 Section 45 of London Labour and the London Poor, volume 2 by Henry Mayhew. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Gillian Henry. Of the worse paid scavengers are those working for scurf employers. Note the Saxon scurfa, which is the original of the English scurf, means a scab. And scab is the term given to the cheap men in the shoemaking trade. Scab is the root of our word, shabby. Hence scurf and scab, deprived of their offensive associations, both mean shabby fellows. End note. There are in the scavengers trade the same distinct classes of employers as appertained to all other trades. These consist of, one, the large capitalists, two, the small capitalists. As a rule, with some few honourable and dishonourable exceptions it is true, I find that the large capitalists in the several trades are generally the employers who pay the higher wages and the small men those who pay the lower. The reasons for this conduct are almost obvious. The power of the capital of the large master must be contended against by the small one. And the usual mode of contention in all trades is by reducing the wages of the working men. The wealthy master has of course many advantages over the poor one. One, he can pay ready money and obtain discounts for immediate payment. Two, he can buy in large quantities and so get his stock cheaper. Three, he can purchase what he wants in the best markets and that directly off the producer without the intervention and profit of the middleman. Four, he can buy at the best times and seasons and lay in what he requires for the purposes of his trade long before it is needed, provided he can obtain it a bargain. Five, he can avail himself of the best tools and mechanical contrivances for increasing the productiveness or economising the labour of his workmen. Six, he can build and arrange his places of work upon the most approved plan and in the best situations for the manufacture and distribution of the commodities. Seven, he can employ the highest talent for the management or design of the work on which he is engaged. Eight, he can institute a more effective system for the surveillance and checking of his workmen. Nine, he can employ a large number of hands and so reduce the secondary expenses of firing, lighting and so on, a tenant upon the work as well as the number of superintendents and others engaged to look after the operatives. Ten, he can resort to extensive means of making his trade known. Eleven, he can sell cheaper even if his cost of production be the same from employing a larger capital and being able to do with a less rate of profit. Twelve, he can afford to give credit and so obtain customers that he might otherwise lose. The small capitalist therefore enters the field of competition by no means equally matched against his more wealthy rival. What the little master wants in substance however, he generally endeavours to make up in cunning. If he cannot buy his materials as cheap as a trader of larger means, he uses an inferior or cheaper article and seeks by some trick or other to pam it off as equal to the superior and dearer kind. If the tools and appliances of the trade are expensive, he either transfers the cost of providing them to the workmen or else he charges them a rent for their use. And so with the places of work, he mulks their wages of a certain sum per week for the gas by which they labour or he makes them do their work at home and thus saves the expense of a workshop. And lastly, he pays his men either a less sum than usual for the same quantity of labour or exacts a greater quantity from them for the same sum of money. By one or other of these means, does the man of limited capital seek to counterbalance the advantages which his more wealthy rival obtains by the possession of extensive resources? The large employer is enabled to work cheaper by the sheer force of his larger capital. He reduces the cost of production not by employing a cheaper labour but by economising the labour that he does employ. The small employer, on the other hand, seeks to keep pace with his larger rival and strives to work cheap not by the economy of labour for this is hardly possible in the small way of production but by reducing the wages of his labourers. Hence, the rule in almost every trade is that the smaller capitalists pay a lower rate of wages. To this, however, there are many honourable exceptions among the small masters and many as dishonourable among the larger ones in different trades. Mrs. Mosey's nickel and hyums, for instance, are men who certainly cannot plead deficiency of means as an excuse for reducing the ordinary rate of wages among the tailors. Those employers who seek to reduce the prices of a trade are known technologically as cutting employers in contradiction to the standard employers or those who pay their work people and sell their goods at the ordinary rates. Of cutting employers, there are several kinds differently designated according to the different means by which they gain their ends. These are 1. Drivers or those who compel the men in their employ to do more work for the same wages. Of this kind, there are two distinct varieties A. The long-hour masters or those who make the men work longer than the usual hours of labour B. The strapping masters or those who make the men by extra supervision strap to their work so as to do a greater quantity of labour in the usual time. 2. Grinders or those who compel the workmen through their necessities to do the same amount of work for less than the ordinary wages. The reduction of wages thus brought about may or may not be attended with a corresponding reduction in the price of the goods to the public. If the price of the goods be reduced in proportion to the reduction of wages, the consumer of course is benefited at the expense of the producer. When it is not followed by a like diminution in the selling price of the article and the wages of which the men are mulked, go to increase the profits of the capitalist. The employer alone is benefited and is then known as a grasper. Some cutting tradesmen however endeavour to undersell their more wealthy rivals by reducing the ordinary rate of profit and extending their business on the principle of small profits and quick returns. The nimble ninepence being considered better than the slow shilling. Such traders of course cannot be said to reduce wages directly. Indirectly however, they have the same effect for in reducing prices other traders ever ready to compete with them but unwilling or perhaps unable to accept less than the ordinary rate of profit seek to attain the same cheapness by diminishing the cost of production. And for this end the labourer's wages are almost invariably reduced. Such are the characteristics of the cheap employers in all trades. Let me now proceed to point out the peculiarities of what are called the scurff employers in the scavenging trade. The insidious practices of capitalists and other callings in reducing the hire of labour are not unknown to the scavengers. The evils of which these workmen have to complain under scurff or slop masters are, one, driving, or being compelled to do more work for the same pay, two, grinding, or being compelled to do the same or a greater amount of work for less pay. One, under the first head, if the employment be at all regular, I heard few complaints for the men seem to have learned to look upon it as an inevitable thing that one way or other they must submit by the receipt of a reduced wage or the exercise of a greater toil to adhere aeration in their means. The system of driving, or in other words, the means by which extra work is got out of the men for the same remuneration in the scavengers trade is as follows. Some employers cause their scavengers after their day's work in the streets to load the barges with the street and house collected manure without any additional payment, whereas among the more liberal employers, there are bargemen who are employed to attend to this department of the trade and if their street scavengers are so employed, which is not very often, it is computed as extra work, or over hours, and paid for accordingly. This same indirect mode of reducing wages by getting more work done for the same pay is seen in many piecework callings. The slop boot and shoemakers pay the same price as they did six or seven years ago, but they have knocked off the extras as the additional allowance for greater than the ordinary height of heel and the like. So the slop mayor of Manchester, Sir Ilcana Armitage, within the last year or two sought to obtain from his men a greater length of cut to each piece of woven for the same wages. Some master scavengers, or contractors moreover, reduce wages by making their men do what is considered the work of a man and a half in a week, without the recompense due for the labour of the half man's work. In other words, they require the men to condense eight or nine days labour into six, and to be paid for the six days only. This again is usual in the strapping shops of the carpenters trade. Thus the class of street sweepers do not differ materially from circumstances of their position from other bodies of workers skilled and unskilled. Let me however give a practical illustration of the loss accruing to the working scavengers by the driving method of reducing wages. A is a large contractor and a driver. He employs sixteen men and pays them the regular wages of the honourable trade, but instead of limiting the hours of labour to twelve, as is usual for employers, he compels each of his men to work at the least sixteen hours per day, which is one third more, and for which the men should receive one third more wages. Let us see therefore how much the men in his employ lose annually by these means. Four gangers at eighteen shillings a week for nine months in the year, some received per annum one hundred and forty pounds eight shillings, some they should receive two hundred and ten pounds twelve shillings, difference seventy pounds four shillings, twelve sweepers at sixteen shillings a week for nine months in the year, some received per annum three hundred and seventy four pounds eight shillings, some they should receive four hundred and ninety nine pounds four shillings, difference one hundred and twenty four pounds sixteen shillings, total wages per annum some received five hundred and fourteen pounds sixteen shillings, some they should receive seven hundred and nine pounds sixteen shillings, difference one hundred and ninety five pounds. Here then we find the annual loss to these men through the system of driving to be one hundred and ninety five pounds per annum. But A is not the only driver in the scavengers trade. Out of the nineteen masters having contracts for scavenging as cited in the table section at pages two hundred and thirteen and two hundred and fourteen there are four who are regular drivers and making the same calculation as above we have the following results. Twenty six gangers at eighteen shillings a week for nine months in the year, some received per annum nine hundred and twelve pounds twelve shillings, some they should receive one thousand two hundred and sixteen pounds sixteen shillings, difference four pounds four shillings. Eighty sweepers at sixteen shillings a week for nine months in the year, some received per annum two thousand four hundred and ninety six pounds, some they should receive three thousand three hundred and twenty eight pounds difference eight hundred and thirty two pounds. Total sum received per annum three thousand three hundred and eight pounds twelve shillings, some they should receive four thousand five hundred and forty four pounds sixteen shillings, difference one thousand one hundred and thirty six pounds four shillings. Thus we find that the gross sum of which the man employed by these drivers are deprived is no less than one thousand one hundred and thirty six pounds per annum. Two, the second or indirect mode of reducing the wages of the men in the scavenging trade is by grinding that is to say by making the men do the same amount of work for less pay. It requires nothing but a practical illustration to render the injury of this particular mode of reduction apparent to the public. B is a master scavenger, a small contractor though the instances are not confined to this class and a grinder. He pays a shilling a week less than the regular wages of the honourable trade. He employs six men hence the amount that the workman pays are mulked off every year is as follows. Six men at fifteen shillings a week for nine months in the year some received per annum one hundred and seventy five pounds ten shillings, some they should receive one hundred and eighty seven pounds four shillings, difference eleven pounds fourteen shillings. Here the loss to the men is eleven pounds fourteen shillings per annum and there is but one such grinder among the nineteen master scavengers who have contracts at present. Three, the third and last method of reducing the earnings of the men as above enumerated is by a combination of both the systems before explained, namely by grinding and driving united. That is to say by not only paying the men a smaller wage than the more honourable masters but by compelling them to work longer hours as well. Let me cite another illustration from the trade. C is a large contractor and both a grinder and driver. He employs twenty eight men and not only pays them less wages but makes them work longer hours than the better class of employers. The men in his pay therefore are annually mulked off the following sums, sums the men receive. Seven gangers at sixteen shillings a week for nine months in the year £218 eight shillings 21 sweepers at 15 shillings a week £614 five shillings total £832 13 shillings sums they should receive seven gangers at 18 shillings a week for nine months in the year £245 14 shillings overwork four hours per day £61 eight shillings and six pence. Twenty one sweepers at 16 shillings a week 12 hours a day £655 four shillings overwork four hours a day £163 six shillings total £1125 £12 shillings and six pence Here the annual loss to the men employed by this one master is £292 £19 shillings and six pence among the 19 master scavengers there are altogether seven employers who are both grinders and drivers. These employ among them no less than £111 hands hence the gross amount of which their workmen are yearly defraud. No let me adhere to the principles of political economy and say deprived is as under sum the men annually receive £28 gangers at 16 shillings a week employed for nine months in the year £873 £12 shillings 83 sweepers at 15 shillings a week, employed for nine months in the year £2427 £15 shillings total £3301 £7 shillings some they should annually receive 28 gangers at 18 shillings a week 12 hours a day for nine months in the year £982 £16 shillings overwork four hours per day £245 £14 shillings 83 sweepers at 16 shillings a week, 12 hours a day £2589 £12 shillings overwork four hours per day £647 £8 shillings total £4465 £10 shillings here we perceive the gross loss to the operatives from the system of combined grinding and driving to be no less than £1,164 £3 shillings per annum now let us see what is the aggregate loss to the working men from the several modes of reducing their wages as above detailed loss to the working scavengers by the driving of employers £1,136 £4 shillings ditto by the grinding £11 14 shillings ditto by the grinding and driving of employers £1,164 £3 shillings total loss to the working scavengers per annum £2,312 £1 shilling now this is a large sum of money to be rested annually out of the workmen that it is so rested is demonstrated by the fact cited at page 174 in connection with the dust trade the wages of the dustmen employed by the large contractors it is there stated have been increased within the last seven years from sixpence to eightpence per load this increase in the rate of remuneration was owing to complaints made by the men to the commissioners of Surge that they were not able to live on their earnings and the result was that the commissioners decided upon letting the contracts only to such parties as would undertake to pay a fair price to their workmen the contractors accordingly increased the remuneration of the labourers as mentioned now political economy would tell us that the commissioners interfered with wages in a most reprehensible manner preventing the natural operation of the law of supply and demand but both justice and benevolence assure us that the commissioners did perfectly right the masters in the dust trade were forced to make good to the men what they had previously taken from them and the same should be done in the scavenging trade the contracts should be let only to those masters who will undertake to pay the regular rate of wages and employ their men only the regular hours for by such means and by such means alone justice be done to the operatives this brings me to the cause of the reduction of wages in the scavenging trade the scurf trade I am informed has been carried on among the masters scavengers upwards of 20 years and arose partly from the contractors having to pay the parishes for the house dust and street sweepings breeze and street manure at that period often selling for 30 shillings the children or load the man for this kind of manure 20 years ago was so great that there was a competition carried on among the contractors themselves each outbidding the other so as to obtain the right of collecting it and in order not to lose anything by the large sums which they were induced to bid for the contracts the employers began gradually to grind down their men from 17 shilling sixpence the sum paid 20 years back to 17 shillings a week and eventually to 15 shillings and even 12 shillings weekly this is a curious and instructive fact as showing that even an increase of prices will under the contract system induce a reduction of wages the greed of traders becomes it appears from the very height of the prices proportionally intensified and from the desire of each to reap the benefit they are led to outbid one another to such an extent to such large premiums for the light of appropriation as to necessitate a reduction of every possible expense in order to make any profit at all upon the transaction owing moreover to the surplus labour in the trade the contractors were enabled to offer any premiums and reduce wages as they pleased for the casually employed men when the wet season was over and their services no longer required were continually calling upon the contractors and offering their services at 2 shillings and 3 shillings less per week than the regular hands were receiving the consequence was that 5 or 6 of the master scavengers began to reduce the wages of their labourers and since that time the number has been gradually increasing until now there are no less than 21 scurf masters 8 of whom have no contracts out of the 34 contractors so that nearly 3 fifths of the entire trade belong to the grinding class within the last 7 or 8 years however there has been an increase of wages in connection with the city operative scavengers this was owing mainly to the operatives complaining to the commissioners that they could not live upon the wages they were then receiving 12 shillings and 14 shillings a week the circumstances inducing the change I am informed whereas follows one of the gangers asked a tradesman in the city to give the street sweepers something for beer whereupon the tradesman inquired if the men could not find beer out of their wages and on being assured that they were receiving only 12 shillings a week he had the matter brought before the board the result was that the wages of the operatives were increased from 12 shillings to 15 shillings and 16 shillings weekly since which time there has been neither an increase nor a decrease in their pay the cheapness of provisions seemed to have caused no reduction with them now there are but two efficient causes to account for the reduction of wages among the scurff employers in the scavengers trade one, the employers may diminish the pay of their men from a disposition to grind out of them and an ordinate rate of profit two, the price paid for the work may be so reduced that consistent with the ordinary rate of profit on capital and remuneration for superintendence greater wages cannot be paid if the first be the fact then the employers are to blame and the parishes should follow the example of the commissioners of Sours and let the work to those contractors only who will undertake to pay the regular wages of the honourable trade but if the latter be the case as I strongly suspect it is though some of the masters seem to be more grasping than the rest but in the paucity of returns on this matter it is difficult to state positively whether the price paid for the labour of the working scavenger is in all the parishes proportional to the price paid to the employers for the work a most important fact to be solved if however I repeat the decrease of the wages be mainly due to the decrease in the sums given for the performance of the contract then the parishes are to blame for seeking to get their work done at the expense of the working men the contract system of work I find necessarily tends to this diminution of the men's earnings in a trade offer a certain quantity of work to the lowest bidder and the competition will assuredly be maintained at the operatives expense it is idle to expect that as a general rule traders will take less than the ordinary rate of profit hence he who under bids will usually be found to under pay this indeed is almost a necessity of the system and one which the parochial functionaries more than all others should be guarded against seeing that a decrease of the operatives wages can but be attended with an increase of the very paupers and consequently of the parochial expenses which they are striving to reduce a labourer in order to be self supporting and avoid becoming a burden on the parish requires something more than bear subsistence money in remuneration for his labour and yet this is generally the mode by which we test the sufficiency of wages a man can live very comfortably upon that is the exclamation of those who have seldom thought upon what constitutes the minimum of self support in this country a man's wages to prevent populism should include besides present subsistence what Dr Chambers has called his secondaries namely a sufficiency to pay for his maintenance first during the slack season second when out of employment third when ill fourth when old note these items wages must include to prevent populism even with providence but this is only on the supposition that the labourer is unmarried if married however and having a family then his wages should include moreover the keep at least three extra persons as well as the education of the children if not one of two results is self evident either the wife must toil to the neglect of her young ones and they must be allowed to run about and pick their morals and education as I have before said out of the gutter or else the whole family must be transferred to the care of the parish end note if insufficient to do this it is evident that the man at such times must seek parochial relief and it is by the reduction of wages down to bear subsistence that the cheap employers of the present day shift the burden of supporting their labourers when unemployed onto the parish thus virtually perpetuating the allowance system or relief in aid of wages under the old poor law formerly the mode of hiring labourers was by the year so that the employer was bound to maintain the men when unemployed but now journey work or hiring by the day prevails and the labourers being paid and that mere subsistence money only when wanted are necessitated to become either poppers or thieves when their services are no longer required it is moreover this change from yearly to daily hireings and the consequent discarding of men when no longer required that has partly caused the immense loss of surplus labourers who are continually vagabondising through the country begging or stealing as they go men for whom there is but some two or three weeks work harvesting, hot picking and the like throughout the year that there is however a large system of jobbing pursued by the contractors for the house dust and cleansing of the streets there cannot be the least doubt the minute I have cited at page 210 gives us a slight insight into the system of combination existing among the employers and the extraordinary fluctuations in the prices obtained by the contractors would lead to the notion that the business was more a system of gambling than trade the following returns have been procured by Mr Cochran within the last few days average yearly cost of cleansing the whole of the public ways within the city of London including the removal of dust, ashes and so on houses of the inhabitants for eight years terminating at Mikkelmus in the year 1850 £4,643 square yards of carriageway estimated at 430,000 square yards of footway estimated at 300,000 a more specific and later return is as follows 1845 received for dust paid for cleansing and so on £2,833 two shillings streets not cleansed daily 1846 received for dust £1,354 five shillings paid for cleansing and so on £6,034 six shillings streets cleansed daily 1847 received for dust £4,455 five shillings paid for cleansing and so on £8,014 two shillings streets cleansed daily 1848 received for dust £1,328 £15 shillings paid for cleansing and so on £7,226 one shilling and sixpence streets cleansed daily 1849 received for dust 0 paid for cleansing and so on £7,486 eleven shillings and sixpence streets cleansed daily 1850 received for dust 0 paid for cleansing and so on £6,779 16 shillings streets cleansed daily from the above return says Mr Cochran it may be inferred that the annual sums paid for cleansing in each year of 1844 and 1843 did not exceed £2,281 as this would make up the 80 years average calculation of £4,643 since the streets have been cleansed daily it will be seen that the average has been £7,188 the smallest amount in 1846 was £6,034 and the largest in 1847 £8,014 which was a sudden increase of £1,980 here then we perceive an immediate increase in the price paid for scavenging between 1846 and 1847 of nearly 33% and since the wages of the workmen were not proportionately increased in the latter year by the employers it follows that the profits of the contractors must have been augmented to that enormous extent the only effectual mode of preventing this system of jobbing being persevered in at the expense of the workmen is by the insertion of a clause in each parish contract similar to that introduced by the commissioners of Sours that at least a fair living rate of wages shall be paid by each contractor to the men employed by him in interference with the freedom of labour according to the economists can't language but at least it is a restriction of the tyranny of capital for free labour means when literally translated the unrestricted use of capital which is especially when the moral standard of trade is not of the highest character perhaps the greatest evil with which a state can be afflicted let me now speak of the scurff labourers the moral and social characteristics of the working scavengers who labour for a lower rate of hire do not materially differ from those of the better paid and more regularly employed body unless perhaps in this respect that there are among them a greater proportion of the casuals or of men reared to the pursuit of other callings and driven by want misfortune or misconduct to sweep the streets and not only that but to regard the leave to toil in such a capacity a boon these constitute as it were the cheap labourers of this trade among the parties concerned in the lower price scavenging are the usual criminations the parish authorities will not put up any longer with the extortions of the contractors the contractors cannot put up any longer with the stinginess of the parishes the working scavengers upon whose shoulders the burden falls the heaviest as it does in all depreciated tradings grumble at both I cannot aver however that I found among the men that bitter hatred of their masters which I found actuating the mass of operative tailors, shoemakers, dressmakers and so on toward the slop capitalists who employed them I have pointed out in what the scurve treatment of the labourers was chiefly manifested in extra work for inferior pay in doing eight or nine days work in six and in being paid for only six days labour and not always at the ordinary rate even for the lighter toil not two shillings eight bins but two shillings six bins or even two shillings four bins a day to the wealthy this tuppence or four bins a day may seem but a trifling matter but I heard a working scavenger formerly a house painter put it in a strong light that thruppence or four bins a day sir is a poor family's rent the rent I may observe as a result of my inquiries among the more decent classes of labourers is often the primary consideration you see sir we must have a roof over our heads a scavenger working for a scarf master gave me the following account he was a middle aged man decently dressed for when I saw him he was in his Sunday clothes and was quiet in his tones even when he spoke bitterly my father he said was once in business as a butcher but he failed and was afterwards a journeyman butcher but very much respected I know and I used to job and help him oh dear yes I can read and write but I very seldom to write only I think one never forgets it it's like learning to swim that way and I read sometimes at coffee shops my father died rather sudden and me and a brother had to look out my brother was older than me he was 20 or 21 then and he went for a soldier I believe to some of the Injees but I've never heard of him since I got a place in an acres yard but I didn't like it at all it was so confining and should have hooked it only I left it honourable I can't call to mind how long that's back perhaps 16 or 18 years but I know there was some stir at the time about having the streets and yards cleaner a man called and had some talk with the governor says he says the governor says he if you want a handy lad with his bism and he's good for nothing else but that was his gammon here's your man so I was engaged as a young sweeper at 10 shillings a week I worked in Hackney but I heard so much about railways that I saved my money up to 10 shillings and popped note pledged and note a suit of morning I'd got after my father's death for 22 shillings and got to York both on foot and with lifts I soon got work on a rail there was great call for rails then but I don't know how long it's since and I was a navi for six or seven years or better then I came back to London I don't know just what made me come back but I was restless and I thought I could get work as easy in London as in the country but I couldn't I brought 21 gold sovereigns with me to London twisted in my fob for safeness in a washed leather bag they didn't last so long as they ought to I didn't care for drinking only when I was in company but I was a little too gay one night I spent over 12 shillings in St Helena Gardens at Rotherith and that sort of thing soon makes money show taper I got some work with a rubbish carter a regular scurf I made only about 8 shillings a week under him for I didn't want me this half day or that whole day and if I said anything he told me I might go and be damned he could get plenty such and I knew I got on them with a gangsman I knew at street sweeping I had 15 shillings a week but not regular work and when the work weren't regular I had 2 shillings 8 pins a day I then worked under another master for 14 shillings a week and was often abused that I wasn't better dressed for though that their master paid low wages he was vexed if his men didn't look decent in the streets I've heard that he said he paid the best of wages when asked about it I had another job after that I had 15 shillings and then 16 shillings a week with a contractor as at a wharf but a black nigger slave was never slaved as I was I've worked all night when it's been very moonlight and loading a barge and I've worked until 3 and 4 in the morning that way and then me and another man slept an hour or two in a shed as jointed stables and then must go at it again some of these masters is ignorant and treats men like dirt but this one was always civil and made his people be civil but lord I hadn't a rag left to my back everything was worn to bits and such hard work and then I got the sack I was on for Mr. Blank next he's a jolly gooden I was only on for him temporary but I was told it was for temporary when I went so I can't complain I'm out of work this week but I've had some jobs for a butcher and I'm going to work again on Monday I don't know at what wages the gangsman said they'd see what I could do it'll be 15 shillings I expect and over work if it's 16 shillings yes I like a pint of beer now and then and one requires it but I don't get drunk I dusted for a fortnight once while a man was ill and got more beer and tuppances give me than I do in a year now I twice as much my mate and me was always very civil and people has said there's a good fellow just sweep together this bit of rubbish in the yard here and off with it that was beyond our duty but we did it I have very little night work only for one master he's a sweep as well I get two shillings sixpence a job for it yes there's mostly something to drink but you can't demand nothing night works nothing sir no more ain't an akker's yard I pay two shillings a week rent but I'm washed for and found soap as well my landlady takes in washing and when her husband for they're an old couple as the rheumatics I make a trifle by carrying out the clothes on a barrel and mrs smith goes with them and sees to the delivery I've my own furniture well I don't know what I spend in my living in a week I have a bit of meat or a savour law or two or a slice of bacon every day mostly when I'm at work I sometimes make my own meals ready in my room no I keep no accounts there'd be very little use or pleasure in doing it when one has so little to count when I'm past work I suppose I must go to the work house I sometimes wish I'd gone for a soldier when I was young enough I shouldn't have minded going abroad I'd have liked it better than not for I like to be about yes I like a change I go to chapel every Sunday night and have regularly since mr blank the butcher gave me this cast off suit I promised him I would when I got the talks things would be well enough with me if I'd constant work and fair pay I don't know what makes wages so low I suppose it's rich people trying to get all the money they can and carrying nothing for poor men's rights and poor men sometimes forced to undersell one another because half a loaf you know sir is better than no bread at all a proverb by the way which has wrought no little mischief in conclusion I may remark that although I was told in the first instance there was subletting in street sweeping I could not hear of any facts to prove it I was told indeed by a gentleman who took great interest in parochial matters with a view to reforms in them that such a thing was most improbable for if a contractor sublet any of his work it would soon become known and as it would be evident that the work could be accomplished at a lower rate the contractor would be in a worse position for his next contract End of section 45 Section 46 of London Labour and the London Poor Volume 2 by Henry Mayhew this LibriVox recording is in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Gillian Henry of the street sweeping machine and the street sweepers employed with it until the introduction of the machines now seen in London I believe that no mechanical contrivances for sweeping the streets had been attempted all such work being executed by manual labour and employing throughout the United Kingdom a great number of the poor the street sweeping machine therefore assumes an importance as another instance of the displacement or attempted displacement of the labour of man by the mechanism of an engine the street sweeping machines were introduced about five years ago after having been previously used under the management of a company in Manchester the inventor and maker being Mr. Whitworth of that place the novelty and ingenuity of the apparatus soon attracted public attention and for the first week or two the vehicular street sweeper was accompanied in its progress by a crowd of admiring and inquisitive pedestrians so easily attracted together in the metropolis for the first instance the machines were driven through the streets merely to display their mode and power of work and the drivers and attendants not unfrequently came into contact with the regular scavengers when a brisk interchange of street Whit took place the populace often enough encouraging both sides at present the street sweeping machine proceeds on its line of operation as little noticed except by visitors and foreigners especially as any other vehicle the body of the sweeping machine although the sizes may not all be uniform is about five feet in length and two feet eight inches or three feet in width the height is about five feet six inches or six feet and the form that of a covered cart with a rounded top the sides of the exterior are of cast iron the top being of wood at the hindered part of the cart is fixed the sweeping machine itself followed by sloping boards which descend from the top of the cart projecting slightly behind the vehicle to the ground under the sloping boards is an endless chain of brushes as wide as the cart 16 and number placed at equal distances and so arranged that when made to revolve each brush in turn passes over the ground sweeping the mud along with it to the bottom sloping board and so carrying it up to the interior of the cart brushes is set in motion over the surface of the pavement by the agency of three cog wheels of cast iron these are worked by the rotation of the wheels of the cart the cogs acting upon the spindles to which the brooms are attached the spindles, brushes and the sloped boards can be raised or lowered by the winding of an instrument called the broom winder or the hole can be locked the brooms are raised and the gravity is to be swept and lowered at a declivity the vehicle must be watertight in order to contain the slop when full the machine holds about half a cart load or half a ton of dirt this is emptied by letting down the back in the manner of a trap door if the contents be solid they have to be forked out if more sloppy they are shot out as from a cart the interior generally being roughly scraped to complete the emptying the districts which have as yet been cleansed by the machines are what may be considered a government domain being the public thoroughfares under the control of the commissioners of the woods and forests running from Westminster Abbey to the Regent's Circus in Piccadilly and including Spring Gardens Carleton Gardens and a portion of the West Strand where they were first employed in London they have been used also in parts of the city and are at present employed by the parish of St. Martin in the fields the company by whom the mechanical street sweeping business is carried on employ 12 machines 4 water carts 19 horses and 24 men they have also the use but not the sole use of 2 wharfs and barges at Whitefriars and Millbank the machines all together collect about 30 cart loads of street dirt a day which is equivalent to 4 or 5 barge loads in a week if all were boated 2 barges per week are usually sent to Rochester, the others up the river to Fulham and so on the average price is £5.10 shillings to £6 per barge load but when the freight has been chiefly done as much as £8 has been paid for it by a farmer the street sweeping machine seems to have commanded the approbation of the general board of health although the board's expression of approval is not without qualification even that efficient and economical implement says one of the reports the street sweeping machine leaves much filth between the interstices of the stones and some on the surface one might have imagined however that an efficient and economical implement would not have left this much filth in its course but the board I presume spoke comparatively the reason of the circumscribed adoption of the machine I say it with some reluctance but from concurrent testimony appears to be that it does not sweep sufficiently clean it sweeps the surface but only the surface not cleansing what the scavengers call the nicks and holes and the board of health the interstices in the pavement one man is obliged to go along with each machine to sweep the ridge of dirt and ruby left at the edge of the track of the vehicle into the line of the next machine so that it may be licked up in fine weather this work is often light enough it is also the occupation of the accompanying scavenger to sweep the dirt from the sloping edges of the public ways into the direct course of the machine for the brushes are of no service along such slopes he must also sweep out the contents of any hole or hollow there may be as is frequently the case when the pavement has been disturbed in the relaying or repairing of the gas or water pipes but for this arrangement I was told the brushes would pass clean over such places or only disturb without clearing away the dirt indeed irregularities of any kind in the pavement are great obstructions to the efficiency of the street sweeping machine there are some places moreover wholly unsweepable by the machine in many parts of Saint Martin's parish for instance there are localities where the machine cannot be introduced such are Saint Martin's court the flagged ways about the national gallery and the approach alongside the church to the Lother arcade the pavement surrounding the fountains which adorn the noblest site in Europe and a variety of alleys passages yards and minor streets which must be cleansed by manual labour in fair weather again water carts are indispensable before machine sweeping for if the ground be merely dry and dusty the set of brooms will not bite we now come to estimate the relative values of the mechanical and manual labour applied to the scavenging of the streets the average progress of the street sweeping machine in the execution of the scavengers work is about two miles an hour it must not be supposed however that two streets each a mile in length could be swept in one hour for to do this the vehicle would have to travel up and down those streets as many times as the streets are wider than the machine the machines sometimes two sometimes three or four follow alongside each other's tracks in sweeping a street so as to leave no part unswept thus supposing a street half a mile long and nine yards wide and that each machine swept a breadth of a yard then three such machines driven once up and once again down and once more up such a street would cleanse it in three quarters of an hour to do this by manual labour in the same or nearly the same time would require the exertions of five men each machine has been computed to have mechanical power equal to the industry of five street sweepers and such from the above computation would appear to be the fact I do not include the drivers in this enumeration as of course the horse in the scavengers cart and in the machine require alike the care of a man and there is to each vehicle whether mechanical or not one hand besides the carmen to sweep after the ordinary work hence every two men with the machine do the work of seven men by hand having then ascertained the relative values of the two forces employed in cleansing the streets let me now proceed to set forth what is the economy of labour resulting from the use of the sweeping machine in the following table are given the number of men at present engaged by the machine company in the cleansing of those districts where the machine is in operation as well as the annual amount of wages paid to the machine labourers these facts are then collocated with the number of manual labourers that would be required to do the same work under the ordinary contract system assuming every two labourers with the machine to do the work of seven labourers by hand as well as the amount of wages that would be paid to such manual labourers and finally the number of men and amount of wages under the one system of street cleansing is subtracted from the other in order to arrive at the number of street sweepers at present displaced by machine labour and the loss in wages to the men so displaced or to speak economically the last column represents the amount by which the wage fund of the street sweepers is diminished by the employment of the machine table showing the difference between the number of men at present engaged in street sweeping by machines and the number that would be required to sweep the same districts by hand together with the annual amount of wages accruing to each reader's note this table gives the districts the number of men employed to attend machines and annual wages received by machine men calculated at 16 shillings a week the number of men that would be required to sweep the streets by manual labour and the annual wages that would be received by manual labourers at 15 shillings a week and then the number of men displaced by machine work annual loss in wages to manual labourers by machine work and reader's note St. Martin's in the fields machine labour number of men 8 annual wages £332.16 shillings manual labour number of men 28 annual wages £1092 difference annual loss in wages £759.04 shillings Regent Street and Pal Mall C Table page 214 machine labour number of men 12 annual wages received £499.04 shillings manual labour number of men 42 annual wages £1,638 difference number of men displaced 30 annual loss in wages £1,138.16 shillings other places connected with woods and forests machine labour number of men 4 annual wages received £166.08 shillings manual labour number of men 14 annual wages £546 shillings total machine labour number of men 24 annual wages received £998.08 shillings manual labour number of men 84 annual wages £3276 total difference number of men displaced £60 annual loss in wages £2,277 £12 shillings hence we perceive that no less than 60 street sweepers are deprived of work by the street sweeping machine and that the gross wage fund of the men is diminished by the employment of mechanical labour no less than £2,277 per annum but let us suppose a street sweeping machine to come into general use and all the men who are at present employed by the contractors both large and small to sweep the street by hand to be superseded by it what would be the result how much money would the manual labourers be deprived of per annum and how many self supporting labourers would be popularised thereby the following table will show us in the first compartments given below we have the number of manual labourers employed throughout London by the large and small contractors and the amount of wages annually received by them note, I have estimated the whole at 15 shillings a week the year through gangers, honourable men regular hands and all so as to allow for the diminished receipts of the casual hands end note in the second compartment is given the number of men that would be required to sweep the same districts by the machine and the amount of wages that would be received by them at the present rate and the third and last compartment shows the gross number of hands that would be displaced and the annual loss that would accrue to the operatives by the substitution of mechanical for manual labour in the sweeping of the streets table showing the difference between the number of contractors men at present employed to sweep the streets by hand and the number that would be required to sweep the same districts by machine work together with the amount of wages accruing to each the districts at present swept by large contractors see table page 214 manual labour number of men at present employed by contractors to sweep the streets 262 annual wages received by contractors men for sweeping the streets at 15 shillings a week 10,218 pounds machine labour number of machine men that would be required to attend the streets sweeping machines 75 annual wages that would be received by machine men at 16 shillings a week 3,120 pounds difference number of men that would be displaced by machine work 187 annual loss that would accrue to manual labourers by machine work 7,098 pounds district swept by small contractors manual labour number of men at present employed 13 annual wages received 507 pounds machine labour number of machine men that would be required 4 annual wages that would be received 166 pounds 8 shillings difference number of men that would be displaced 9 annual loss that would accrue 340 pounds 12 shillings for manual labour total number of men 275 total annual wages received 10,725 pounds for machine labour total number of machine men that would be required 79 total annual wages that would be received 3,286 pounds 8 shillings total number of men that would be displaced 196 total annual loss that would accrue 7,438 pounds 12 shillings here we find that nearly 200 men would be properised losing upwards of 7,000 pounds per annum if the street sweeping machine came into general use throughout London but before the introduction of machines the owners of St Martin's Parish were swept only once a week in dry weather and three times a week in sloppy weather and since the introduction of the machines they have been swept daily allowing therefore the extra cleansing to have arisen from the extra cheapness of the machine work though it seems to have been the result of improved sanitary regulations for in parts where the machine has not been used the same alteration has taken place making such allowance however it may perhaps be fair to say that the same increase of cleansing would take place throughout London that is to say that the streets would be swept by the machines where they generally used twice as often as they are at present by hand at this rate 158 machine men instead of 79 as above calculated would be required for the work so that reckoning with the increased employment which might arise from the increased cheapness of the work we see that where the street sweeping machines used throughout the metropolis nearly 120 of the 275 manual labourers now employed at scavenging by the large and small contractors would be thrown out of work and deprived of no less a sum than 4,680 pounds per annum this amount of course the Parish would pocket minus the sum that it would cost them to keep the scavengers as poppers so that in this instance at least we perceive that however great a benefit cheapness may be to the wealthy classes to the poorer classes it is far from being of the same advantageous character for just as much as the rate payers are the gainers in the matter of street cleansing must the labourers be the losers the economy of labour in a trade where there are too many labourers already and where the quantity of work of indefinite increase meaning simply the increase of populism note the usual argument in favour of machinery namely that by reducing prices it extends the market and so causing a greater demand for the commodities induces a greater quantity of employment would also be an argument in favour of overpopulation since this by cheapening labour must have the same effect as machinery on prices consequently, according to the above logic induce a greater quantity of employment but granting that machinery really does benefit the labourer in cases where the market and therefore the quantity of work is largely extensible surely it cannot be but an injury in those callings where the quantity of work is fixed such as the fact with the sewing of wood the reaping of corn the threshing of corn the seeds and so on and hence the evil of mechanical labour applied to such trades end note the labour question as connected with the sweeping machine work requires but a brief detail as it presents no new features the majority of the machine men may be described as having been general unskilled labourers before they embarked in their present pursuits labourers for builders breakmakers, rubbish carters the docks and so on among them there is but one who was brought up as a mechanic the others have all been labourers brickmakers and what I heard called barrow workers on railways the latter being the most numerous employment is obtained by application at the worst there is nothing of the character of a trade society among the machine men nothing in the way of benefit or sick clubs unless the men choose to enrol themselves in a general benefit society of which I did not hear one instance the payment is by the week and without drawback in the guise or disguise of fines or similar inflections for the use of tools and so on the payment moreover is always in money the only perquisite is in the case of anything being found in the streets but the rule as to perquisites seems to be altogether an understanding among the men of what may be picked up in the streets appears moreover to be very much in the discretion of the picker up if anything be found in the contents of the vehicle when emptied it is the perquisite of the driver who is also the unloader he however is expected to treat the men on the same beat out of any such treasure trove when the said treasure is considerable enough to justify such bounty odd sixpences, shillings or copper coin I was informed were found almost every week but I could ascertain no general average one man some time ago found a purse inside the vehicle containing 20 shillings and spent it out and out all on a self in a carouse of three days he lost his situation in consequence the number of men employed by the company in this trade is 24 and these perform all the work required in the driving and attendance upon the machines in the street unloading the barges, grooming the horses and so on there is indeed a 25th man but he is a blacksmith and his wages of 35 shillings weekly are included in the estimate as to wear and tear given below for he shoes the horses and repairs the machines the rate of wages paid by the machine company is 16 shillings a week so that the full amount of wages is paid to the men but though the company cannot be ranked among the grinders of the scavenging trade they must be placed among the drivers I am assured by those who are familiar with such labour that the 24 men employed by the machine masters do the work of upwards of 30 in the honourable trade with a corresponding saving to their employers from an adherence to the main point of the scurf system the overworking of the men without extra payment it has been before stated that in dry weather the roads require to be watered before being swept so that the brushes may bite in summer the machine men sometimes commence this part of their business at 3 in the morning and at the other periods of the year sometimes at early morning when moonlight in summer the hours of labour in the streets are from 3, 4, 5 or 6 in the morning to half past 4 in the afternoon in winter from light to light and after street there may be yard and barge work the saving by the scurf system then is 30 men honourable trade 16 shillings weekly 1,248 pounds yearly 24 men scurf trade doing same work 16 shillings weekly 998 pounds yearly saving to capitalist and loss to labourer 250 pounds yearly it now but remains to sum up the capital income and expenditure of the machine scavenging trade the cost of a street sweeping machine is 50 pounds to 60 pounds with an additional 5 pounds 5 shillings for the set of brooms the wear and tear of these machines are very considerable a man who had the care of one told me that when there was a heavy stress on it he had known the iron cogs of the inner wheels go rattle rattle snap snap until it became difficult to proceed with the work the brooms too in hard work and cloggy weather are apt to snap short and in the regular course of wear have to be renewed every 4 or 5 weeks the sets of brooms are of bass worked strongly with copper wire the whole apparatus can be unscrewed and taken to pieces to be cleaned or repaired the repairs independently of the renewal of the brooms have been calculated at 7 pounds yearly each machine the capital invested then in 12 street sweeping machines in the horses and what may be considered the appurtenances of the trade together with the yearly expenditure may be thus calculated capital of street sweeping machine trade 12 machines 60 pounds each 720 pounds 12 sets of brooms 5 pounds 5 shillings each set 63 pounds 19 horses 25 pounds each 475 pounds 4 water carts 20 pounds each 80 pounds 19 sets of harness new 7 pounds each set 133 pounds 4 barges 50 pounds each 200 pounds total 1671 pounds yearly expenditure 24 men 16 shillings weekly 998 pounds 120 sets of brooms for 12 machines 4 pounds per set 480 pounds wear and tear and so on 15% 255 pounds keep of 19 horses 10 shillings each weekly 494 pounds rent say 150 pounds clark say 100 pounds interest on capital at 10% 170 pounds total 2674 pounds reader's note mayhew has incorrectly added this total the total should read 2647 pounds end reader's note in this calculation I have included wear and tear of the whole of the implements of the stock in trade and so on taking that of the brooms on the most moderate estimate according to the scale of payment by the parish of St. Martin which is now 1000 pounds per annum the probable receipts of a single year will be yearly receipts for hire of 12 machines 2500 pounds 200 barge loads of manure 5 pounds 15 shillings 10 barge 1150 pounds 10 shillings total 3650 pounds 10 shillings yearly expenditure 2674 pounds profit 976 pounds 10 shillings reader's note with the corrected yearly expenditure of 2647 pounds the profit will be 1003 pounds 10 shillings end reader's note end of section 46 section 47 of London Labour and the London Poor Volume 2 by Henry Mayhew this LibriVox recording is in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Gillian Henry of the cleansing of the streets by Popper Labour under the head of the several modes and characteristics of street cleansing I stated at page 207 of the present volume that there were no less than four distinct kinds of labourers employed in the scavenging of the public thoroughfares of the metropolis these were 1. the self-supporting manual labourers 2. the self-supporting machine labourers 3. the Popper labourers 4. the philanthropic labourers I've already set forth the distinguishing features of the first two of these different orders of workmen in connection with the scavenging trade and now proceed in due order to treat of the characteristics of the third the subject of Popper Labour generally is one of the most difficult topics that the social philosopher can deal with it is not possible however to do more here than draw attention to the salient points of the question the more comprehensive consideration of the matter must be reserved for such time as I come to treat of the poor especially under the head of those that cannot work by the 43 Elizabeth which is generally regarded as the basis of the existing poor laws in this country it was ordained that in every parish a fund should be raised by local taxation not merely for the relief of the aged and infirm but for setting to work all persons having no means to maintain themselves no ordinary or daily trade of life to get their living by it was however soon discovered that it was one thing to pass an act for setting able-bodied poppers to work and another thing to do so in every place as Mr Thornton truly says in his excellent treatise on overpopulation there is only a certain amount of work to be done limited by the extent of the market and only a certain amount of capital to pay for it and if the number of workmen be more than proportionate to the work employment can only be given to those who want it by taking from those who have let me illustrate this by the circumstances of the scavenging trade there are 1,760 miles of streets throughout London and these would seem to require about 600 scavengers to cleanse them it is self-evident therefore that if 400 poppers be set to sweep particular districts the same number of self-supporting labourers must be deprived of employment and if these cannot obtain work elsewhere they of course must become poppers too and seeking relief be put upon the same kind of work as they were originally deprived of and that only to displace and popularise in their turn a similar number of independent operatives the work of a country then being limited by the capital and market for the produce there can be but 2 modes of setting poppers to labour 1, by throwing the self-supporting operatives out of employment altogether and substituting popper labourers in their stead 2, by giving a portion of the work to the poppers and so decreasing the employment and consequently the wages of the regular operatives in either case however the independent labourers must be reduced to a state of comparative or positive dependence for it is impossible to make labourers of the poppers of an overpopulated country without making poppers of the labourers some economists argue that as poppers are consumers they should wherever they are able to work be made producers also or otherwise they exhaust the national wealth to contribute this might be a sound axiom where their work sufficient for all but in an overpopulated country there is not work enough as is proven by the mere fact of the overpopulation and the able bodied poppers are poppers simply because they cannot obtain work so that to employ those who are out of work is to throw out those who are in work and thus to popperise the self-supporting the whole matter seems to hinge upon this one question who are to maintain the poppers the rate paying traders or the non rate paying workmen if the poppers be set to work in a country like Great Britain they must necessarily be brought into competition with the self-supporting workmen and so be made to share the wage fund with them decreasing the price of labour in proportion to the extra number of such popper labourers among whom the capital of the trade has to be shared hence the burden of maintaining the poppers will be virtually shifted from the capitalist to the labourer the poor rate being thus really paid out of the wages of the operatives instead of the profits of the traders as it should be and here lies the great wrong of popper labour it saddles the poor with the maintenance of their poorer brethren while the rich not only contribute but are made still richer by the increased cheapness resulting from the depreciation of labour and their consequent ability to obtain a greater quantity of commodities for the same amount of money in illustration of this argument let us say the wages of 600 independent scavengers amount at 15 shillings a week each the year through to 23,400 pounds per annum and let us say moreover of 400 poppers amounts at 5 shillings a week each to altogether 5,200 pounds hence the total annual expense to the several metropolitan parishes for cleansing the streets and maintaining 400 poppers would be 23,400 pounds plus 5,200 pounds equals 28,600 pounds if however the 400 poppers be set to scavenging work and made to do something for their keep one of two things must follow one, either the 400 extra hands will receive their share of the 23,400 pounds devoted to the payment of the operative scavengers in which case the wages of each of the regular hands will be reduced from 15 shillings to 9 shillings a week hence the maintenance of the poppers will be saddled upon the 600 independent operatives who will lose no less than 9,360 pounds per annum while the rate pairs will be saved the maintenance of the 400 poppers and so gain 5,200 pounds per annum by the change two or else 400 of the self supporting operatives must be thrown out of work in which case the displaced labourers will lose no less 15,600 pounds while the rate pairs will gain upwards of 5,000 pounds the reader is now I believe in a position to comprehend the wrong done to the self supporting scavengers by the employment of popper labour in the cleansing of the streets the preparation of the material of the roads of a parish seems as far as the metropolis is concerned at one time to have supplied the chief test to which the parishes have resorted as regards the willingness to labour on the part of the able-bodied applicants for relief when the casual wards of the work houses were open for the reception of all vagrants who sought a night's shelter each tramper was required to break so many stones in the morning before receiving a certain allowance of bread, soup or what not for his breakfast and he then might be received again into the shelter of this casual asylum in some parishes the wards were open without the test of stone breaking and there was a crowded resort to them especially during the prevalence of the famine in Ireland and the immigration of the Irish peasants to England the favourite resort of the vagrants was Marlebone Workhouse and Irish immigrants very frequently presented slips of paper on which some tramper whom they had met with on their way had written Marlebone Workhouse as the best place at which they could apply and these the simple Irish offered as passports for admission gradually the asylum of these wards with or without labour tests was discontinued and in one where the labour test used to be strongly insisted upon in St Pancras a school for pauper children has been erected on the site of the stoneyard this labour test was unequal when applied to all comers for what was easy work to an agricultural labourer a railway excavator a quarryman or to anyone used to wield a hammer was painful and blistering to a starving tailor nor was the test enforced by the overseers or regarded by the pauper as a proof of willingness to work but simply as a punishment for poverty and as a means of deterring the needy from applying for relief to make labour a punishment however is not to destroy but really to confirm idle habits it is to give a deeper root to the vagrants settled aversion to work well I always thought it was unpleasant the vagabond will say to himself that working for one's bread and now I'm convinced of it again in many of the work houses the labour to which the pauper's were set was of a manifestly unremunerative character being work for mere work's sake and to apply people to unproductive labour is to destroy all the ordinary motives to toil to take away the only stimulus to industry and remove the very will to work which the labour test was supposed to discover note Mr Sydney Herbert informed me that when he was connected with the ordinance department the severest punishment they could discover for idleness was the piling and unpiling of cannon shot but surely this was the consummation of official folly for idleness being simply an aversion to work it is almost self-evident that it is impossible to remove this aversion by making labour inordinately irksome and repulsive until we understand the means by which work is made pleasant and can discover other modes of employing our pauper's and criminals all our work house and prison discipline is idle tyranny end note the labour test then or setting the poor to work as a proof of their willingness to labour appears to be as foolish as it is vicious the objections to it being 1. the inequality of the test applied to different kinds of work people 2. the tendency of it to confirm rather than weaken idle habits by making labour inordinately repulsive 3. the removal of the ordinary stimulus to industry by the unproductiveness of the work to which the poor are generally applied and now having dealt with the subject of parish labour as a test of the willingness to work on the part of the applicants for relief I will proceed to deal with that portion of the work itself which is connected with the cleansing of the streets and first as to the employment of pauper's at all in the streets if pauperism be a disgrace then it is unjust to turn a man into the public thoroughfares wearing the badge of beggary to be pointed at and scorned for his poverty especially when we are growing so particularly studious of our criminals that we make them wear masks to prevent even their faces being seen note this is done at the model prison pentonville end note nor is it consistent with the principles of an enlightened national morality that we should force a body of honest men to labour upon the highways branded with a degrading garb like convicts neither is it wise to do so for the shame of poverty soon becomes deadened by the repeated exposure to public scorn and thus the occasional recipient of parish relief is ultimately converted into the hardened and habitual pauper once a pauper always a pauper I was assured was the parish rule and here lies the rationale of the fact not long ago this system of employing badged paupers to labour in the public thoroughfares was carried to a much more offensive extent than it is even at present at one time the pauper labourers of a certain parish had the attention of every passerby attracted to them while at work for on the back of each man's garb a sort of smock frock was marked with sufficient prominence clerken well stop it this public intimation that the labourers were not only pauper's but regarded as thieves and expected to perloin the parish dress they wore attracted public attention and was severely commented upon at a meeting the stop it therefore was cancelled and the frocks are now merely lettered clerken well before the alteration the men very generally wore the garment inside out the present dress of the parish scavengers is usually smock frock costing one shilling sixpence to two shillings and a glazed hat of about the same price in some cases however the men may wear these things or not at their option the pauper scavengers employed by the several metropolitan parishes may be divided into three classes one the indoor pauper's who receive no wages whatever their lodging food and clothing being considered to be sufficient remuneration for their labour two the outdoor pauper's who are paid partly in money and partly in kind and employed in some cases three days and in others six days in the week these may be subdivided into a the single men who receive or rather used to receive ninepence and a quarter loaf for each of the three or more days they were so employed b the married men with families who receive seven shillings one quarter loafs a week two one shilling a penny hypenny and one quarter loaf for each day's labour three the unemployed labourers of the district who are set to scavenging work by the parish and paid a regular money wage the employment being constant and the rate of remuneration ranging from one shilling thruppence to two shilling sixpence a day for each of the six days or from seven shilling sixpence to fifteen shillings a week in pages two hundred and forty six and two hundred and forty seven I give a table of the wages paid by each of the metropolitan parishes this has been collected at great trouble in order to arrive at the truth on this most important matter and for which purpose the several parishes have been personally visited it will be seen on reference to this document that there is only one parish at present that employs its indoor poppers in the scavenging of the public streets and three parishes employing forty eight outdoor poppers who are paid partly in money and partly in bread the money remuneration ranging from one shilling a penny apnea day paid by Clarkinwell to seven shillings a week paid by Chelsea and more over thirty one parishes employing four hundred and eight applicants for relief poppers they cannot be called and paying them wholly in money the remuneration ranging from fifteen shillings per week to seven shillings sixpence paid by the liberty of the rolls and the employment from six to three days weekly as a general rule it was found that the greatest complaints were made by the authorities as to the idleness of the poor and by the poor as to the tyranny of the authorities in those parishes where the remuneration was the least in St Luke's Chelsea for instance but seven shillings a week and three loaves the criminations and recriminations by the parish functionaries and the poppers were almost equally harsh and bitter I should however observe that the men employed in this parish spoke in terms of great commendation of Mr. Patterson the surveyor saying he always gave them to understand that they were free labourers and invariably treated them as such the men at work for Bermondsy the parish also spoke very highly of their superintendent who it seems has interested himself to obtain for them a foul weather coat some of the highway boards or trusts take all the popper labourers sent them by the parish while others give employment only to such as please them these boards generally pay good wages and are in favour with the men table showing the number of men employed by the metropolitan parishes and highway boards in scavenging as well as the number of hours per day and number of days per week together with the amount of wages accruing to each and the total annual wages of the whole note the number of men here given as employed by the parishes in the scavenging of the streets will be found to differ from that of the table at page 213 but the present table includes all the parish men employed throughout London whereas the other referred to only a portion of the localities there mentioned and note this table appears on pages 246 and 247 of volume 2 and readers note paid in money Greenwich number of married men employed by parishes daily in scavenging the streets 7 number of single men employed by parishes daily in scavenging the streets 1 number of superintendents employed by parishes 1 number of foremen or gangers employed by parishes 1 daily or weekly wages of the married parish men 15 shillings daily or weekly wages of the single parish men 15 shillings weekly wages of the superintendents 18 shillings number of hours per day each parish man is employed to sweep the streets 10 number of days in the week each parish man is employed in sweeping the streets 6 total annual wages of the whole including the estimated value of food and clothes £456 16 shillings married men 12 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 3 daily or weekly wages married 15 shillings single 14 shillings foremen or gangers 18 shillings number of hours per day 12 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £899 £12 Lambeth married men 30 single men 0 superintendents 1 foremen or gangers 5 daily or weekly wages married 15 shillings superintendents 20 shillings foremen or gangers 18 shillings number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £1,456 poplar married men 20 single men 0 foremen or gangers 4 daily or weekly wages married 15 shillings foremen or gangers 18 shillings number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £967 £4 Saint Anne's Soho married men 4 single men 1 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 0 daily or weekly wages married men 15 shillings single 15 shillings number of hours per day 12 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £195 brotherith married men 4 single men 0 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 1 daily or weekly wages married 14 shillings 16 shillings number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £187 for shillings onesworth married men 6 single men 0 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 1 daily or weekly wages married 12 shillings foremen or gangers 18 shillings total annual wages £234 hackney married men 12 single men 4 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 4 daily or weekly wages married 12 shillings single 10 shillings foremen or gangers 18 shillings number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 6 £665 12 shillings married men 8 single men 5 superintendents 1 foremen or gangers 2 daily or weekly wages married 12 shillings single 10 shillings superintendents 20 shillings foremen or gangers 15 shillings number of hours per day 12 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £936 married men 20 single men 4 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 4 daily or weekly wages married 12 shillings single 12 shillings foremen or gangers 18 shillings number of hours per day 12 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £93 married men 10 single men 0 superintendents 2 foremen or gangers 0 daily or weekly wages married 12 shillings foremen or gangers 18 shillings number of hours per day 12 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £93 12 shillings married men 6 single men 2 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 1 daily or weekly wages married 11 shillings single 11 shillings foremen or gangers 15 shillings number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £267 £16 married men 2 single men 5 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 1 daily or weekly wages married 11 shillings single 11 shillings foremen or gangers 13 shillings number of hours per day 12 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £234 married men 6 single men 0 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 1 daily or weekly wages married 10 shillings foremen or gangers 12 shillings number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £187 £4 shillings second entry for St James's Westminster married men 6 single men 0 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 1 daily or weekly wages married 10 shillings foremen or gangers 12 shillings number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £187 £4 third entry for St James's Westminster married men 6 single men 0 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 1 daily or weekly wages married 9 shillings number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £166 £12 shillings St Andrew's Hoburn married men 10 single men 0 superintendents 1 foremen or gangers 1 daily or weekly wages married 9 shillings superintendents 15 shillings number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £304 £4 shillings Marleybone married men 80 single men 15 superintendents 1 foremen or gangers 10 daily or weekly wages married 9 shillings single 9 shillings superintendents 18 shillings foremen or gangers 16 shillings number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £2,685 £16 shillings St George's Hanover Square married men 30 single men 6 superintendents 1 foremen or gangers 4 daily or weekly wages married 9 shillings a week single 9 shillings a week superintendents 20 shillings foremen or gangers 16 shillings number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £1060 £16 shillings liberty of the roles married men 1 single men 0 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 0 daily or weekly wages married 7 shillings 6 pence number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £19 10 shillings Bermondsy married men 13 single men 1 superintendents 1 foremen or gangers 0 daily or weekly wages married 1 shilling 4 pence per day single 1 shilling 4 pence per day superintendents 28 shillings and clothing number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 5 married men 21 pence 3 shillings and 4 pence paid in money by highway boards married men 5 single men 0 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 0 daily or weekly wages married 15 shillings number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £195 £195 married men 7 single men 1 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 1 daily or weekly wages married 15 shillings single 15 shillings foremen or gangers 18 shillings number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £405 commercial road east married men 4 superintendents 1 foremen or gangers 0 daily or weekly wages married 15 shillings single 15 shillings superintendents 100 pence a year number of hours per day 12 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £295 hamsted married men 4 single men 0 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 1 daily or weekly wages married men 15 shillings foremen or gangers 18 shillings number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £202 10 shillings high gate married men 3 single men 2 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 1 daily or weekly wages married men 14 shillings number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £228 £16 shillings Kensington married men 6 single men 1 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 1 daily or weekly wages married 12 shillings single 12 shillings foremen or gangers 18 shillings number of hours per day 12 days in the week 6 total annual wages £265 £4 Louisham married men 4 single men 0 foremen or gangers 1 daily or weekly wages married 12 shillings foremen or gangers 18 shillings number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £171 £12 Camberwell married men 10 single men 0 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 1 daily or weekly wages married 12 shillings foremen or gangers 18 shillings number of hours per day 12 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £358 £16 Christchurch Lambeth married men 6 single men 0 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 1 daily or weekly wages married 12 shillings foremen or gangers 15 shillings number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £226 £4 Woolwich married men 5 single men 0 superintendents 0 married 12 shillings foremen or gangers 18 shillings number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £202 £16 Detford married men 4 single 0 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 1 daily or weekly wages married 9 shillings foremen or gangers 18 shillings number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 3 total annual wages £140 8 shillings paid partly in kind St Luke's Chelsea married men 27 single men 9 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 3 daily or weekly wages married 7 shillings and on an average 3 loaves each at Fortpence aloof single 7 shillings foremen or gangers 14 shillings number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £834 £12 hands town Chelsea married men 6 single men 0 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 1 daily or weekly wages married 7 shillings and on an average 3 loaves per head foremen or gangers 14 shillings number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 6 total annual wages £161 for shillings St James's Clarkinwell married men 6 single 0 superintendents 0 foremen or gangers 0 daily or weekly wages married 1 shilling 1 pins hipney a day and 1 quarter loaf number of hours per day 10 number of days in the week 3 total annual wages £70 for shillings paid wholly in kind St Pancras highways married men 10 single 0 superintendents 1 foremen or gangers 0 daily or weekly wages married estimated expense of food 2 shillings 4 pins weekly superintendents 21 shillings and food number of hours per day 8 total annual wages £128 5 shillings 4 pins total number of married men employed 400 total number of single men employed 66 total number of superintendents employed 8 total number of foremen or gangers employed 62 total annual wages £15,919 8 shillings and 8 pins end of section 47