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nervous, mental, and physical stamina, must sink down, sometimes rapidly, sometimes step by step, to the bottom. Accident, by disabling an efficient worker, will make him inefficient, and down he must go. And the worker who becomes aged, with failing energy and numbing brain, must begin the frightful descent which knows no stopping-place short of the bottom and death. In this last instance, the statistics of London tell a terrible tale. The population of London is one-seventh of the total population of the United Kingdom, and in London, year in and year out, one adult in every four dies on public charity, either in the workhouse, the hospital, or the asylum. When the fact that the well-to-do do not end thus is taken into consideration', it becomes manifest that it is the fate of at least one in every three adult workers to die on public charity. As an illustration of how a good worker may suddenly become inefficient, and what then happens to him, I am tempted to give the case of M'Garry, a man thirty-two years of age, and an inmate of the workhouse. The extracts are quoted from the annual report of the trade union: I worked at Sullivan's place in Widnes, better known as the British Alkali Chemical Works. I was working in a shed, and I had to cross the yard. It was ten o'clock at night, and there was no light about. While crossing the yard I felt something take hold of my leg and screw it off. I became unconscious; I didn't know what became of me for a day or two. On the following Sunday night I came to my senses, and found myself in the hospital. I asked the nurse what was to do with my legs, and she told me both legs were off. There was a stationary crank in the yard, let into the ground; the hole was 18 inches long, 15 inches deep, and 15 inches wide. The crank revolved in the hole three revolutions a minute. There was no fence or covering over the hole. Since my accident they have stopped it altogether, and have covered the hole up with a piece of sheet iron... They gave me L25. They didn't reckon that as compensation; they said it was only for charity's sake. Out of that I paid L9 for a machine by which to wheel myself about. I was laboring at the time I got my legs off. I got twenty-four shillings a week, rather better pay than the other men, because I used to take shifts. When there was heavy work, to be done I used to be picked out to do it. Mr. Manton, the manager, visited me at the hospital several times. When I was getting better, I asked him if he would be able to find me a job. He told me not to trouble myself, as the firm was not cold-hearted. I would be right enough in any case... Mr. Manton stopped coming to see me; and the last time, he said he thought of asking the directors to give me a fifty-pound note, so I could go home to my friends in Ireland. Poor M'Garry! He received rather better pay than the other men because he was ambitious and took shifts, and when heavy work was to be done he was the man picked out to do it. And then the thing Page 61 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html happened, and he went into the workhouse. The alternative to the workhouse is to go home to Ireland and burden his friends for the rest of his life. Comment is superfluous. It must be understood that efficiency is not determined by the workers themselves, but is determined by the demand for labor. If three men seek one position, the most efficient man will get it. The other two, no matter how capable they may be, will none the less be inefficients. If Germany, Japan, and the United States should capture the entire world market for iron, coal, and textiles, at once the English workers would be thrown idle by hundreds of thousands. Some would emigrate, but the rest would rush their labor into the remaining industries. A general shaking up of the workers from top to bottom would result; and when equilibrium had been restored, the number of the inefficients at the bottom of the Abyss would have been increased by hundreds of thousands. On the other hand, conditions remaining constant and all the workers doubling their efficiency, there would still be as many inefficients, though each inefficient were twice as capable as he had been and more capable than many of the efficients had previously been. When there are more men to work than there is work for men to do, just as many men as are in excess of work will be inefficients, and as inefficients they are doomed to lingering and painful destruction. It shall be the aim of future chapters to show, by their work and manner of living, not only how the inefficients are weeded out and destroyed, but to show how inefficients are being constantly and wantonly created by the forces of industrial society as it exists to-day. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. Wages. Some sell their lives for bread; Some sell their souls for gold; Some seek the river bed; Some seek the workhouse mold. Such is proud England's sway, Where wealth may work its will; White flesh is cheap to-day, White souls are cheaper still. -FANTASIAS. WHEN I LEARNED THAT IN Lesser London there were 1,292,737 peopl e who received 21 shillings or less a week per family, I became interested as to how the wages could best be spent in order to maintain the physical efficiency of such families. Families of six, seven, eight, or ten being beyond consideration, I have based the following table upon a family of five, a father, mother, and three children; while I have made 21 shillings equivalent to $5.25, though actually, 21 shillings are equivalent to about $5.11. Rent ............................ $1.50 Bread ............................ 1.00 Meat .............................. .87 1/2 Vegetables ........................ .62 1/2 Coals ............................. .25 Tea ............................... .18 Oil ............................... .16 Sugar ............................. .18 Milk .............................. .12 Soap .............................. .08 Butter ............................ .20 Page 62 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html Firewood .......................... .08 Total .................. $5.25 An analysis of one item alone will show how little room there is for waste. Bread, $l: for a family of five, for seven days, one dollar's worth of bread will give each a daily ration of 2 6/7th cents; and if they eat three meals a day, each may consume per meal 9 1/2 mills' worth of bread, a little less than one cent's worth. Now bread is the heaviest item. They will get less of meat per mouth each meal, and still less of vegetables; while the smaller items become too microscopic for consideration. On the other hand, these food articles are all bought at small retail, the most expensive and wasteful method of purchasing. While the table given above will permit no extravagance, no overloading of stomachs, it will be noticed that there is no surplus. The whole $5.25 is spent for food and rent. There is no pocket money left over. Does the man buy [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
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