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 
 
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