a subsistence sufficient for health
or efficiency. 2 Nor can this be a matter for surprise. The total
annual income of the United Kingdom is estimated to be about
1,350,000,000, of which sum the 26,000,000 workers receive as
wages only 500,000,000, or about one-third of the total, while
the remaining 850,000,000 or nearly two-thirds, goes to the
remaining 11,000,000 persons wh are the recipients of rent and
interest^ and of the salaries of professional occupations. And
while a small body of some 222,000 families enjoy incomes of
about 1,200 per annum, the average earning of the adult male
workman does not exceed 77 per year. 3
Each year, one in every twelve of the manual working classes
is compelled to seek poor law relief in some form or other. 4 Mr.
1 See, for instance, "The Condition of the Working Classes in Great
Britain in 1842-92," by Sidney Webb, in the "Co-operative Wholesale
Societies' Annual, 1893," andEngel's "Condition of the Working Classes in
1844" (Swan Sonnenschein [Social Science Series], 1892. 3s. 6d.) Also
R. Porter's " Progress of the Nation, 1842," o.p.
2 See Mr. Giffen's evidence before the Royal Commission on Labour, that
25 per cent, of the whole adult male workers in the kingdom fall below the
line of 20s. a week, and that this might be taken as a low subsistence
level. (Ques. 6992, 8125, 8134, Commission sitting as a whole).
3 See the figures by Mr. Giffen, Professor L. Levi, and Mr. Mulhall,
summarised in "Fabian" Tract No. 5, " Facts for Socialists," Fabian
Society, 276 Strand, 1893. Id.
4 See Mr, Charles Booth's paper before the Statistical Society, Dec.,
1891. Also his " Pauperism : a Picture ; " price 6d.
The Need of Labour Representation. 223
Chamberlain has expressed his belief that of those of the working
classes who attain the age of 65 years, nearly one-half receive re-
lief before they die. The maintenance of our paupers costs us
over 10 J millions of pounds yearly, and Mr. Giffen has spoken of
this class of 5,000,000 persons, " whose existence is a stain upon
our civilisation." 1 In London alone, one in every five of the in-
habitants will die in the workhouse, hospital, or lunatic asylum.
Over 30,000 persons live permanently in common lodging-houses
in the same city, while 1,100 are nightly compelled to seek shelter
in its casual wards. While in addition to all this, Mr. Charles
Booth has calculated that of the 4,000,000 persons in the metro-
polis, no less than 938,293, or 22'3 per cent, of the total, are so
poor as to be compelled to live in a state " of chronic want " ; and
1,292,737 or 30*7 per cent, are to be classed as below the poverty
line, their earnings not exceeding one guinea per family per
week. 2 And if we turn from the people themselves to their sur-
roundings, and inquire what sort of a dwelling our civilisation
gives the workman, we shall find that it is equally bad. Mr.
Booth has shown that in London alone, 300,000 persons, or one
in every twelve, must be dwelling in tenements of no more than
one room to the family. The census returns show that nearly two
and a half millions of persons in England and Wales alone, live in
tenements which the Registrar-General declares to be over-
crowded. 3 In Scotland 22 per cent of all the families still dwell
in a single room each, while in Glasgow 33 per cent, of the total
population are huddled into single room tenements. 4
Nor is even this the whole tale. While a large section of the
working population is worked over-long hours at dangerous and
unhealthy occupations, another section, yet unhappier, is unable
to find any work at all to do. The evidence given before the
Royal Commission on Labour proved that many of the chemical
workers, the railway and tramway servants, the iron and steel
! " Essays in Finance," vol. ii., p. 350.
2 See " Labour and Life of the People," by C. Booth, vol. ii., pp. 40.
3 Census Report, 1894, C. 7, 222.
^ Census Report, 1894, C. 6,755.
224 Workers on their Industries.
workers, the shop assistants and many grades of women workers,
habitually labour for at least 12 hours a day, whilst many exceed
15 hours. 1 At the same time there are in London alone, according
to the Mansion-House Relief Committee, an average daily num-
ber of 20,000 unemployed men, 2 while the total number of un-
employed throughout the whole kingdom at any one time cannot
be far short of 500,000 men. The existence of these with their
dependent families, numbering in all some 2,000,000 persons, forms
at once the most vital and the most pressing of all the problems of
government. Yet no attempt of any kind has yet been made
towards dealing with it.
But it is unnecessary to dwell further upon the painful details
of the present social condition of the working classes. While the
"superior" persons are quarreling among themselves over the
merest trifles, and assuring the working men of their incompet-
ence to govern a kingdom, they have by their own mismanage-
ment and selfish and brutal policy permitted the social condition
of a great mass of the people of the country to remain a stain
and disgrace to our civilisation. All who know anything of
these questions are well aware that the facts as to the condition
of this large class of people could not be drawn too black. Mr.
Huxley has said that he would rather be born a Fiji islander
than a slum child in England ; and speaking of the same evils, a
competent and by no means alarmist observer has said, " To me,
at least, it would be enough to condemn modern society as hardly
an advance on slavery or serfdom, if the permanent condition of
industry were to be that which we behold, that 90 per cent, of
the actual producers of wealth have no home that they can call
their own beyond the end of the week ; have no bit of soil, or so
much as a room that belongs to them ; have nothing of value of
any kind except as much old furniture as will go in a cart ; have
the precarious chance of weekly wages which barely suffice to
keep them in health ; are housed for the most part in places that
1 See the answers to Groups A, B and C, and the evidence in the trades
mentioned.
2 See their Report, 1888.
The Need of Labour Representation. 225
no man thinks fit for his horse ; are separated by so narrow a
margin from destitution, that a month of bad trade, sickness, or
unexpected loss, brings them face to face with hunger and
pauperism. . . . This is the normal state of the average workman
in town or country." 1
Nor can it be necessary to spend much time in pointing out the
real cause of these evils under which the working classes suffer.
When we remember the fact that of the total annual income of
the country two-thirds is absorbed by a small class numbering
about one-fourth of the population, the reason for the poverty of
the remaining three-fourths cannot be far to seek. Happily, on
this point, too, the workers are beginning to value the truth.
The four working men commissioners who signed the Minority
Report of the Royal Commission on Labour, after reciting a long
series of detailed grievances of the working classes, say :
" It is impossible to refrain from connecting this deplorable
. condition of the working class with the fact that two-thirds of the
annual product of the community is absorbed by one-fourth of its
members, and that the annual tribute of rents, royalties, and
dividends levied upon the industry of the nation amounts to
nearly 500,000,000 sterling. 2
In other words, the rich have secured to themselves by legal
monopoly the bulk of the wealth produced by the community.
They have manipulated the whole force of government to this
object, and will continue to do so as long as the rest of the popu-
lation are content to allow it.
The remedy for this state of things, however, lies now in the
hands of the working classes themselves. They possess the power
to insist on the full and proper representation of their interests.
Hitherto they have scarcely recognised the vast uses that can be
made of the franchise, and the governmental machinery it com-
mands, to ameliorate the evil social conditions under which they
1 Mr. Frederic Harrison in " Report of Industrial Remuneration Confer-
ence," 1886, p, 429.
"Minority Report of the Royal Commission on Labour," p. 7
(" Manchester Labour Press," 1894 ; price 2d.)
p
226 Workers on their Industries.
live. Thus, the labour movement has so far never developed a
really powerful and practical organisation for legislative purposes.
The Trades Councils, and the Trades Congress with its Parlia-
mentary Committee, form an excellent nucleus for such an organ,
isation, but they have never been properly developed or supported
by the workers. Happily, however, they are beginning to see
more clearly the miseries they endure, and to recognise that there
is only one path out of their present state. That path is clear.
The whole force of the democracy must be thrown into the
political arena with the object of securing the direct control of the
machinery of government for the workers. That once achieved,
steps must be promptly taken to bring about a reorganisation of
society on a more systematic and equal basis. " It is indeed
certain," says Dr. Ingram, " that industrial society will not per-
manently remain without a systematic organisation. The mere
conflict of private interests will never produce a well ordered
commonwealth of labour." 1 To produce a well-ordered common-
wealth of labour by means of the political power in its hands, is
the work that lies before the Labour party and the Trade Unions.
To achieve it will need that the workers throughout the whole
country shall unite firmly in a bond of common brotherhood, and,
sinking all petty jealousies and local discords, work heartily and
harmoniously together. Their interests are identical and clearly
defined, and the object of their endeavour perfectly definite and
realisable if only unity prevails in their ranks. If the workers
really desire to see the dawn of a better day for themselves and
their children they must devote the whole of their strength to
gaining the power of government and directing it to the substitu-
tion as rapidly as possible of public for private enterprise and
control in industry. Thus, and thus only, can they hope to secure
to every worker the conditions of a reasonable life and of efficient
citizenship.
i "History of Political Economy," by J. K. Ingram, LL. D., Professor at
Trinity College, Dublin.
THE END.
INDEX.
A.
Abingdon, Bucks, 158
Admiralty, The, and Coopers' Trade
Unions, 125
Agriculture, Decline of, in the
United Kingdom, 153, 154 ;
migration of labourers in, to
towns, 155 ; wages of labourers
in, 156 ; methods of payment of
labourers in, 156, 157 : lack of
employment for labourers, 157 ;
and the Royal Commission on
Labour, 158; and Trade Unions,
158, 168, 174; and the "sweat-
ing system," 159 ; and the straw
plait manufacture, 160; ''hiring"
agreements in, 161 ; fines in,
162 ; and Truck Acts, 163, 173 ;
budgets of labourers in, 164 ;
condition of labourers in, 165 ;
causes of the poverty of lab-
ourers in, 1 66 ; unhealthy
homes and conditions of labour-
ers in, 169-71 ; tyranny of land-
lords, 170 ; and allotments, 173 ;
legislation required for labourers,
in, 173, 174
Allen, Mr. Grant, 186
Allotments, and the agricultural
labourer, 172, 173
Amalgamated Association of Card
and Blowing Room Operatives,
The, 207
Amalgamated Society of Engineers,
Origin of the, 109, 109;* ; history
of the, no; objects of the, no;
work of the, 112, 112;*; and
labour representation, 212
- See also Engineers and En-
gineering
Amalgamated Society of Railway
Servants, The, 213
- - See also Railway Servants
Amalgamated Society of Tailors,
The, 24 ; and labour representa-
tion, 213
See also Tailors and Tailoring
America, Corn-milling trade in, 92 ;
Trade Unions among corn-
millers in, 89 ; farm colony of
the potters in, 1844, 191, 192
Anti-Combination Laws, Steam-
engine makers and, 108 ; coopers
and, 121 ; bookbinders and,
145 ; Trade Unions and the, 219,
Apprentices and technical educa-
tion, 7, 49, 49 ; in the dress-
making trade, 14, 15, 16, 18 ; in
the gold and silver trades, 42, 44,
47, 49 ; in the bargebuilding
. trade, 64 ; in the shipbuilding
trades, 64 ; in the coopers' trade,
122, 123 ; in the bookbinding
trade, 145, 146 ; in the brick-
layers 3 trade, 182 ; in the pottery
trades, 189
227
228
Index.
Apprentices. See also under various
trades as Bookbinders,Engineers,
etc.
Apprenticeship in the gold and
silver trades, 42, 44, 47, 49 ; in
the shipwrights' trade, 62 ; in the
building trades, 182 ; in the
coopers' trade, 122, 123
Arbitration, Board of, in the pottery
trade, 192, 193
Arch, Mr. Joseph, M.P., 168
Arlidge, J. T., M.D., etc., 87, 198,
19872
Armstrong, Thomas, 143
Artisans, Condition of the, in
mediaeval times, 40, 72, 117. 118,
136, 176, 188, 217
Asquith, Rt. Hon. H. H., Q.C.,
M.P., 197, 208
Assay Offices in the United King-
dom, 52, 5272
Assyria, Metal-working in, 33 ;
engraving in, 68, 69
Augsburg, 70, 72
Australia, Trade Unions among
cornmillers and bakers in, 89
B.
Babylon, Metal-working in, 34 ;
engraving in, 69
Bakers' Union, The Operative,
Australia, 89
Bargebuilders, The Trade Union
of, London, 56;?, 65 ; apprentice-
ship system in the trade of, 64 ;
growth in the size of vessels built
by, 64
Beer and Ale, Exports of, from the
United Kingdom, 118
Beggars, Causes of. great increase
in numbers of, in 1350-1550,
216
Belfast, Early Bricklayers' Trade
Union at, 177 ; Trades Union
Congress at, 1893, 212
Besant, Mrs. Annie, 180
Bessemer, Sir Henry, 103
Bewick, Thomas, 75, 76
Birmingham, Technical education
at, 10 ; hall mark on plate at, 52;
coopers at, 118; builders' gild
hall at, 177, 177;?
Block books, 71
Bloxham, Sir Matthew, 144
Boatbuilders' Trade Union, London,
The, 56;?, 65
Boilermakers and Iron Shipbuilders,
United Society of, 65, 102
Bookbinders, Trade Unions and
technical education, The, 3,
148;?: case of the, 1711, 136;
origin of Trade Unions among
the, 136; first Trade Union of,
141 ; history of Trade Unions
of, 142 ; London strike for
shorter hours, 1786, 142, 143 ;
London, trial of, for conspiracy,
1787, 143 ; Vellum Account
Society, history of, 144, 145 ;
Trade Unions and Government
contracts, 148 ; and sub-division
of labour, 148, 148/2, 149 ; Trade
Unions, objects of, 150; strike
for the eight hours' day, 1892, 150;
a future of trade of, 152; Trade
Unions and legislation for, 152
Bookbinding, Condition of trade
of, 127 ; division of trade of, 127;
account, 128; early antiquity of
forms of, 129 ; history of, 129,
130, 131 ; influence of the Re-
formation on, 133, 134; causes
of decay of, 134 ; evils of modern
methods of, 139, 139/2 ; humours
of, 140 ; strange materials for,
140
Books, complaints of importation of,
in 1533, 132 ; chained, uses of,
135 ; strange uses of, 140/2
Boot and shoe operatives, sub-
Index.
229
division of trade of, 5 ; National
Union of, 213
Bradlaugh, C, M.P., 180
Brassey, Lord, 193
Brentano, Dr. L., 17672
Bricklayers and technical educa-
tion, 3, 7, 11, 185 ; early condi-
tion of the trade of, 175 ; history
of trade of, 175, 178 ; Kent
United Friendly Society of, 1810,
176 ; and sub-division of labour,
176, 182 ; London, address of, to
Queen Caroline, 1820, 176 ;
United Operative Trade Acci-
dent and Burial Society, the,
177, 177/2 ; in London, 178 ;
Operative Society of, the, 178 ;
methods of payment of; 179;
objection of to piecework, 181,
18172; and apprentices, 182; evil
conditions of work of, 183 ; future
of the trade of, 184, 185
Broadhurst, Mr. Henry, M.P., 180
Buda Pesth, 86
Builders' Trade Union, The Na-
tional, 1833, 177 ; journals pub-
lished by, 17772 ; great strikes of
in 1833, 177 ; Gild Hall of, at
Birmingham, 177, 17772
Building trades, London, and tech-
nical education, The, 12 ; great
strike of, in 1859, 178
Buntingford, Essex, 158
Burton, Captain, 33
Byzantium, Metal-working in, 36
C.
Cabinet-makers and upholsterers,
London, and technical education,
12
Card and Blowing Room Operatives,
Amalgamated Association of, 207
Carpenters and technical education,
7 ; London, and technical edu-
cation, 1 1 ; Company of London
and technical education, 8
Cask-making, Origin of, 115 ; early
history of, 116 ; in Rome, 116
Casks, Importation of, from
Sweden, 119
Caulkers' Society, The London, 65
Cement, Export of, from United
Kingdom, 118
Chasers'Society,TheLondon,47,477z
Chemical workers, Long hours of
toil of, 223
Chemicals, Export of, from United
Kingdom, 118
Chester, Hall mark of, 54
Chinese, Early pottery work of, 187
Cigar-makers, Trade Union of
women, The, 208
City and Guilds of London Insti-
tute, The, 8
Clothing, Evolution of manufacture
of, 13 ; Government work, con-
ditions of manufacture of, 21
Collectivism and Trade Unions, 54,
93, 94, 151, 152, 219, 21972, 226
Collingbourne, Wiltshire, 161
Colour-workers, London, and tech-
nical education, 12
Compton, Chamberlayne, 172
Cook, Mr. A. G., 180
Co-operative Factory of the Staf-
fordshire Potters, 1833, 189
Coopers, 118-20, 12072, 121, 125 ;
National Association of, the, 122,
122/2 ; Mutual Association of,
the, 122, 12272 ; and apprentices,
122 ; and technical education,
123; and machinery, 123; and
legislation, 124; and sub-division
of labour, 124 ; and the Royal
Navy, 125 ; Gild or Company of
London of, the, 117, 123; at Cork,
11772; at Birmingham, 118 ; at
Walsall, 118; Glasgow Journey-
230
Index.
men's Society, the, 1770, 121 ;
London Philanthropic Society of,
121 ; London, trial of, for con-
spiracy in 1821, 121 ; London,
great strike of, in 1825, 121
Cork, Coopers at, 1 1 jn
Corn-millers, skill of, 86 ; and
technical education, 88 ; wages
of, 88 ; Trade Unions of, in Aus-
tralia and America, 89 ; Trade
Unions of, in England, 89, 90,
91 ; and overtime, 89
See also Corn-milling and
Millers
Corn-milling, Origin of trade of,
81, 82; in Egypt, 81, 82; in Rome,
82 ; old system of, 85 ; new sys-
tem of, 85, 87 ; unhealthy nature
of trade of, 87
Craig, William, 143
Cycle marks, or date letters on gold
and silver plate, 52, 52;?
D.
Date letters, or cycle marks, 52, 52;?
Davenport, Mr., 193
Derby, Royal pottery ware, 187
Devizes, Wilts, 164
Docks, Extension of, in London,
60, 6 1
Doulton, Sir Henry, 200
Dressmakers, number of women
employed, 14 ; and technical
education, 14; earnings of home-
workers, 1 8 ; apprentices, con-
dition of, 14-16 ; indoor appren-
tices to, 1 8 ; improvers to, 15 ;
wages of, 17; forewomen's wages
of, 17 ; requirements of, 19 ; sub-
contract and sweating in the
trade of, 20
Dressmaking, Evolution of trade
of, 13 ; suitability of to women
workers, 14 ; the home industry
described, 15, 16 ; factory system
in, 16; seasonable nature of the
trade of, 17
Drillers, London Trade Unions of
the, 65
Dubbs & Co., Messrs, 99/2
Dublin, Early Trade Unions at,
177
Dupines, Mr., i86;z
Durer, Albert, 73
Durham, Miners' Association, The,
21372
Duty on gold and silver plate, Re-
peal of,
B.
Education and women workers,
28, 31
See also Technical Educa-
tion
Egypt, Metal-working in, 33 ; en-
graving in, 68 ; corn-milling in,
81, 82; engineering in, 96; brick-
laying in, 175 ; pottery in, 187
Eight Hours Day, The, and gold
and silver trades, 53 ; and engi-
neers, 113; and bookbinders,
150 , and agricultural labourers,
165 ; and building trades, 181,
185 ; and women workers, 206
Electrotyping, Process of, 78
Electroplate Operatives' Society,
The, 4772 .
Employers, and technical educa-
tion, 4 ; and employed, relation-
ship between in clothing trade,
28 ; and employed, relationship
between in pottery trades, 200
Employers Liability Act, Engi-
neers and, 114 ; coopers and,
Index.
231
124 ; of 1880* evil effects of in the
building trades, 179
Enclosure Acts in England, 166,
i66, 215, 2i5
Engineers, Sub-division of trade
of, 6, 105, 106, 113 ; and techni-
cal education, 7, 1 1 ; Trade Unions
of, 107, 109, in; strike of at
Manchester, 1851, 109; and legis-
lation, 114
See also Amalgamated Society
of Engineers, and Engineering
Trades
Engineering trade, History of the,
95, 97 ; progress of the, 99, 100 ;
improvements in the, 103 ; piece-
work in the, 1 10, i ion ; the future
of the, 112; unhealthy workshops
in the, 113; accidents in work-
shops in the, 113
England, Early metal work in, 38,
39 ; wood engraving in, 72 ;
Trade Unions in, 1836, 190;? ;
manual system in, 213, 214
See also United Kingdom
English Land Restoration League,
Work of the Red Vans of the, 155
Engravers, Sub-division of trade
of, 6; Trade Unions of, 47, 47/2,
79, 79>z ; modern conditions of
trade of, 78 ; earnings of, 79
See also Engraving
Engraving, On wood and copper,
67, 77 ; history of the art of, 68,
69
Etruscans, Metal-working of the,
34
P.
Factory Acts, Improvements in, re-
quired for gold and silver trades,
52 ; and women workers, 205
Factory system, in dressmaking
trade, The, 16 ; advantages of
the, 46, 107; introduction of the,
218
Fairbairn, T., 143
Farm labourers, Causes of decline
in number of, 102 ; effect of
machinery on, 102
See also Agriculture
Flaxman, 41
Forewomen dressmakers, Wages
of, 17
Foremen, Trade Union control of,
in, 147
Free Labour Association of Brick-
layers, 179
G.
Garrards, Messrs., 4111
Gauntlett, Mr. W. B., 161, 163;?
Germany, Wood engraving in, 72,
74 ; Trade Union of wood en-
gravers in, 80
Gilds in England, 40, 217 ; of en-
gravers, 72
Gilders' Trade Union, The Pottery,
194, 194;*
Gladstone, Rt. Hon. W. E., 220,
220^
Glasgow, 97; Journeymen Coopers'
Society at, in 1770, 121 ; early
Bricklayers' Trade Union at, 177;
large number of one room tene-
ments at, 223
Goldsmiths, Gild or Company of,
The London, 40, 49, 51 ; decay
of the art of the, 41 ; team system
in the trade of the, 42 ; sub-
divisions of labour in the trade
of the, 42, 43 ; Trade Unions of
the, 43, 48, 4%n ; and technical
education, 45, 48^, 49, 50 ; and
women workers, 49
232
Index.
Gold and silver trades, The, 51, 52,
52^, 54, 55 ; apprenticeship
system in the, 44 ; home work
in the, 52 ; and hall marks, 52,
52;?, 53 ; and politics, 51-54
" Good from Oven," System of, in
pottery trades, 189, 189/2
Government work in clothingtrades,
20, 21 ; in shipbuilding trades,
6i;z ; in engineering trades, 106;
in coopers' trade, 125 ; in book-
binding trade, 148
Gray, Thomas, 99
Greece, Bookbinding in, 129 ; pot-
tery in, 187
Greeks, Early metal work of the,
34, 35 ; engravings of the, 69
Greenock, 97
H.
Hall - marks, London, 40 ; other
towns, 52; and on foreign plate, 5 2
Hatherton, Lord, 193
Helgen, or saint pictures, 70
Hemel Hempstead, 160
Herrings, Export of, from the
United Kingdom, 118
Hertfordshire County Council,
Wages of labourers employed by
the, 158
Hibbert and Platt, Messrs., 109
Hills, Mr. A. F., 6i
Hinckes, Mr. H. T., M.P., 193
Hogarth, 41
Holbein, 40, 73
Hollow Ware Pressers' Trade Soci-
ety, The, 194
Home workshops in the dressmak-
ing and tailoring trades, The, 15,
16, 22, 26, 30 ; in the gold and
silver trades, 52
Home workers in dressmaking and
tailoring trade, Earnings of, 18
Hogg, Alexander, 143
Hosiery workers, Trade Union of
women, 208
Housing of the agricultural labour-
ers, 169-71 ; of the poor, 223
Hunt and Roskell, Messrs., 41;?
Huxley, Right Hon. T. H., 224
I.
Improvers in the dressmaking trade,
Condition of the, 15
Industrial legislation, 1350-1550,
Nature of the, 216
Industrial revolution, The, and its
effects, 218, 219
Ireland, Early metal-working in, 37
Iron and steel trades, Improvements
in the, 103
workers, Long hours of toil of,
223
Ironfounders, Friendly Society of,
The, io8;z
J.
James, Sir Henry, M.P., 180
Jarrow-on-Tyne, 59
Jerry building, 179
Journeymen Steam Engine and
Machinemakers' and Millwrights'
Friendly Society, The, 10972
Killingworth, 98
Knight, Mr. Robert, 102
Index.
233
L.
Labour party, Work for a, 226
Lancashire weavers, Wages of the,
204 ; Amalgamated Association
of Card and Blowing-Room Ope-
ratives in, 207
Landlords, Tyranny of, in Agricul-
tural districts, 170, 173 ; great
power in the State of the, 217,
217/2
Land tenure, Growth of present
system of, in England, 214
Laudeuil, Morel, 41
Laundresses,The London, Evil con-
ditions of work of, 209 ; agitation
for legislation of, 209, 210
Laurence, Mr. W., M.P., 180
Leather- workers, The London, and
technical education, 12
Leeds, H2n
Legislation, Need of improved, for
home workers, 29, 51 ; for dress-
makers and tailoresses, 21 ; for
gold and silver trades, 51 ; for
millers, 93; for engineering trades,
113, 114; for coopers, 125; for
bookbinders, 152; for agricultural
labourers, 173, 174; for pottery
trades, 197 ; for the workers
generally, 222, 223, 226
Leicester, 208
Lemiere, Paul, 41
Lilbourne, William, 143
Linton, W. J., 77
Lithographic Artists' Trade So-
ciety, The, and technical educa-
tion, 3
and printing trades, The Lon-
don, and technical education,
12
Liverpool, Great builders' strike at,
1833, 177
Locksmiths, The London, and
technical education, 1 1
Locomotive engine, History of the,
98
London County Council, Technical
Education Board of the, 4, 572,
51 ; and Trade Union rate of
wages in the building trades,
181
and technical education, 10-12
Trades Council, The, 46, 178,
194, 212; Trades Combination
Defence Committee, 1838, 4572;
Hall-mark in, 52; decay of ship-
building in, 57, 58, 60, 6in, 64;
docks, extension of the, 60, 61;
Coopers, early Trade Unions of
the, 1 1 6, 121 ; Philanthropic So-
ciety of Coopers, 12 1 ; Bricklayers
in, 178 ; School Board and the
Bricklayers' Trade Unions, 180;
Trade Unions and the pottery
strikes of 1836, 190/2 ; Pottery
Moulders' and Finishers' Trade
Union in, 194 ; Laundresses,
condition of the, 209, 210;
paupers in, 223 ; unemployed in,
224
M.
Machinery, Effects of, 2; opposition
of workmen to, 100, 101; effects
of on artisans, 101; in the boiler-
making trade, 102; in the Cleve-
land iron mines, 102; in the
wood-cutting trade, 102; in the
docks, 102; in the Manchester
Ship Canal, 103; in the house
234
Index.
painting trade, 104; in the leather
trades, 104; possible advantages
of, 113; in the coopers' trade, 123;
in the pottery trades, 191
Machinists in dressmaking and
tailoring trades, Conditions of
the, 19, 23; wages of the, 20, 21
Manchester and technical educa-
tion, 10; and Ship Canal, 103;
strike in the engineering trades
at, 1851, 109; great strike of
builders at, 1833, 1 77
Manorial system in England, 213,
214; break up of the, 215
Maidstone, 176; guardians, wages
paid to workmen of the, 158
Marshall, Professor A., 104,
105
Master Builders' Association, The,
181
Matthews, Charles, 144
Matthews, Right Hon. H., 209
Merchandise Marks Act, and the
gold and silver trades, 53
Metal and engineering trades,
London, The, and technical edu-
cation, ii
workers in Egypt, 33; in As-
syria, 33; in Israel, 34, in Babylon,
34; in Greece, 34, 3$; in Rome,
36
working of the Etruscans, 34;
of the Saxons, 36; in Byzantium;
36; in early Britain, 37-9, in
Ireland, 37
Merthyr Tydvil, 98
Mexico, Engraving in, 68; brick-
laying in, 175
Mill, John Stuart, 105
Millers, Generous Friendly Society
of, at Newcastle, 1813, gon ;
National Union of the, 1853, 90,
91/2 ; National Union, the, 91,
917* ; and foreign competition,
92 ; and socialism, 93, 94 ; Trade
Unionism among the, 94
See also Corn-Millers
Millwrights, 103; work of the, 105;
Miners, Trade Unions of, and
politics, 212; Federation of Great
Britain, The, 213;?; Durham As-
sociation of, the, 213;?; Northum-
berland Association of, the, 213;?
Minton, 200
Munich and technical education, 10
Mycenae, Discoveries at, 35
N.
National Order of Potters, The, 194
Union of Teachers, The,
213
Navy, Cost of the Royal, 61; and
of the French, 62
Norfolk, Tied cottages in, 170
North Staffordshire Potteries, De-
scription of the, 195
Trades Council, The, 194
Northern Counties Amalgamated
Association of Weavers, 207
Northumberland Miners' Associa-
tion, The, 213;?
Nottingham, 208
Nuremberg, 71, 74
O.
O'Connor, Mr. A., M.P., 180
One-room dwellings, number of, in
the United Kingdom, 223
Index.
235
Operative Bricklayers' Society, The,
181
Ovenmen's Trade Society, The, 194;
strict trade regulations of the,
197, 198
Overlaps in trades and technical
education, 5, 6, 6;z ; - in the
shipbuilding- trades, 63
Overtime, Bad system of payment
for, in corn-milling-, 89; Amalga-
mated Society of Engineers, the,
and, 1 10
Owen, Robert, 177, 187
Oxford, The tailoring trade at, 205
P.
Painters' Company of London, The,
and technical education, 8
- Trade Unions, The, and tech-
nical education, 3
Palmer, Messrs., 59
Parliament, Labour Members of,
2I37/, 221
Paterson, Emma, 209
Pauperism, Extent of, in London,
223 ; cost of, in the United King-
dom, 223
Payne, Roger, 136-8
Pembroke, Earl of, 172
Penruddocke, Mr., 172
Peterhead, Strike of coopers at,
119
Philanthropic Society of Coopers,
The, 121
Piecework in the dressmaking and
tailoring trades, 20, 21, 23 ; in
the gold and silver trades, 45,
45 ; in the shipbuilding trades,
59 ; in the engineering trades,
109, 1 10, non', in the coopers'
trade, 120, 12072 ; in the book-
binding trade, 127 ; in the brick-
laying trade, 181, i8i ; in the
pottery trades, 189, 198
Plumbers' Company of London, The,
and technical education, 8
London and technical educa-
tion, 7, ii ; Trade Society and
technical education, 3
Potteries, Riots in 1842, The,
191
Potters, History of the, 187-9, l %9 n 5
and sub-division of labour, 188 ;
co-operative workshop of the, 189;
strikes of the, 190, 190;?, 191-3 ;
journals published by the, 191,
19172 ; farm colony in America of
the, 191, 192, 19272 ; Board of
Arbitration of the, 192, 193 ; Trade
Unions among the, 194, 200 ;
"Rot," cause of the, 196, methods
of payment of the, 189, 198 ; future
of the trade of the, 200
Pottersville, 192, 192/2
Pottery, History of the art of, 186-8 ;
extent of the Trade in, 195, 199 ;
dangers of the trades, 197
Poverty, Causes of, 222, 225 ;
remedy for, 225
Printers' and Transferrers' Trade
Union, The, 194
the case of the, 136
Printing and Lithographic trades,
London, and technical education,
12
Q.
Queen Caroline and the London
Sailmakers' Trade Union, 65 ;
236
Index.
and the London Bricklayers 3
Trade Union, 176
R.
Railway Rates and the London
shipbuilding trade, 60 ; and the
London corn-milling trade 92, 93
Servants, Overwork of the, 223
Railways, Comparative cost of con-
struction of in the United King-
dom and abroad, 60
Ravensworth, Lord, 98
Red Vans of the English Land Re-
storation League, Work of the,
V 55
eiOJ
Reform Acts, Agitation for the, 219,
219;? ; effects of the, 220
Reynolds, Michael, 90;*
Rocket, The, 99
Rogers, J. E. Thorold, M.P., 166,
1 80.
Rome, Metal-working in, 35, 36 ;
engraving in, 69 ; corn-milling
in, 82; caskmaking in, 116;
bookbinding in, 129
Royal Navy, Cost of the, 61
Royston, Cambs, 158
S.
Sailmakers, London Trade Union
of the, 65
Sailors and Firemen, National
Amalgamated Union of, The, 212,
213^
Saxons, Metal- work of the, 36
Schliemann, Dr. H., 34
Scotland, Number of one room
tenements in, 223
Sheffield Trades, The, and the
potters' strike of 1836, 190/2
Shipbuilding in the United King-
dom, 56-8, 65 ; in London, 56,
5X 57, 58, 60, 6in ; in the North
of England, 59 ; relative cost of,
in France and England, 62 ;
trades, overlaps in the, 63 ; sub-
division of labour in the, 61-3;
future of the, 66
Ship-fitters, London Society of, 65
Shipwrights, Associated Society of,
The, 64
Provident Union of the Port of
London, The, 64, 6472
London and North of England,
56, 56/2 ; wages of the, 58, 59 ;
method of payment of the, 59 ;
and apprentices, 62, 64 ; and sub-
division of labour, 62 ; work of
the, 63, 64 ; number of, employed
in London, 64
Shop assistants, Overwork of the,
224
Silver Plate Polishers' Society, The,
46, 47
Plate Workers' Trade Society,
The, 46
Small Workers' Society, The,
47
Spoon and Fork Makers' and
Finishers' Society, 1838, The, 45/2
Spoon and Fork Makers'
Society, The, 47
- Spoon and Fork Finishers'
Society, The, 47
Trades Council, The, 46 ;
functions of, 54
Trades, Deterioration of the,
41 ; sub-division of labour in the,
41-43 ; Committee of the United
Branches of the, 1838, 4572 ; Trade
Unions inthe, 46; unhealthy work
in the, 47 ; and legislation, 46-8
Silversmiths, Sub-division of the
trade of, 5, 6, 42 ; Trade Unions
Index.
237
of the, and women workers,
49
Smith, Adam, 105
Smith, Mr. H. LI., 6/2
Smith, Mr. Roach, 37
Socialism and Trade Unions, 54, 93,
94, 151, 152,219,219;*, 226
Spar and Block Makers, London
Society of, 65
Staffordshire, Trades Council, The
North, 194
See also Potters
Stanton, St. Bernard, 172
Stationers' Company, The, 132
Steam Boat, Account of the, 98
Engine Makers' Society, The,
108/2, 109
and Machine Makers' and
Millwrights' Friendly Society, The
Journeymen, 109/2
power, History of, 95-7
Stephenson, George, 98, 99
Stocking Frame, Invention of the,
100
Stothard, 41
Straw plait industry in Bedford-
shire, The, 1 60
Strike in the engineering trade at
Manchester, 1851, 109; of coopers
in London, 1825, 121 ; of book-
binders in London, 1786, 142, 143,
in 1892, 150 ; of builders through-
out the United Kingdom, 1833,
177 ; and lock-out of the London
building trades, 1859, 178 ; of the
Staffordshire potters, 1836, 190,
in 1866, 192 ; in 1881, 193
Sub-contract, System of, in the
dressmaking and tailoring trades,
20 ; in the building trades, 179
Sub-division of labour, 2, 4, 104,
. 218 ; and technical education, 2,
3, 5 ; in the boot and shoe trades,
5 ; in the gold and silver trades,
5, 6, 42, 43 ; in the engineering
trades, 6, 105, 106, 113; in en-
graving, 6, 68 j in the shipbuild-
ing trades, 56/2, 62, 63 ; in the
coopers' trade, 124 ; in the book-
binding trade, 148, 148;?, 149 ; in
the bricklaying trade, 176, 182;
in the pottery trades, 188, 195
Sweating, in the tailoring trade, 22 ;
proposals to prevent, 30 ; system
and the agricultural labourers,
159
T.
Tailors, Amalgamated Society of,
The, 24 ; log, or piecework list
of the, 23, 23/2
Tailoresses, Wages of, 23, 2372, 24 ;
outworking, conditions of the, 24,
25, 27 ; need of improved legis-
lation for the, 25, 29 ; and Trade
Unionism, 30
See also Dressmakers.
Tailoring trade, evil of, in Oxford,
The, 205 ; and generally, 207 ; in
agricultural districts, 160
Taylor, Mr. Whately, C., 84
Team system in the goldsmiths'
trade, The, 43
Technical education, I, 5, 7, 8 ; in
the United Kingdom, 9, 10 ;
in London, 10-12; at Birming-
ham, 10, 50 ; at Manchester, 10;
at Munich, 10 ; and technology,
2, 9 ; and carpenters, 7 ; and
plumbers, 7, 8; and bricklayers, 7,
185 ; and engineers, 7, 105, 106;
and dressmakers and tailoresses,
14; and gold and silver trades,
5, 6, 45, 48/2, 49, 5; and corn-
millers, 88 ; and coopers, 123 ;
and bookbinders, 14872; and Trade
Unions, 3; and employers, 4; and
238
Index.
overlaps in trades, 5, 6, 6n\ and
apprentices, 7, 49, 4972 ; and sub-
divisions of labour, 2, 3, 5
Board of the London County
Council, The, 4, 572, 51
Technology, 2, 9
Tenants by custom, Evictions of
the, 215, 21572
Tenniel, Sir John, 75
Terra-cotta moulders, 199
Textile trades, Machinery in the,
101
-- See also Weavers
Thames Ironworks and Shipbuild-
ing Company, The, 6172
Throwers', Turners', and Handlers'
Trade Society, The, 194
Trades Council, The Silver, 46,
54; the London, 46, 178, 194,
212 ; the North Staffordshire,
194
--- councils and women workers,
The, 202 ; work of the, 226
-- Union Congress, The, 178,
212, 212;?, 226; and its Parlia-
mentary Committee, 226
Trade Unions, Rise of, 219,
in England in 1836, 190/2;
technical education, 3 ;
women workers, 49, 202,
207, 210; and politics, 54,
94, 151, 152, 219, 219;?
and
and
205,
93,
226;
work of the, in the future, 226
-- See also under various trades
as Bookbinders, Bricklayers, etc.
Trade Union clause in public con-
tracts, 150, 15072, 1 80
Tramway servants, Overwork of
the, 223
Trevethick, Richard, 98, 99
Tring, 160
Truck Acts and agricultural
labourers, The, 163, 16372, 173;
and women workers, 205
U.
Unemployed, The, in agricultural
districts, 157; in London, 224;
in the United Kingdom, 224
United Kingdom, Technical educa-
tion in the, 9, 12 ; assay offices
in the, 5272 ; shipbuilding in the,
57 ; some exports from the, 118 ;
decline of agriculture in the, 153,
154; one-room and overcrowded
dwellings in the, 223 ; unem-
ployed in the, 224
See also England
United Society of Boilermakers
and Iron Shipbuilders, The, 65, 102
Upholsterers and cabinetmakers,
London, The, and technical edu-
cation, 12
V.
Vellum-binders, work of the, 128;
Trade Union of the, 144; its his-
tory, 144-7; an d apprentices, 145;
and Government contracts, 150,
15072
Viani, 41
Village chanties, Abuse of, 172
Villages, Abuses of local govern-
ment in the, 171
W.
Waistcoatmakers, women, Wages
and conditions of the, 23
Wallace, Dr. A. R,, 153
Walsall, Coopers at, 118
Index.
239
Water-mills, 82, 100
Watherston, Messrs., 41/2
Watt, James, 95, 97, 98
Weavers, Lancashire, 204
Northern Counties Amalga-
mated Association of, The, 207
West Riding of Yorkshire
Power Loom Association of,
The, 207
Wedgwood, 200
West Riding of Yorkshire Power
Loom Weavers' Association, The,
207
Westminster Abbey, Account of
the decoration of, 39, 39;;
Williams, Sir L., 103
Wiltshire, Tied cottages in, 170
Wind-mills, 83, 84, 100
Women workers and education, 28,
31 ; and technical education, 49 ;
Trade Unionism among the, 28,
202, 203, 205, 207, 210, 211 ; evil
conditions of the, 25, 26, 201,
206; wages of, 19-21, 23, 24,
203, 204 ; hours of labour of,
206, 224 ; and Factory Acts, 205,
208 ; fines upon, 205 ; married,
27, 30
See also Dressmakers and
Tailoresses
Women's Trade Union League,
The, 205, 207-209
Women factory inspectors, 208,
209
Wood blocks, Use of, for engraving
upon, 78
Engraving, Methods of, 68,
70, 76 ; in Germany, 70, 72, 74 ;
in England, 72 ; future of the art
of, 80
Engravers, International So-
ciety of, The, 79 ; Trade Unions
of, in Germany, 80 ; in Paris, 80
Wood, William, 143, 144
Woolwich, 106
Worcester, Pottery, 187
Y.
Yorkshire Order of Potters, The,
194
Yorkshire, Power Loom Weavers'
Association of the West Riding
of, The, 207
Z.
Zainer, Gunter, 72
Zinc Workers' Trade Union,
London, The, and technical
education, 3
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