The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-19 00:00:00

THE BUTTY SYSTEM.

In the course of the strike last autumn, which
lasted about fifteen weeks, the complaints against
the " butty " system were renewed by the men,
and the continuance 'of that system was urged
as the most prominent among their grievances.
The " butty is a contractor, or middleman,
between the master and the men. He has under
him an agent, the " doggy," who superintends
the work in the butty's absence. It is a complaint
of long standing that the contractors and under-
agents take advantage of the men in various ways ;
by stopping money from their wages, which they
are obliged to spend in drink ; by making them
work until two o'clock for half a day, or until half-
past ten or eleven for a quarter-day ;by measur-
ing four yards for three and a half in estimating
the amount of work done; by sending drink to the
pits in the middle of the week, and making the men
pay for it, whether they want it or not; by paying
the men late on Saturday night, and keeping them
waiting in or about the public-houses in which the
butties are interested, in order that they may spend
money in drink ; by unskilful and improper
management of the pits, "to save money and
time," whereby their health is injured and their
lives endangered. These and other complaints
against the butty system were urged at
♦arious meetings, attended by from 1,200 to
3,000 and 4,000 of the men (as the one at West
Bromwich, on the 17th of August, 1858), where
they were all enumerated; and it was added by one
of the speakers, " the man must pay whether he has
the drink or not, and if the man does not drink
there is little or no work ;" meaning that those who
do not drink are soon got rid of.
Complaints of this nature have been attracting
public attention in South Staffordshire for many
years. About '2O years ago, as lam informed by
Mr. Phillip Williams, the chairman of the Iron
Masters' Association, than whom no other is better
acquainted with everything that concerns the dis-
trict, a county meeting was called, and was pre-
sided over by the then lord-lieutenant of the county,
Earl Talbot, to take this alleged " grievance"
in to consideration. The meeting was attended by
forty magistrates. Mr. Philip Williams, on being
called upon, gave such explanations relating to
it that the meeting abstained from further inter-
ference. In 1843, Mr. Tancred was instructed by
the Secretary of State to inquire into all matters
affecting the social condition of the mining popula-
tion of this county, and in his report dwelt much
upon this question. In my report of the year fol-
lowing, to the Secretary of State, upon the same
subject, and in my reports for 1847 and 1850, I
directed attention to the fact that complaints
arising from this source still existed, although ap-
parently to a less extent than formerly, and I stated
the various disadvantages, social as well as econo-
mical, which many enlightened persons in the dis-
trict believed they could trace directly to this sys-
tem of employment.

As the question has again been raised, I deemed
it my duty again to investigate it, and I have re-
cently discussed it with a considerable number of
gentlemen representing large firms in Staffordshire
and Worcestershire, employing mining labour, and
whose position and experience entitle their opinions
to the most respectful consideration.
The question is much narrowed by one or two
preliminary considerations. First, the two counties,
as regards the raising of coal, are separated into
two great districts, the thick and the thin coal
district.

In the former the pits are for the most part ex.
tensive, and the number of men in each is consider
able.

In this district it is more easy to do away with
the butty system, and adopt that by which the
colliers are in the direct employ of the master.
Accordingly, in this district several of the principal
employers have for some years past worked many
of their own pits, under the superintendence of
their own agents, with results satisfactory both to
themselves and their men.

In the latter, the thin coal district, the pits being
for the most part small, containing only from 10 to
20 or 30 men, it is alleged to be more difficult to
dispense with the system of letting the pits to con-
tractors (butties) ; and it is asserted with, I believe,
perfect truth, that the butty system is not neces-
sarily attended with the evils that have been
specified at the meetings above adverted to.
Indeed, the character of all the principal per-
sons in the coal and iron trades in the whole
of this important district, and that of the great
majority of the small masters, stands far too high
to permit a doubt that if those evils could be sub-
stantiated as existing in their works the contrac-
tors would be immediately dismissed, or efficient
means taken to remove any such causes of com-
plaint. In point of fact, many of the masters have
again recently assured me that the men in the em-
ploy of their contractors make no complaints, and
that they are perfectly aware that the master is at
all times ready to listen to, and take immediate
steps to redress, any complaint relating to any form
of oppression that might be attempte 'l.
But, although the question is narrowed by the
above considerations, there is no doubt that in many
instances the complaints above mentioned are well
founded.

To appreciate the causes which lie at the
bottom of the system which has become so rooted in
the habits of these two counties, it is necessary
briefly to pass in review certain facts, which
cannot but have exercised a great influence upon
their social condition.

The great development of industry in this part
of the country is shown by the statement given on
undoubted authority at page 26 of my report for
1849, namely, that in 1806 the number of iron fur-
naces in Staffordshire was 42, and the annual make
of iron 50,000 tons, while in 1848 the number of
furnaces had increased to 151, and the make of iron
to 385,840 tons. The number last year is given
• as 183 furnaces, and the produce, on a moderate
estimate, 616,400 tons.
It will readily be understood how great has been
the simultaneous increase in the mining population
of the district, rendered necessary by this vast in-
crease in the iron trade, and by that of all the other
numerous branches of industry which have spread
themselves over many square miles of country, from
Birmingham to Wolverhampton in one direction,
and from Walsall to Stourbridge in the other.
Among the firms which supply the vast consump-
tion of coal required for these branches of indus-
try and for the population engaged in them, are
many old established ones, both in the coal and
iron trades, and also many new ones, who, as their
men are well aware, would not permit of any abuse
arising out of the butty system or any other to exist
a'day after they became aware of it, without the most
decided effort to put an end to it. But out of so
large a number of firms, many of them comparatively
new to the occupation, there will naturally be a cer-
tain proportion, happily, however, as I was assured
by a gentleman of very large experience in the dis-
trict, not employing more than one-third of the
whole number of colliers and miners in it, who are
from circumstances less able, or from other reasons
less disposed, to interfere with their butties, upon
whose knowledge of the business and on whose
capital they to a certain extent depend for a steady
supply of coal, &c., and whose acquaintance with
the habits of the men enables them to deal with
them better than they could themselves.
Ten years ago the number of butties in the district
was estimated at about 900. They are at present
more numerous. Under the kitties, in each pit, is
a man who superintends the work in his absence,
the local term for whom is a " doggy." Both
" butties" and " doggies" are selected from the
intelligent of the working colliers. The former,
Often
by superior skill and intelligence, realise in
the
_course of years considerable sums by their
various contracts, and some of them rise into the
class
in nison aattersh
...having pits of their own.
tafford'hhire, in the year 1850, as I
stated in ray:
for that year (page 33), on the
authority of one oft the principal mine agents, or
" underground bailiffs
of_ that county, of the then
estimated total numbs,
mine agents of the district
direction these butties were
(60) under whose genera
employed—" who have the a
'll:iervision of all the coal
and ironstone pits—who lay them
all out for work
for
and ventilation—who are expected to understand
all the details of the machinery, both
be
fiunzu,,mBzpe ing
and drawing, where shafts are to
there were some 14 or 15 unable to write, and„
ocneL-
tainly some of them unable to read, or were
so
a short time ago," and that out of the 60 the'rYe
might be 25 who were educated men," it may easily
be inferred what is the state of education among
the class of butties and their subordinates, and that
among so many who are in a low intellectual state
there must be many whose moral notions and whose
mode of governing their men, can scarcely fail to
lead to acts which the men feel to be unjustifiable,
harsh, and irritating.
That an industry employing such an amount of
capital as is engaged in the business of raisin g minerals
in this district should be under the practical man-
agement of two classes of men whose general grade
of intellectual cultivation is as above described, and
that it should flourish under it, cannot but be re-
garded as something extraordinary, and at the
nine time as affording a proof of the degree to which
sound common sense and acuteness may, under cer-

tain circumstances, supply the place of more regu-
larly acquired knowledge ; but that it should not
leave much to be desired—that much waste, many
losses, and many drawbacks, economical and social,
should not, in a vast number of instances, result
from such a system—will scarcely be disputed.
Accordingly several of the largest employers in
the district have from time to time during the
last twenty years endeavoured to substitute for
the butty system that of working their pits,
or some of them, under agents of their own,
the men being directly in their employ, and being
paid, not according to their day's work, but accord-
ing to what each man may choose to earn—the
mode of employing colliery labour most generally
prevalent in other districts.
In the thin coal nearly all these attempts on the
part of the employers failed. Those described to me
by the gentlemen who undertook them had evi-
dently been taken in hand with the best intentions,
and the most earnest desire for the sake of their own
pecuniary interests that they should succeed.
The reasons given to me by those gentlemen for
the failure were that they could not get the men to
do them justice. They found that the men would not
work with the same regularity- or steadiness, or do
the same amount of work that the butty, whose in-
terests are so directly involved, was able, by con-
stant vigilance, to induce them to do.

The ill success attending those attempts made by
gentlemen of high standing in the trade, at much
cost, and under circumstances rendering it very de-
sirable that they should succeed, has greatly tended
to strengthen the general opinion of the masters in
the iron and coal trade, that the butty system
is the one under which they can obtain their
coal at the cheapest rate ; a consideeation all the
more important in consequence of the increasing
competition to which Staffordshire has for many
years past been subjected.
Nevertheless a few, even in the thin coal part of
the district, did succeed, and have continued to work
their coal without butties until the present time.
Mr. D. G. Round, of Portland-house, Edgbaston,
a magistrate for the county, and a considerable em-
ployer of colliery labour, informed me that nearly 20
years ago he abandoned the butty system, and is so
satisfied with the results that he should never think
of returning to it. A few other gentlemen also in-
formed me that they had introduced the other plan
in some of their pits, and that they found it to their
advantage, the conditions of success apparently
being—First, a very intelligent, sufficiently in-
structed, and thoroughly trustworthy agent, under
whom to place the working of the pits; and,
secondly, a well-selected set of men.
It is obvious that those conditions could not, in
the present state of the district, be combined to an
extent to be capable of general application.
The difficulties, however, have not deterred other
gentlemen from turning their attention again to the
subject. Mr. James Bagnall mentioned to me that
he hoped soon to be able to make a trial with the
new system in one of his numerous pits, which
would be selected with reference to the facilities of
working it without the intervention of a contractor.
Mr. Thomas Bagnall, jun., also expressed his in-
tention of making a similar experiment. It is
much to be desired that the result should encourage
a further extension of the new system in their own
and other works.

But it does not follow that if the butty system
were generally abandoned•—which it could not be
until after many years, even if there was a general
wish among the masters to do so—the alleged social
disadvantages of the system, that of keeping the
men apart from the masters, and preventing that
knowledge of each other which so much tends to
harmonise society, would necessarily be replaced by
greater opportunities of intercourse, and the benefits
which flow from it. While it is alleged on the one
hand that the butty system is not inconsistent with
such mutual intercourse, and that, in fact, many
masters who employ butties enjoy the confidence of
their men, and are well known by and greatly
esteemed by them, and are always ready to attend
to any reasonable complaints, it is asserted, on the
other hand, that the new system would not neces-
sarily lead to any greater amount of mutual know-
ledge or personal intercourse. The most common
opportunities for both parties being brought to-
gether are the pay days; but where the pits are
scattered, or the number of men to be paid great,
the payment must be made at several places, to com-
paratively small numbers at each, in order that the
men may be detained as short a time as possible—
all being anxious to be paid at an early hour, in
order to have the rest of the afternoon for going to
market or for recreation. The master, it is said,
cannot always be present at more than one or two
of such places in the course of one pay day; and if
his habits and inclination dispose him to take a
personal interest in his men, he will find or make
opportunities of becoming personally acquainted
with them, and of making them understand him,
although not he himself but the butty is the em-
ployer; and that this has long been so in the in-
stance of many masters in the district is well
known, and at times, when a question of wages
arises between the butty and the men, the opinion
and advice of those masters have often been effec-
tual in preventing a strike or leaning to an amic-
able settlement.

The more it becomes the habit of the masters to
interest themselves in the welfare of the men, and
to show personal sympathy with them in the mat-
ters that most nearly affect them, the more they
will obtain their confidence, and the more will any
just ground of complaint, arising from the butty
system or any other source, be removed. But the
spread of improvement among the great body of
the men is quite as essential towards the introduc-
tion of a better state of things. It is asserted by
masters most desirous of promoting every good
work in therdistrict, that the number of men ad-
dicted to drinking habits, and who consequently
lend themselves willingly to the butty system which
ministers to those habits, prevents any decided
stand being ms de by the men themselves as a body
against it ; also that the insubordinate habits of a
large proportion of the men prevent their being
dealt with by the master directly, as effectually as
through the butty; and, consequently, that in a
great majority of cases the only mode of getting the
mineral economically worked is to give the butty a
direct interest in it.

Accordingly, to raise the general standard of
morals and intelligence in this district must long
remain the principal object to which the minds of
all within it who look beyond the material occupa-
tion °Mlle passing moment must be directed.
Out of the generally improved mass will arise in
greater numbers men less willing to lend themselves
to a demoralising system, and butties and sub-agents
more capable of being converted into trustworthy
and intelligent agents, who will, as some do now,
work the masters' pits more profitably than can be
done by the butty system. " I keep a debtor and
creditor account," said to me, one of the gentlemen
who have successfully introduced the new system
in the thin coal district, " with each pit. Each pit
is debited with its amount of capital and machinery,
horses, material, and wages. My ground bailiff
measures the work and it can be ascertained pretty
closely whether the time keeper (the doggy) is dis-
honest or not, i. e., whether he favours any of the
men, by marking them as having done seven days'
work instead of six, &c. I get the best and most
trustworthy timekeeper that I can, and check him
as well as I can. I find by the results, after many
years' experience, that I work the coal much cheaper
than I did when I employed butties. I get steady
men, men who work regularly six days a week ; I
lay out the pits for work more profitably. and get
the coal one-third quicker than under the old sys
tem, consequently there is a so much quicker return
on the capital. I paythe men, either themselves or
their wives, or a child for them, early in the after-
noon, about one o'clock, so that the wife can go to
market early. The men can then talk over with
me anything that relates to their work in the pits,
and discuss the question of wages, when times
arrive which require a change. 1 find them very
reasonable, and much less inclined to join strikes,
or to listen to those wbo propose them, and on the
whole much better satisfied.

" I don't deny that there are many respectable
butties, and many masters who never allow their
butties to have anything to do with public-houses,
and who do their best to prevent the abuses of
which the men complain, and there are many but-
ties who, in consequence of the master knowing his
business, only obtain a reasonable profit from their
contracts, such as they have a right to from the
amount of capital they employ (often considerable
in horses and stores), and as a remuneration for
their services.

" As regards this point the matter stands thus :
A respectable betty ought to reckon to make as a
remuneration for his services at least £lOO, a year.
But you could not give a ground bailiff less than
£2 a week, so that, as regards salary, there is no
material difference in paying a butty through his
contract or an agent by his salary. And as to re-
turn on the butty's capital, it is a much wholesomer
state of things that the master should find the
whole of the capital employed to work the pits,
than that a part of it should be furnished by the
butty,p
le
Inu point of fact, many butties make from
£2OO to
partially_ work
upwards of £4OO a year by their contracts,
and it has
nth known that they frequently only
ployer knowing
thee
apit, in order to prevent the em-
amount of their profits."
But a large number
butties either keep or are
interested in public-houses;
pmayienwgheree and although many
th mneen not actually in a
and to
public-house,
evadeubijc-thhoeu actsebbuyt
drink
te men are ex-
do not attend their quantity i
men
fond
otshfyestreecognised
qpuecatnetdityt,oangdo i
f theme,
any
drink have,s
drunk by the rest. The
therefore, no objection to the butts
when the pay hour is late in the day, .m. Also
Anct when the

pit stops from any cause during the week, the butty
knows that many of the men will go to the public-
house. The profits arising to the butty from this
source enable him to take a contract to work a pit
at a lower rate. Nevertheless, considering the idle-
ness and demoralisation to which the butty sys-
tem contributes, it is the opinion of many persons
that the masters lose by it in the main. As to its
being necessary to get change to pay the men
through the public-houses, it is an argument of no
force. It is perfectly easy for the master to obtain all
the change necessary to pay any number of men, if
he desire's to do so, from his banker. Many publicans
and retail tradesmen are also glad to hand over
their superfluous change, as it accumulates, to a
neighbouring large employer. To send the men to
the public-house, in order to remunerate the publi-
can for giving to the butty gold and silver which
he would under ordinary circumstances send to a
bank, is superfluous, and an encouragement to drink-
ing habits as well.
But although a few masters may have been, and
a few others may be, successful in doing away with
the butty system, it does not follow that under pre-
sent circumstances many could. If done at all, it
must be a work of time.