Morning journal and courier., 1892-08-01

the wages paid these four thousand labor
ers who were in the direct employ of the
British government. they would average.
he thought, less than FIVE dollars a west
for fifty-four hours of work. This of
course, is for common, not for skilled La
Dor. fair wage. he thought. in present
conditions, would be at the uniform rata
of about seven dollars al fifty cents.
This he had urged upon her isiesty's com
missioners, and he had slso eaded against
the favoritism which pays some men less
than Others, though they do the same work
and as much of it, as well as against other
discriminating and tyrsnnical practices.
The conduct of the foremen in the arsenal
was especially reprobated. These men.
clothed with little brief authority. air IL
over their subordinstes like full hedged
lords, and take advantage of them in the
most arbitrary way And how thoroughly
English is this. From her majesty down
to the humblest subject il is quite the
fashion over here for people to 'air it," as
the saying is, over somebody else whom
they hold to be a little beneath them.
They all do it; il is the inevitable result of
that system which makes caste here as odi
GUS and almost as oppressive thing az in
India.
The last observations are our own, not
those of Mr.. Queloh. That gentleman
gave facts only on this great question,
leaving the philosophy, if any should be
required, to your correspondent His
strong forte was the condition of labor
among those known by the general name
of dockers. There were various grades
of these. The general laborer about the
wharyes he would put, as to wages, in the
lowest class. These were nearly all what
are called casual workers, and though. nm
der the new rules, the standard wage was
sixpence an hour, with an increase for
overtime, yet so irregular was their em-
ployment that he could hardly conceive
them to average more than two dollars
and fifty cents a week. The steyedores
who were occupied solely in loading yes
sells, and whose labor was in a certain
sense that of skilled workmen. got eight
pence an hour; but these also were only
irregularly employed, and though the rate
for over time was as high as a shilling
an hour, yet their average weekly earn
ings were much less than might be sup
posed. A sort of hybrid betwixt these
two classes were what were known as
steamship workers, whose occupation was
mainly in dischargiug cargo on the
Themes, and these were paid sevenpence
an hour What are called grain men are
q class by themselves. There were sbout
three thousand of these. As their name
would indicate, they were the men who
in Bermondsey and elsewhere handled the
corn which came to this port. Many of
them We had seen at their work in our
search for the headquarters of the South
Side Labor league. The casuals, Mr..
Quelch said, were supposed to get five
shiliings and teupence for a day of
twelve hours. But those most in favor,
and whose petition was the best, were the
regulars, who got, for the same hours per
day, O weekly wage of thirty shillings,
which would be seven dollars and ffty
cents.
Mr.. Quelch was careful to assure us that
for labor in London thirty shillings week
was prime pay, and that those who got ii
were the envy of thousands upon thou
sands who had to struggle through exist
ence upon a weekly wage compared to
which that sum WAS almost princely
Taking all branches into the estimate and
leaving ont the vast multitude of the un-
employed, his judgment would be, he said,
that labor was paid in London something
like an average of twenty three shillings
for week of, say, sixty hours. Inevits-
bly,, though, in the very short days of the
English winter, the average pay would be
below that estimate. With
special reference TO those who, in the i'm
mediate locality of our interview, were en-
gagged in loading and discharging grain.
and whose nominal pay was at the rate of
five and tenpencs a day for cRsuals, and
thirty shilliDgs q week for regulArs, these
figures, he said, might mislesd. The work
of the cssuals was so very precsrious that
he seriously questioned il, taking the earn
ings of these and the regulars together
and striking an average, the weekly earn
ings for each man would be much more
than ten shilline--the small pittance of
two dollars and fifty cents.
At this point the question was naturally
put, How do they live on such earniugsf"
THAT, said our courteous and symps-
thetic informant, "th-y could hardly tell
themselves To the suggestion that pos
sibly soma of them would find home in
the model t'nein-nts n.ar by, the reply
was, Not many; p-rhaPs none in the
Hanover buildings F.s'Ts- ara occupied by
people in Il better station. like clerks and
ariizans. But in tie Nuls-y buildings,
where two TOJms ca be- hzl for about ave
shiliings a week, You IniS Sht tind few,
though only few" Most of the casnals.
he said. had only th.mselysB Ia look after,
and these woald find shelter for the night
in cheap loiGi", homes and cook their
own meals o. best th-y could. Those hav-
ing families would be found in the small
houses round about. The house would
v "A
small room over that in addition. For
this the rent would . two seventy-five
or three dollars q week. The financial
stress in such cases would often be re-
lieved little, he said, by The renting ont
of the upstairs part to dodgers, or per
hsps, to n small family. and il would also
not unfreuuenly happen that the wife
would be earning a tritie by sack making.
We We're curiOus TO learn If the large
class OF toilers for whom this gentleman
spoke, and for whose welfare he was work
ing, got enough to eat. Some did not, he
said, but they took that sort of thing as a
matter of course. The problem of how
they made both ends meet he gave up in
despair. He lived amongst them, depend
ed upon the came markets, traded at ihs
same shops, and knew from experience
at least his wife did, which was Just the
ssme-what they hsd 70 pay for the neces-
carries of life. Coal AZ the present time
(summer price, was one and threepence
hundred weight, which would be at the
rate of five dollars and seventy five cents
a ton. Such meat as was ON the market
in that locality wonld cost sixpence OF
eightpence a pound. 1t would not be ex-
ira good at sixpence, Yet there were scraps,
or "block ornaments" ss they were called
among the poor of London, which could
be picked up for even less than that.
Flour they did not buy, and their bread
cost fourpence ha'penny and fivepencs q
quartern loaf three and one-half pounds).
The poor apology for butter which they
were glad TO put up with cost twenty cents
pound. Tea was cheap, costing from a
shilling a pound to one and six, and bacon
they might get at all prices, from ten
cents a pound-such as it was-up to
twenty cents.
These are few of the facts SO courte-
ously impaired to us by the general secre-
tsry of the South Side Labor league. This
is how it fares with the toilers in London's
docks three years after the triumphs, So
called, of the great dockers' strike of 1889.
And what Is still worse, we are led to be-
lieve this is a fair sample of what life
means to the laboring classes of London
taken as a whole. Surely, men of the
stamp and spirit Of our Kind informant,
who are giving their lives TO the work of
bettering such conditions, are worthy to
be lauded by honest lsborers, and by non
est men of all classes, the world over.
Personally, We looked upon Mr.. Quelch
with profound admiration, and when, as
we walked together from his office, he
spoke to us of the peculiar discourage
| ments attending such work, our deepest
sympathies were stirred.
1t was by no means a surprise TO us that
he broke in upon our inquiries about the
laboring classes of London with some play
full remarks respecting current disturb
II