The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-09-13 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We decline reluctantly to insert the letter of " Vetitas,"
but our columns do not afford the fittest medium for
giving publicity to his query.
We have lately received communications from several cor-
respondents on the subject of the desecration of the
Sabbath by the crowds of persons who frequent the post-
office for the purpose of receiving the Sunday newspapers
brought by the London mail, but none of the parties
suggest any remedy for the evil, which we admit to be a
Crying one, and which we would do all in our power to
remove.

(M)t Ltherpoat ivtanbatt.

TUESDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 13, 1842

When the committee was nominated, on the motion
of Mr. Ferrand, to' inquire into the existence of the
truck system in the manufacturing districts, loud was
the howl of anger, loud the protestations of innocence,
from members of the millocracy, great and small.
Such an evil, as the payment of wages in other than
the current coin of the realm, was, we were told, a
mere creation of the teeming imagination of " Tory-
Chartists." The committee might meet and summon
before it evidence; but, except a few isolated cases,
ferreted out for the occasion, it would have nothing to
report unon ; and it would prove only the absolute
purity of our manufacturing system., from such a
blot as had been attempted to be fastened upon its
character.

We have at length before us a portion of the evidence
taken before the committee in question ; and we shall
be able to prove, from that evidence, not only the ex-
istence of the truck system in a few isolated places,
but its prevalence throughout a large proportion of the
manufacturing districts. We never contended, and
no man ever believed, that a practice so dishonest and
so tyrannical could exist in our larger manufacturing
towns ;—that it could exist, except in a modified and
mitigated form, in the great seats of manufacturing
industry—in Manchester, in Leeds, in Stockport, apd
similar densely populated places. But of its existence
in the villages of Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, and
other northern counties, we never had a doubt ; and
difficult as must always be the task of proving the
existence of a practice carried on in violation of law—

Carried on with studied precaution against exposure,
and where the. witness incurs the risk of proscription
and ruin for having given his testimony—we contend
that, by the evidence before us, all that we have ever
urged upon this subject is abundantly proved.

We purpose, here, bringing portions of this evidence
before our readers ; and first let us take the evidence
of Mr. Squire Autey, a hosier, residing in Bedford,
Yorkshire, who is examined as to the condition of the
working classes in that town and neighbourhood. Mr.
Autey is asked :

3. Have you any acquaintance with the system corn-
-1"nlY called the truck system ?—I have.
" 4. Does it exist to any extent in Bradford and the
Ileigbourhood ?—Yes, it does.
5. How are the wages in that district chiefly paid?—
Part in shop goods or eatables, such as flour, meal, malt,
cheese, bacon ; and partly in goods for wearing apparel.
" 6. In some instances are they paid in worsted stuffs?—
Yes, in some instances.

" 7• Have you reason to think that that gives any profit
over the retail dealer?—l believe it does in some cases, and
In some cases to a considerable extent.

" 8. Have you any samples of the worsted stuffs in which
the wages are paid ?—I have (the witness producel two
samples of worsted stuff); these have both been paid in the
manner I speak of.
" 9. Take the first sample you have got in your hand ;
what price has been paid for that ?—This has been charged
to the man who wrought for it by combing 11d. per yard.
" 10. What is your estimate of the real value of it ?--It is
not Worth above 6d., and the article is not saleable at all at
Present. (!)

11. Have you any other -sample ?—I have a sample of
Cloth I have taken of the person who has had to take it to
get into the master's books ; I cannot give up the man's
/lame in consequence of there being no protection. I can
give the master's name.

" 12. What was the charge upon that ?-2s. a yard.
" 13. What do you consider the real value of it ?—I do
not profess to be a judge of the article, and I cannot speak
to the value.

" 14. Is it worth 2s. per yard ?—lf it is bought in a linen-
draper's shop, it may be charged 25., but when a poor man
has to hawk it about among neighbours, it is quite a different
thing ; he has to get up a sum according to the price be has
paid for it.

" 15. When wages are paid in groceries, what is the cha-
racter of the groceries ?—ln the instances that have come
under my notice they are charged ss. in the pound above the
real value more than they can be purchased for in the mar-
ket.

" 16. You mean to say that the workpeople would be losers
to the extent of 25 per cent. ?—Yes."

We have here, then, the fact established that, in the
large town of Bradford, not only are wages paid in
provisions, too dear by 25 per cent., but that even the
unsaleable goods of the manufacturer are forced upon
him to be hawked about for sale at a ruinous sacrifice ?
Surely this is robbery and tyranny of the blackest die!
But let us proceed to shew the mode in which the
present law against truck practices is evaded, as appears
from the following answers •

" 17. How are the wages to the workpeople ?—For in-
stance, the comber or the weaver takes home the work, which
amounts to so much, 155., or 165., or 18s. ; after that they
have a ticket given to the shop of the master himself, and
they have to take out goods to the amount of the ticket.

" 18. When you say the ' shop of the master himself.' do
You mean a shop kept by the master for his own profit ?
Yes.

4' 19. Do the workpeople make any objection to take those
tickets ?--They complain very much ; they say they cannot
get money of the current coin of the realm to pay rates, or
taxes, or rent, without some of their family Work where
they are paid in the current coin of the realm.
" 20. What answer do they get from the overlooker on
making those complaints I—The overlookers are in many
eases the transactors of the business ; they do not say direct-
sly, If you do not take the goods you will lose your work,'
but it is the understanding that they will do so ; for instance,
the overlooker says to the man, ' It will be better for you,'
and the workman knows if he does not take it that he will
lose his work.
" 21. He knows the meaning of the reply ?—Yes.
" 22. Was that answer ever given, to your knowledge, by
any overlooker ?—lt has been given to the one belonging to
the cloth which I produce. This person was compelled to
take a piece, measuring 28 yards, not dyed, but in the raw
state ; that poor person had to take those 28 yards, and 50
cornbers at the same time had to take the same quantity. It
was some time prior to last Christmas. and I believe only
last week he got it finished in a dyed state ; and he declared
to me at the time he took the goods, himself and his family
were at the time starving and pining.

"25. At the time these goods were given to the men, it was
not a saleable article ?—No, it is not a saleable article."
Further on the witness states, that the men are
Obliged to go hawking these articles from shop to shop,
the consequence of which is, that they are frequently
fined for hawking without a license. 25 per cent. is
stated to be the profit regularly made by the nzasterfrom
the " truck." Mr. Autey is asked—
" 54. What profit do you suppose they make upon those
goods ?-ss. in the pound is the regular thing, I hear ; I
have instances to prove it.

" 55. Mr. Villiers.---You stated that upon general report ?
Not upon general report.

" 56. Chairman.—You say that the general report is, that
the difference is 25 per cent. ?—Yes.
" 57. Have you any instances to prove it ?—Yes ; I will
give you the instance of a person living three miles from
Shipley, at Idle; a person informed me the kind of goods
they purchase from the shop of Mr. Denby : she can pur-
chase goods at Idle at ss. in the pound less than she can at
the shop. When she has to take them out for work, she
says 4d. to 6d. per stone upon
,}lour, Id. per lb. upon sugar,
2d. Per lb. upon tea and oatmeal; cheese, bacon, and other
articles in the same ratio."

The effect of the system upon the working man is
described, by the same witness, in the following

answer :

'.
71. What is your observation of the effect produced upon
the
Working classes by the payment in goods instead of in
tooney ?-.-The working classes, who are the victims of it,
grumble very much ; they declare that they cannot pay either
besides
or rates, and that they cannot get clothes to wear,
"sides having to pay so much more for their goods than they
would pay if they had the money to spend in the market."

Need we wonder at the spread of Chartism amongst
a NPulation so oppressed, or that anarchy and outrage
would be gladly welcomed by them if it only promised
ie smallest prospect of a change in their condition ?
uThe following answers spew that the practice is not
confined to small manufacturers—that rich firms arc
engaged in it. The witness is asked-
-80. Do the large and rich manufacturers in the town of
::dford or the neighbourhood practise the system ?—There
&Gaze large firms, and I should suppose rick firms, that