Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1892-10-17

upon tnls question OF salary we have q
few interesting facts at hand, and in COW
ertng the whole ground of how labor Is
paid in England, 1t is necessary to give
them in this letter. 1
Information has been sought In all QUAR-
ters which looked promising, but that
which We deem most reliable and trust
worthy was ELECTED at an interview with
the manager of London's chief employ
ment bureau. This concern is under |
Christian management, and in the legiti- |
mate work of purveyor between the bus |
mess offices of London and those seeking
work therein, it boasts of virtual mono
poly. The manager of an institution like
this, we felt, would be sure to be well in
formed on this subject, and we fiattered
ourselves that we had two guarantees of
truthfulness on his part. His eagerness to
secure clients would prevent him from
quoting salaries at q lower figure than was
usually paid, and, on the other hand, he
would be restrained, we thought, from
transgressing In the opposite direction by
the fact of his Christian reputation being
at stake. This gentleman thought that
anywhere in England, II young fellow
of from twenty to twenty-five years of
age was getting fifty pounds a year two
hundred and fifty dollars) in good Of
fee, he was fairly well off, and that
rather than run his chances elsewhere he
should stay. and work up gradually to
something better in the same firm In
stead of this, however, a great many in
such situations became dissatisfied, and
hence 1t was that in London and else
where so many were floating helplessly
about in search Of employment
This was somewhat startling, to be shot
at us as an introduction, and it whetted
our appetite for further particulars. At
,bat
lows start in at such worki The reply be- |
ing that it used to be five shillings for a
boy Just out of school, but that in late
years such boy. in a large offics, would
begin at ten shillings a week, and would
rise from that by slight increase at the
end of each year. Here we touched bot
tom-now by big jump we bound to the
top. A capable clerk after many years of
service might possibly get, our informer
but to reach that he would have to master
the entire business, and be well up in
banking, foreign exchange, market quota
tions, and, in fact, every thing connected
with the work of a big city Office. Was
there any thing bsyond thar Yes, for a
very few men there might be a still higher
notch, but If they got anything beyond
two hundred and fifty pounds year (ssy
twelve hundred and fifty dollsrs) they
said, and would rank as managers or con-
idential secretaries. What would be the
usual salary of a capable clerk in a large
commercial house who he'd been with the
firm from the time he was boy and who
was now between twenty-five and thirty
years oldi This question, we thought,
would produce something upon which a
fair and tangible judgment could be based,
and il did. Such man, in favorable con-
ditions, would be earning in London, he
said, the equivalent of from FIVE hundred
to six hundred and twenty five dollars a
year.
From other sources, equally reliable, we
learned that in many London banks boys
are taken in at sixteen or seventeen, with |
the stipulation that for five years of ser
vice they shall receive in annual install |
ments total sum, for the whole period, |
amounting to five hundred dollars. This |
is a hundred dollars a year; but after |
wards, when their apprenticeship Is fin
ished, these young fellows get about four
hundred and fifty dollars a year. Then,
by an annual increase of ffty dollars, they |
rise gradually, until when the family is |
growing up they are getting what is here
deemed a fair salary- We are positively |
assured, however, that for a man under |
thirty-fv to be receiving as much as sew
en- hundred and fifty dollars per annum is |
a rare thing in even the best commercial |
circles of London, and thst the average
run of paying and receiving tellers In Lon
don's big banks are not paid more than
one Thousand dollars year.
And if this is the situation in the best
circles, what may we not look for in the
worst. and in those lying between these ex-
tremesl To fcd out what salaries are
common in business firms of the second
and third grade we need only glance at the
advertising columns of the daily press
Here are few examples:
'Clerk Gunior) wanted in a merchants
Office. Must write a good hand and be
quick at figures Salary ten pounds for
the first yesr. Apply ="
This shows upon what a humble stipend
the English clerk Is expected to begin, and
that which folio IS will show to what a
dizzy eminence the yOurg climber Of am
bltion's ladder, if he is not so unfortunate
as to stsrve TO death in the meantime,
may raise himsrlf, in houses of this kind,
at some happy period in the dim and
distant future. Here 1t Is:
"Clerk (salsry one hundred pounds per
snnum).-Wanted by Arm OF merchants
and bankers, clerk, to act as cashier.
Muet have general knowledge of business,
understand bookkeeping and write short
hand. None without FIRST class references
need apply. Applications in own hand
writing, stating age and experience, to
This man is to be at once a clerk to a
merchant and cashier of bank, and
for the work of the two offices combined
he will pocket, for a whole years ser
vice, less than five hundred dollars. An
other advertisement which has caught
our eyes, and which we are sure will in
terest large class in America, is as fol-
lows:
''Stenographer and Typewriter-A gen
tleman of first class abilities required at
once. Salary thirty shillings."
Here is an offer of seven dollars and
half a week for one who has mastered
two special accomplishments. But let
not applicants be too rash. These Eng
lishmen are not going to give away plum
of that kind to any ordinary mortal; mark
the stipulation in regard to "a e. ntleman
of frst-class abilities"
To show that these low salaries are not
exceptional, but are the rule rather, and
tina there are any quantity of men over
here who are more than willing 10 try and
exc out a subsistence upon them, We cite
in evidence q recent article from 1it-Bits
on "Clerks Out of Collar" The article
AYERS that to a recent advertisement in
London paper for a ledger clerk at twenty
FIVE shillings (six dollars and qusrter)
week, no less than five hundred and sew
enty answers were received, and that many
of these came from men who had been in
their present situstion-so they said-some
four, some six, and some eight and nine
years. and whose only reason for seeking a
change, according TO their own statements,
WAS that they wished to 'better them
selves"
To those unfamiliar with the situation,
the idea that in a country like England any
man who has served several years at a desk
could better himself by seeking work at
twenty-i shillings week will be hard
to believe. Those, however, who have in
vestigated the wsge problem over here
| sufficient length of time to find out how
hard it 1t for young men in almost any
capacity to get themselves remunerated
| for a weeks work In any sum beyond the
| convenient pound or guinea, will not be at
all incredulous, but will look upon such
| disclosures as being simply in harmony