Omaha daily bee., 1886-11-28
Gondon's Wood Butchcre,

'tCopWight 1886 bv James Gordon Bcnnett.l
LONDON, Nov. 81 New York Herald
Cable-Special to the BEE. Counting car
penters and wood butchers together, it is
estimated that about 10000 men make their
living in London as carpenters and joiners.
of these nearly 5000 are of the wood
butcher" or ineXpcrt workman class, and
therefore do not belong to the trade societies.
The Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and
Joiners, with 5000 members in London and
$4,000 in Great Britain, is the largest of the
two trade societies. The General Union of
Carpenters and Joiners having LOCO members
in London and 5000 in Great Britain, Is the
second. Only a third, therefore, of
the expert carpenters of London
are trade unionists. This is in part
due to the fact that as in all London trade
socities the carpenters unions are for insur-
ance MS well as for trade purposes Age and
other .dsqualilications serve, therefore, to
keep out many mechanics who sympathiZe
with the unions. To keep such debarred
mechanics under the influence of trade un.
lonisn an effort has been made to bring them
INTO the trade SOcltleS as nOn-inSurcd mem
bers at triiing fee. This entirely failed, as
II was found the men took no interest and
would pay no fees except when allowed to
share in the societies guarantee against sick
ness and lack Of employment
WAGES PAID IN LONDON.
At present all London carpenters work
ffty-two and half hours per week at pence
tabOut Is cents per hour. This uniformity
is largely due, 1t is claimed, to Il series of
strikes beginning in 1859. In that year a
great strike of all the building tra,les caused
the introduction of the hour system. A
twenty-tnree week struggle also caused de-
i'm Unrlyi in frnp ai,
half to tittysiX and a half per week and an
increase in pay from shillngs pence
(about Sl.3O) per day to pence GA cents
per hour. In 1866 another penny q cents
per hour was added by the masters without
the compulsion Of q strike. In 1872
an application for penny more
an hour pay and decrease of
four hours per week in the laborng period
caused general lockout in all the building
trades. After q seventeen week struggle the
carpenters yielded without having obtained
what they asked, but this was peaceably given
by the masters during the next two years.
In 1917 demand for an advance TO 10 pence
per hour was made but withdrawal, and the
carpenters took no part in the general strike
of tiat year. Since then there have been no
strikes in London, and in spite of the hard
times no attempt by the masters to decrease
pay or increase the hours of work. The rela-
tons between employers and employed were
never better it is said, than now.
REGULATION OF HOURS.
The regulation of hours and pay are quite
generally enforced through London although
few get more and give less. Uniform pay
has, however brought into existence class
OF carpenters who do not benefit by this uni.
formity. They are called imprOvers or
Iaar aud Ia
them full pay is that they are inexpert work
men, completing their trade education at the
bench. They are paid from 80 to ~ pence
per hour. | saw one man of forty who,
through stupidity, has worked all his life at
Gpence per hour. AT one shop | found
four improvers among thirty workmen. Ap-
prcntices are taken for six years
at from 81 per week for the first
year TO $3.50 per week for the sixth year.
Neither masters nor men like to see appren-
tees IN the shops, hence i found that the
sons of most OF the carpenters | saw had not
learned any trade but were either clerks or
unskilled laborers. This system has not vet
forced the importation of German skilled
labor recruits from the provinces to fill the
demand for fresh carpenters. There are
signs however, that the carpentering trade,
like other trades in which apprentices have
been done away with, will eventually be
Hooded with well trained foreign workmen,
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CITY AND COUNTRY
No attempt mas vet been made to force uni
formity OF hours and pay of carpenters
throughout Great Britain. The carpenters of
Lewis, for instance work eight and half
hours longer each week for pence (6 cents)
an hour less than Is paid to London carpen-
tiers, lt results that country carpenters have
Hooded the London labor market in search of
short hours and high pay. The building trade
in London ought, from the number of build
incs going up, to be in good condition, but il
Is estimated that 1900 carpenters are out of
work. These men come largely from the
shipbuildlng CenterS, from which hard times
nave driven them. They carry in many cases
several hundred dollars worth of tools The
cost OF transportation sutflces TO keep them
in London when they once get there.
ADVANTAGES OF BELONGING To A UNION.
When such men are society men they
Ming with them travelling card, which en-.
ates them. while out OF work, to thirty i've
cents day from any branch to which they
are accepted. The society also keeps ''out of
employment books" placed generally at con.
veniently located tayerns. The men sign
these books daily while out OF work and by
recourse TO them secretaries of branches are
able to warn men of any approaching va.
caney In shop OF building job. Most of the
best workmep are society men, as by means
usese books they obtain an important ad,ar-
tage over non-society members in search OF
work, Several contractors told me they
could a0s alord 10 qng!e! With trade sOcie =.