Evening star., 1901-10-31
SLAVES OF THE SHOP.
London's Store Clerks Have LOn8
Work Days and Had Air.

Work Days and Had Air.
From the London Express.
Some of the troubles of shop assistants
have recently attracted sympathetic COM
ment from our readers-notably the decree
of a sternly sensible employer that mis-
workers must deny themselves the JOY OF
love and marriage until they have saved
minimum of f200-a sum that represents
years of self-denial to the poorly-paid de-
pendent Of the drapery counter. But there
are woes more prosaic and real than those
Of the young man who loves but may not
marry The report of the select committee
appointed to report on the early closing OF
shops, which has Just been issued, tells
sad story of grievously long hours OF labor,
lnsanltary conditions OF work and OF Nv
ing of toll that saps the hope and energy
of young men and women while anord1ng
them little prospect Of rising to comfort
and independence. 1t would almost seem
that for the average assistant there Is no
career possible. The cleverest and strong
est may have a remote chance of living
through the ordeal of wage-earning days
and gaining the position OF masters and
employers, but most OF them are doomed to
wear out youth and strength In servltuds,
drifting into other work when they become
unequal to the strain of their hard life.
Most of the shop assistants of London
work from twelve to thirteen hours day,
six days Of the week, and some Of them
as much as one hundred hours a week
more than sixteen hours daily! Figures are
not in themselves impressive. but they In
dicate picture Of incessant, heartbreaktng
servitude which 1t Is pftfable to contem-
plate Fourteen hours day for work and
seven hours for sleep-not an extrayagant
estimate-leave the toiler just three hours
for dressing. for meals and Tor relaxation.
That is to say, there Is practically no time
at all for reading, for exercise, for society,
for correspondence with friends, for any Of
the lighter side Of life which alone makes
L. k1,11 1N.r-
day the man or woman working such hours
can seldom look at the sun In the sky,
save from the window Of the bedroom,
where the slave Of the shop goes wearily
to bed and rises wearily to renewed toll.
Add to the grind of ceaseless labor the
tainted atmosphere of the shop, dusty with
the continual tramp Of customers, vitiated
with the burning Of many gas-jets; consider
the burden Of standing for hours together
the hastily snatched meals-always liable
to interruption by sudden call to attend
on waiting patrons-the mental strain of
constant endeavor to satisfy watchful
superintendent and captfouS public, and
1t will be easy to understand something Of
the hardships that have to be borne by the
class referred to.
The committee makes some excellent rec
concentrations; let US hope they may be
acted on. 1t Is suggested that town coun-
ellis should be authorize. to pass provisional
orders, making such regulations as they
deem necessary for earlier closing of Shops
and that such orders should acquire the
force of law by parliamentary sanction.
Something Of the kind is obviously neces-
sary. The Voluntary Early Closing Asso-
citation has done excellent work in secur-
ing weekly half-holiday for many shop
assistants, but its efficacy must remain in
complete so long as the caprice OF any en-
ployer may debar the workers under him
from participation in the scheme. and it
cannot touch the larger question of the
| number of hours in the ordinary working
| day during which the assistant can be kept
at the counter, or the matters of proper
! food. adequate Ventilation, and satisfactory
sanitary conditions 1t fs for parliament
| and the public to take this business In hand
| Zone vital to the health OF the nation and
| the efficiency of the race. We know only
too well that the tendency OF the times is
| to attract workers from q healthy apri-
cultural life to the harder toll of cities It
beheoyes US to see that the vigorous young
/ lives thus drawn into the vortex of city