Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-06-22
work tn she London Docks.

SHumoeIe J0urn2l.I
In the metropolis there is always
to be found vast amount of ella
Dor unattached" recruited from
men in nearly every rank of life.
10 form an idea of the surplusage
in the labor market, advertise for a
eight porter" and you will have
at least two hundred applications
before eleven o'clock the next day.
If you desire clerk at a salary of,
say twenty shillings a week, half a
thousand eager candidates will ap-
ply for the vacancy. While, if YOU
have anything Of a superior sort to
offer, such as the secretaryship of a
charitable institution or hospital,
suitable to the talents of retired
military officers and others, prob
ably a thousand competitors will
offer themselves to your discrimina.
ton. Of course many people will
be surprised that such numbers
should prefer livingin Semi.idleness,
hunting after any opportunity that
offers, rather than exert themselves
to obtain employment in less crowd
ed localities; but then in London
there is the great magnet of the
"lucky chance" constantly before
their eyes. If one obtains situa-
ton at .el week, there are con-
stantly opportunities of bettering
ones self, especially in large firms,
who carefully select and promote
their men according to capability
and merit.
Then, again, a man may be starv-
ing in garret, poorly dressed, ex.-
listing somehow by borrowing a
shilling or two occasionally when
you meet him in the street; butin a
month or two may be in good posi-
ton in an insurance campany or an
actuary's Office. But as bread must
be obtained somehow until the gol-
den opportunity offers itself, a
number of men who have seen bet
ter days are compelled by sheer ne
cessity to fly to that paradise of the
destitute, the docks. The great
dock companies in London, fully
aware Of the superabundance Of
labor always in the market, do not
employ permanently one-third of
the men they require, since they
are usually able to procure at least
twice as many hands as they need
at moments notice. Indeed, so
great is the competition for even
dock employment that unless you
are known to one Of the foremen,
or in some way furnished with an
introduction to one Of the COM
pany's officials, you stand a very
poor chance of obtaining work,
save occasionally, when a sudden
pressure of business comes on and
they are glad to accept any one that
offers.
Sometimes a huge ship comes in
requiring to be discharged in a few
days, aud everybody who can work
may, by Offering himself, obtain
employment for brief period /;
but, the time Of pressure over, he
will present himself at the dock
gates in vain. The company's fore.
men of course give the preference
to their regular hands, and the
stranger who has helped them in
their time of need is passed over,
SO the lest thing you can do if YOU
desire employment at the docks, is
to obtain q letter of recommends
tion from some croker or merchant
who does business with the COM
pany, and according to the influ-
ence he possesses SO will your work
be regulated. 1t will require great
influence to enable you to be placed
on the permanent" or "extrB
permanent" staff, and the utmost
you can hope for is to obtain en-
ployment by the day SO long as any
ships are at work, with the prospect
of losing few days now and then
when things are dull.