The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-08-02
r. VAGE-EARNERS
OF LIVERPOOL.
TbG Small Amounts Paid and the Chances
for Advancement
About the Great Army Working on the Decks.
Steady Labor, Plenty Of 1t, But Not Much
Pay-six snillings Week.
Special 10 THE SUNDAY CALL

the empire. 1t is hard, practical city. Its
business men and factors are grim, severe
fellows, stern of decision as New York
millionaires, and restless, diligent and un-
cOnquerable as the men who have set the
Killing pace in Chicago.
There is little room for pleasant things In
! $6spool. It's chief and almost sole gallery
G. paintings was given the city by a gradu-
a.ad liquor-dealer whom Victoria, out of sur
mise and wonder no doubt, made baronet.
A though one of the worlds greatest depots
(-r the book collector, it has but one library
al note available to the public. Charities
a-- done in perfunctory, petulant manner.
lough the helpless are most ill-mannered
g.. selecting busy Liverpool 70 starvs in.
,-i its hundreds of thousands of working
ra and women are treated with less con-
s.sraton than cattle.
il studying the condition of the l0wly Of
Sly great city, the demand for labor, wages
raid and the cost of living are the first
IS to be considered. These things in
.,e how the people might live if pos
ss,ed Of all prudence and sobr ETY.. How
icy really live, and why. is another matter.
There is seldom a dearth of labor in any
great seaport. Liverpool has always stood
h.lh in percentage of labor demand. The
city has never been subject to the relentless
Oyercrowding of manufacturing towns like
Leeds, Manchester ard Birming ham, or the
destructive greed of tremendous and end
less immigration, as at New York 1t is the
gr%rtest entrepot in Europe. The landing,
landing and reshipment OF nearly all
North and South American products ex-
T0rted to Europe, and tile reshipment to ali
suarters of the globe Of the greater part of
tls stupendous quantities of British manu-
lctures, are done at this one port Its
warehouses and docks are almost incon-
.aIYably numerous aud extensive. Fifty
louSand men are alone constantly required
the various forms of dock labor. This
ct viii sufficiently indicate the almost
tlSureless business ramihcatlonS requir-
laE uninterrupted service.
Steady labor and plenty of it is the rule.
"a least possible wages upon which the
rIers may exist also prevail. The best
d men among the $1,000 laborers en-
.yed upon the docks are the stevedores,
49, % load and unload the ships" Jumpers"
y are called-who get FIVE shillingS per
- y, and the dock pOrters or goods hand
5, who receive siXpence less. Lorry-
n or cartmen, with two horses tandem,
N thirty shilliEgs, aud, with one horse,
- Ity-siX shlllines. The police are paid
l-cm twenty 10 thlrty-twO shilllngs, with
res ponding deductions to eventually pay
f.r their own pensiOning when too old for
.ther service. a gatemaD at the Exchange
hallway station told me lie had been in the
slWa service sixteen years and had never
Itle&sG above nineteen shillings per week !;
ald 70 manner Of employee about these great
stations is paid upward Of twenty shillings.
ALL GRADES OF CLERKS,
! tiers and statesmen and women about the
.Ihets receive from to IS shillingS.
lram-car drivers get as high as q shil-
:, but conductors never above q. Bar
.l.ls. care-takers OF janitors and watchmen,
D. .kmen, bakers men, grocery and market
tap drivers, express and railway package
freight collectors receive only from 10
A. is shlllingS; Willie corporation day la
.e.s are paid from 10 to 20 shillings per
liverpool cabmen are the most woe5egone
tut their kind in the world. Cab-owners
lr.a~I1nally rent hanson or brougham to
trustworthy fellow at stated sum, but
.-te are not fifty out Of nearly 5000 that
arrived at this dignity in their calling.
Iac remainder get from L to IS shillingS per
week One pitieS these fellows.
The clerks OF Liverpool are not to be
Puvieu. Male clerks employed in the great
warehouses, refneries, insurance offices, il
The gigantic cotton trade, and in the yriaC
shipping Offices, are the victims OF a mos
Iuiquitous system. 1t is true that a few
leId clerks, accountants and Office mana
gers receive from twenty to forty shilling!
per week, and manage to lead comparatively
comfortable lives. But FULLY ninety pc
cent give their best years, from sixteen an(
eighteen to thirty, at from SIX 10 eighteen
and twenty ShiillngS per week. They ar
1rluded into this sort of slavery by thu
differing hope of advancement" Ire
me1dUus wealth and its power are all abou
hem. They slave like beasts and dream o
Ultimate place among the money kings o.
Liverpool. Alter years Of faithful ser
ice, and at a time Of life when no new
career is possible, they are met by the Ston
wall OF indifference on the part of their EN-
pluYer5; hclplessly see the posts of trus
H.slrrs d. lid lHrbz
GIi y ed help from Germany and Holland
aud come to be hos eless old men at 4C
Clerks in retail establishments, OF whom tn
greater number are women, fare better i
)ue respect. While their wages are eve
less than those IN offices, system is i
vogue here which gives them at least tn
necessities Of life. A large number q
establishments provide food and dorm
tories for their stats. a regime of the u
most severity exists. But EMPLOYERS thu
secure the advantage of absolute surveil
lance, Of the miserable truck" system in an
other form, where all they give is got bac
With profit, ana the doeile, uDquestionin
labor Of their prison-ke white slaves
kept up from O'clock in the morning mt
and sometimes 10 O'clock at night.
Looking at the great army OF more loWl
tOllers and house servants, the study is csl
taIniy not a pleasanter one. There al
large gangs OF girls known as '"eottoI
p.ckers," who may be seen at the noon hoU
wandering barrheaded through the streets
their beggarly garments covered with cotto
Int. Those who are not barefootsd wei
heavy clogs without stockings and they wi
kick shins with any rough in Liverpool Il
a pot OF beer. Many cargoes of damage
cotton arrive here. 1t is sold by auction
IA class Of dealers who dry it and prepare
4 second time for the market Two or thr,
thousand of
THE HooDLUM CLASS
OF young women sort or ''pick' this stuff
filthy nois0me pens. The employment
4 { steady, and they get what the renOvato
have mind TO pay; all the way from
10 shiilinEs per week. These girls III
women are about as respectable as me
would be under like circumstances; driI
gallons Of beer per day while at wor
clubbing" their pennies for its purchas
frrociously beat those who do not 'dIin
fair and live in any manner they ma
there being absolutely no effort on the pa
OF any person or society TO better their co
ditiOn.
Plain cooks in houses, restaurants and Il
common grade of inns will earn 8 shilling
per week general house servant recsiy
6xhillllgs. hOusemaid, nurse and wa
rs combined, who is regarded as the hig
est grade of house servant, may receive
shillings. Charwomen or scrubwOmen 7
celve 3 shiilings per day and breakfast, tn
Is, tea and bread and butter, and they m
possibly secure two engagements per wee
Washerwomen are very glad to earn all
gether 10 shillings per week, and perha
their assistants get from shilling to Is I'D
day and tea" or ''3 Ila'p'worth Of bitter
which translated means cents worth
bitter beer. Girls in tobacco, confectionel
and siationers' shops will receive from
shiliings per week; and mattresses in n
taurants, considering the severity aud hOu
OF their labor, are the poorest paid Of a
Many OF these girls ara required to ser
meals in gentlemen's chambers and in
fees at all hours, after the manner Of
Havana coolie cantineros, and are subjs
to all manner of insult, which they endu
with logged bravery and CHEEKY invulnel
bilty emitting them to be regarded as re
heroines in any other land.
There is very fine cafe at the head
Dale street, where nearly a thousand e
ployers and clerks from the Cotton /
change aDd neighboring Offices lunch
dine daily. II will rank with our bett
class American restaurants The emit