Chapter 59 of 137 · 3992 words · ~20 min read

Part 59

The difference as to the class employments of the general body of public cleansers--the dustmen, street-sweepers, nightmen, and rubbish-carters--seems to be this:--any nightman will work as a dustman or scavager; but it is not all the dustmen and scavagers who will work as nightmen. The reason is almost obvious. The avocations of the dustman and the nightman are in some degree hereditary. A rude man provides for the future maintenance of his sons in the way which is most patent to his notice; he makes the boy share in his own labour, and grow up unfit for anything else.

The regular working scavagers are then generally a distinct class from the working dustmen, and are all paid by the week, while the dustmen are paid by the load. In very wet weather, when there is a great quantity of “slop” in the streets, a dustman is often called upon to lend a helping hand, and sometimes when a working scavager is out of employ, in order to keep himself from want, he goes to a “job of dust work,” but seldom from any other cause.

In a parish where there is a crowded population, the dustman’s labours consume, on an average, from six to eight hours a day. In scavagery, the average hours of daily work are twelve (Sundays of course excepted), but they sometimes extended to fifteen, and even sixteen hours, in places of great business traffic; while in very fine dry weather, the twelve hours may be abridged by two, three, four, or even more. Thus it is manifest that the consumption of time alone prevents the same working men being simultaneously dustmen and scavagers. In the more remote and quiet parishes, however, and under the management of the smaller contractors, the opposite arrangement frequently exists; the operative is a scavager one day, and a dustman the next. This is not the case in the busier districts, and with the large contractors, unless exceptionally, or on an emergency.

If the scavagers or dustmen have completed their street and house labours in a shorter time than usual, there is generally some sort of employment for them in the yards or wharfs of the contractors, or they may sometimes avail themselves of their leisure to enjoy themselves in their own way. In many parts, indeed, as I have shown, the street-sweeping must be finished by noon, or earlier.

Concerning the _division of labour_, it may be said, that the principle of complex co-operation in the scavaging trade exists only in its rudest form, for the characteristics distinguishing the labour of the working scavagers are far from being of that complicated nature common to many other callings.

As regards the act of sweeping or scraping the streets, the labour is performed by the _gangsman_ and his _gang_. The gangsman usually loads the cart, and occasionally, when a number are employed in a district, acts as a foreman by superintending them, and giving directions; he is a working scavager, but has the office of overlooker confided to him, and receives a higher amount of wage than the others.

For the completion of the street-work there are the _one-horse carmen_ and the _two-horse carmen_, who are also working scavagers, and so called from their having to load the carts drawn by one or two horses. These are the men who shovel into the cart the dirt swept or scraped to one side of the public way by the gang (some of it mere slop), and then drive the cart to its destination, which is generally their master’s yard. Thus far only does the street-labour extend. The carmen have the care of the vehicles in cleaning them, greasing the wheels, and such like, but the horses are usually groomed by stablemen, who are not employed in the streets.

The division of labour, then, among the working scavagers, may be said to be as follows:--

1st. The _ganger_, whose office it is to superintend the gang, and shovel the dirt into the cart.

2nd. The gang, which consists of from three to ten or twelve men, who sweep in a row and collect the dirt in heaps ready for the ganger to shovel into the cart.

3rd. The carman (one-horse or two-horse, as the case may be), who attends to the horse and cart, brushes the dirt into the ganger’s shovel, and assists the ganger in wet sloppy weather in carting the dirt, and then takes the mud to the place where it is deposited.

There is only one _mode of payment_ for the above labours pursued among the master scavagers, and that is by the week.

1st. The ganger receives a weekly salary of 18_s._ when working for an “honourable” master; with a “scurf,” however, the ganger’s pay is but 16_s._ a week.

2nd. The gang receive in a large establishment each 16_s._ per week, but in a small one they usually get from 14_s._ to 15_s._ a week. When working for a small master they have often, by working over hours, to “make eight days to the week instead of six.”

3rd. The one-horse carman receives 16_s._ a week in a large, and 15_s._ in a small establishment.

4th. The two-horse carman receives 18_s._ weekly, but is employed only by the larger masters.

On the opposite page I give a table on this point.

Some of these men are paid by the day, some by the week, and some on Wednesdays and Saturdays, perhaps in about equal proportions, the “casuals” being mostly paid by the day, and the regular hands (with some exceptions among the scurfs) once or twice a week. The chance hands are sometimes engaged for a half day, and, as I was told, “jump at a bob and a joey (1_s._ 4_d._), or at a bob.” I heard of one contractor who not unfrequently said to any foreman or gangsman who mentioned to him the applications for work, “O, give the poor devils a turn, if it’s only for a day now and then.”

_Piece-work_, or, as the scavagers call it, “by the load,” _did_ at one time prevail, but not to any great extent. The prices varied, according to the nature and the state of the road, from 2_s._ to 2_s._ 6_d._ the load. The system of piece-work was never liked by the men; it seems to have been resorted to less as a system, or mode of labour, than to insure assiduity on the part of the working scavagers, when a rapid street-cleansing was desirable. It was rather in the favour of the working man’s _individual_ emoluments than otherwise, as may be shown in the following way. In Battle-bridge, four men collect five loads in dry, and six men seven loads in wet weather. If the average piece hire be 2_s._ 3_d._ a load, it is 2_s._ 9-3/4_d._ for each of the five men’s day’s work; if 2_s._ 2_d._ a load, it is 2_s._ 8-1/2_d._ (the regular wage, and an extra halfpenny); if 2_s._, it is 2_s._ 6_d._; and if less (which has been paid), the day’s wage is not lower than 2_s._ At the lowest rates, however, the men, I was informed, could not be induced to take the necessary pains, as they _would_ struggle to “make up half-a-crown;” while, if the streets were scavaged in a slovenly manner, the contractor was sure to hear from his friends of the parish that he was not acting up to his contract. I could not hear of any men now set to piece-work within the precincts of the places specified in the table. This extra work and scamping work are the two great evils of the piece system.

In their payments to their men the contractors show a superiority to the practices of some traders, and even of some dock-companies--the men are never paid at public-houses; the payment, moreover, is always in money. One contractor told me that he would like all his men to be teetotallers, if he could get them, though he was not one himself.

But these remarks refer only to the _nominal_ wages of the scavagers; and I find the nominal wages of operatives in many cases are widely different (either from some additions by way of perquisites, &c., or deductions by way of fines, &c., but oftener the latter) from the _actual_ wages received by them. Again, the average wages, or gross yearly income of the casually-employed men, are very different from those of the constant hands; so are the gains of a particular individual often no criterion of the general or average earnings of the trade. Indeed I find that the several varieties of wages may be classified as follows:--

1. _Nominal Wages._--Those said to be paid in a trade.

2. _Actual Wages._--Those _really_ received, and which are equal to the nominal wages, _plus_ the additions to, or _minus_ the deductions from, them.

3. _Casual Wages._--The earnings of the men who are only occasionally employed.

4. _Average Casual or Constant Wages._--Those obtained throughout the year by such as are either occasionally or regularly employed.

5. _Individual Wages._--Those of particular hands, whether belonging to the scurf or honourable trade, whether working long or short hours, whether partially or fully employed, and the like.

6. _General Wages._--Or the _average_ wages of the whole trade, constant or casual, fully or partially employed, honourable or scurf, long and short hour men, &c., &c., all lumped together and the mean taken of the whole.

Now in the preceding account of the working scavagers’ mode and rate of payment I have spoken only of the nominal wages; and in order to arrive at their actual wages we must, as we have seen, ascertain what additions and what deductions are generally made to and from this amount. The deductions in the honourable trade are, as usual, inconsiderable.

TABLE SHOWING THE DIVISION OF LABOUR, MODE AND RATES OF PAYMENT, NATURE OF WORK PERFORMED, TIME UNEMPLOYED, AND AVERAGE EARNINGS OF THE OPERATIVE SCAVAGERS OF LONDON.

-------------------------+------------+-------------------------+----------------------------------------------+ | Mode of | Rates of | | OPERATIVE SCAVAGERS. | Payment. | Payment. | Nature of Work performed. | -------------------------+------------+-------------------------+----------------------------------------------+ | | | | I. _Manual Labourers._ | | | | A. Better Paid. | | | | Ganger |By the day. |18_s._ weekly, and 2_s._ | To load the cart and superintend the men. | | | allowance. | | Carman (2 horse) | „ „ |18_s._ weekly, and 2_s._ | To take care of the horses, help to load the | | | allowance. | cart, and take the dirt and slop to the | | | | dust-yard. | Ditto (1 horse) | „ „ |16_s._ weekly, and 2_s._ | Ditto. ditto. ditto. | | | allowance. | | Sweepers | „ „ |16_s._ weekly, and 2_s._ | To sweep the district to which they are sent,| | | allowance. | and collect the dirt or slop ready for | | | | carting away. | B. Worse Paid. | | | | Ganger | „ „ |16_s._ weekly, and 1_s._ | To load the cart and superintend the men. | | | allowance. | | Carman | „ „ |15_s._ weekly, and 1_s._ | To take charge of the horse and cart, help | | | allowance. | to load the cart, and take the dirt or slop| | | | to the dust-yard. | Sweepers | „ „ |15_s._ weekly, and 1_s._ | To sweep the district, collect the dirt or | | | allowance. | slop ready for carting off, work in the | | | | yard, and load the barge. | | | | | II. _Machine Men._ | | | | Carman | „ „ |16_s._ weekly. | To take charge of the horse and machine, | | | | collect the dirt and take it to the yard. | Sweepers | „ „ |16_s._ weekly. | To sweep where the machine cannot touch, | | | | work in the yard, and load the barges. | | | | | III. _Parish Men._ | | | | A. Out-door Paupers. | | | | 1. Paid in Money. | | | | Married men | „ „ |9_s._ weekly. | Sweep the streets and courts belonging to | | | | the parish, and collect the dirt or slop | | | | ready for carting away. | Single men | „ „ |6_s._ weekly. | Ditto. ditto. ditto. | 2. Paid part in kind. | | | | Married men | „ „ |6_s._ 9_d._ weekly, and | Ditto. ditto. ditto. | | | 3 quartern loaves. | | Single men | „ „ |5_s._ and 3 half-quartern| Ditto. ditto. ditto. | | | loaves. | | B. In-door Paupers |All in kind.|Food, lodging, and | Ditto. ditto. ditto. | | | clothes. | | | | | | IV. _Street-Orderlies._ | | | | Foreman or Ganger |By the day. |15_s._ weekly. | Superintend the men and see that their work | | | | is done well. | Sweepers | „ „ |12_s._ weekly. | Collect the dirt or slop ready for carting | | | | away. | Barrow men | „ „ | | Collect the short dung as it gathers in the | | | | district to which they are appointed. | Barrow boys | „ „ | | Ditto. ditto. ditto. |

All the _tools_ used by operative scavagers are supplied to them by their employers--the tools being only brooms and shovels; and for this supply there are _no stoppages_ to cover the expense.

Neither by _fines_ nor by way of _security_ are the men’s wages reduced.

The _truck system_, moreover, is unknown, and has never prevailed in the trade. I heard of only one instance of an approach to it. A yard foreman, some years ago, who had a great deal of influence with his employer, had a chandler’s-shop, managed by his wife, and it was broadly intimated to the men that they must make their purchases there. Complaints, however, were made to the contractor, and the foreman dismissed. One man of whom I inquired did not even know what the “truck system” meant; and when informed, thought they were “pretty safe” from it, as the contractor had nothing which he _could_ truck with the men, and if “he polls us hisself,” the man said, “he’s not likely to let anybody else do it.”

There are, moreover, no trade-payments to which the men are subjected; there are no trade-societies among the working men, no benefit nor sick clubs; neither do parochial relief and family labour characterize the regular hands in the honourable trade, although in sickness they may have no other resource.

Indeed, the working scavagers employed by the more honourable portion of the trade, instead of having any deductions made from their nominal wages, have rather additions to them in the form of perquisites coming from the public. These perquisites consist of allowances of beer-money, obtained in the same manner as the dustmen--not through the medium of their employers (though, to say the least, through their sufferance), but from the householders of the parish in which their labours are prosecuted.

The scavagers, it seems, are not required to sweep any places considered “private,” nor even to sweep the public foot-paths; and when they _do_ sweep or carry away the refuse of a butcher’s premises, for instance--for, by law, the butcher is required to do so himself--they receive a gratuity. In the contract entered into by the city scavagers, it is expressly covenanted that no men employed shall accept gratuities from the householders; a condition little or not at all regarded, though I am told that these gratuities become less every year. I am informed also by an experienced butcher, who had at one time a private slaughter-house in the Borough, that, until within these six or seven years, he thought the scavagers, and even the dustmen, would carry away entrails, &c., in the carts, from the butcher’s and the knacker’s premises, for an allowance.

I cannot learn that the contractors, whether of the honourable or scurf trade, take any advantage of these “allowances.” A working scavager receives the same wage, when he enjoys what I heard called in another trade “the height of perquisites,” or is employed in a locality where there are no such additions to his wages. I believe, however, that the contracting scavagers let their best and steadiest hands have the best perquisited work.

These perquisites, I am assured, average from 1_s._ to 2_s._ a week, but one butcher told me he thought 1_s._ 6_d._ might be rather too high an average, for a pint of beer (2_d._) was the customary sum given, and that was, or ought to be, divided among the gang. “In my opinion,” he said, “there’ll be no allowances in a year or two.” By the amount of these perquisites, then, the scavagers’ gains are so far enhanced.

The wages, therefore, of an operative scavager in full employ, and working for the “honourable” portion of the trade, may be thus expressed:--

_Nominal_ weekly wages 16_s._

Perquisites in the form of allowances for beer from the public 2_s._ ------ _Actual_ weekly wages 18_s._

OF THE “CASUAL HANDS” AMONG THE SCAVAGERS.

Of the scavagers proper there are, as in all classes of unskilled labour, that is to say, of labour which requires no previous apprenticeship, and to which any one can “turn his hand” on an emergency, two distinct orders of workmen, “the _regulars_ and _casuals_” to adopt the trade terms; that is to say, the labourers consist of those who have been many years at the trade, constantly employed at it, and those who have but recently taken to it as a means of obtaining a subsistence after their ordinary resources have failed. This mixture of _constant_ and _casual_ hands is, moreover, a necessary consequence of all trades which depend upon the seasons, and in which an additional number of labourers are required at different periods. Such is necessarily the case with dock labour, where an easterly wind prevailing for several days deprives _thousands of work_, and where the change from a foul to a fair wind causes an equally inordinate demand for workmen. The same temporary increase of employment takes place in the agricultural districts at harvesting time, and the same among the hop growers in the picking season; and it will be hereafter seen that there are the same labour fluctuations in the scavaging trade, a greater or lesser number of hands being required, of course, according as the season is wet or dry.

This occasional increase of employment, though a benefit in some few cases (as enabling a man suddenly deprived of his ordinary means of living to obtain “a job of work” until he can “turn himself round”), is generally a most alarming evil in a State. What are the casual hands to do when the extra employment ceases? Those who have paid attention to the subject of dock labour and the subject of casual labour in general, may form some notion of the vast mass of misery that must be generally existing in London. The subject of hop-picking again belongs to the same question. Here are thousands of the very poorest employed only for a few days in the year. What, the mind naturally asks, do they after their short term of honest independence has ceased? With dock labour the poor man’s bread depends upon the very winds; in scavaging and in street life generally it depends upon the rain; and in market-gardening, harvesting, hop-picking, and the like, it depends upon the sunshine. How many thousands in this huge metropolis have to look immediately to the very elements for their bread, it is overwhelming to contemplate; and yet, with all this fitfulness of employment we wonder that an extended knowledge of reading and writing does not produce a decrease of crime! We should, however, ask ourselves whether men can stay their hunger with alphabets or grow fat on spelling books; and wanting employment, and consequently food, and objecting to the _incarceration_ of the workhouse, can we be astonished--indeed is it not a natural law--that they should help themselves to the property of others?

* * * * *

Concerning the “regular hands” of the contracting scavagers, it may, perhaps, be reasonable to compute that little short of one-half of them have been “to the manner born.” The others are, as I have said, what these regular hands call “casuals,” or “casualties.” As an instance of the peculiar mixture of the regular and casual hands in the scavaging trade, I may state that one of my informants told me he had, at one period, under his immediate direction, fourteen men, of whom the former occupations had been as follows:--

7 Always Scavagers (or dustmen, and six of them nightmen when required). 1 Pot-boy at a public-house (but only as a boy). 1 Stable-man (also nightman). 1 Formerly a pugilist, then a showman’s assistant. 1 Navvy. 1 Ploughman (nightman occasionally). 2 Unknown, one of them saying, but gaining no belief, that he had once been a gentleman. -- 14

In my account of the street orderlies will be given an interesting and elaborate statement of the former avocations, the habits, expenditure, &c., of a body of street-sweepers, 67 in number. This table will be found very curious, as showing what classes of men have been _driven_ to street-sweeping, but it will not furnish a criterion of the character of the “regular hands” employed by the contractors.

The “casuals” or the “casualties” (always called among the men “cazzelties”), may be more properly described as men whose employment is accidental, chanceful, or uncertain. The regular hands of the scavagers are apt to designate any new comer, even for a permanence, any sweeper not reared to or versed in the business, a casual (“cazzel”). I shall, however, here deal with the “casual hands,” not only as hands newly introduced into the trade, but as men of chanceful and irregular employment.

These persons are now, I understand, numerous in all branches of unskilled labour, willing to undertake or attempt any kind of work, but perhaps there is a greater tendency on the part of the surplus unskilled to turn to scavaging, from the fact that any broken-down man seems to account himself competent to sweep the streets.

To ascertain the number of these casual or outside labourers in the scavaging trade is difficult, for, as I have said, they are willing in their need to attempt any kind of work, and so may be “casuals” in divers departments of unskilled labour.