Women in the Printing Trades: A Sociological Study.
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Title: Women in the Printing Trades: A Sociological Study.
Editor: James Ramsay MacDonald
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN IN THE PRINTING TRADES: A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY. ***
[Transcriber's note: Underscores have been used to indicate _italic_
fonts. Original spelling variants have not been standardized. In the
tables, _s._ or s. was used for Shillings; and _d._ or d. for Pence. "It
should also be noted that slight errors of a few farthings in the
additions have crept into the totals of some of the columns, but as they
do not affect the accuracy of the wage figures the Appendix has been
copied exactly as it was published." (Appendix VI.)]
WOMEN IN THE PRINTING TRADES:
A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY.
EDITED BY
J. RAMSAY MACDONALD,
WITH A PREFACE BY PROFESSOR F. Y. EDGEWORTH.
INVESTIGATORS:
MRS. J. L. HAMMOND, MRS. H. OAKESHOTT, MISS A. BLACK, MISS A. HARRISON,
MISS IRWIN, and Others.
LONDON: P. S. KING & SON,
ORCHARD HOUSE, WESTMINSTER.
1904.
PREFACE.
My only qualification for writing this preface is the circumstance that,
as a representative of the Royal Economic Society, I attended the
meetings of the Committee appointed to direct and conduct the
investigations of which the results are summarised in the following
pages. From what I saw and heard at those meetings I received the
impression that the evidence here recorded was collected with great
diligence and sifted with great care. It seems to constitute a solid
contribution to a department of political economy which has perhaps not
received as much attention as it deserves.
Among the aspects of women's work on which some new light has been
thrown, is the question why women in return for the same or a not very
different amount of work should often receive very much less wages. It
is a question which not only in its bearing on social life is of the
highest practical importance, but also from a more abstract point of
view is of considerable theoretical interest, so far as it seems to
present the paradox of _entrepreneurs_ paying at very different rates
for factors of production which are not so different in efficiency.
The question as stated has some resemblance to the well-known demand for
an explanation which Charles II. preferred to the Royal Society: there
occurs the preliminary question whether the circumstance to be explained
exists. The alleged disproportion between the remuneration of men and
women is indeed sometimes only apparent, or at least appears to be
greater than it is really. Often, however, it is real and great where it
is not apparent.
On the one hand, in many cases in which at first sight women seem to be
doing the same work as men for less pay, it is found on careful inquiry,
that they are not doing the same work. "The same work nominally is not
always the same work actually," as the Editor reminds us (Chapter IV.
par. 1). "Men feeders, for instance, carry formes and do little things
about the machine which women do not do." In this and other ways men
afford to the employer a greater "net advantageousness," as Mr. Sidney
Webb puts it in his valuable study on the "Alleged Differences in the
Wages paid to Men and to Women for similar Work" (_Economic Journal_,
Vol. I. pp. 635 _et seq._). The examples of this phenomenon adduced by
Mr. Webb, and in the evidence before the Royal Commission on Labour, are
supplemented by these records. To instance one of the less obvious ways
in which a difference in net advantageousness makes itself felt,
employers say: "It does not pay to train women: they would leave us
before we got the same return for our trouble as we get from men." At
the same time it is to be noticed in many of these cases that though the
work of women is less efficient, it is not so inferior as their pay. For
instance, a Manchester employer "estimated that a woman was two-thirds
as valuable in a printer's and stationer's warehouse as a man, and she
was paid 15_s._ or 20_s._ to his 33_s._," (p. 47, note).
In other cases the difference between the remuneration of men and women
for similar work is not obvious because they work in different branches
of industry. For example, only five instances of women being employed as
lithographic artists are on record (Chapter IV. par. 1). Other branches
of the printing trade are as exclusively women's work. Such data afford
no direct and exact comparison between the remuneration of the two
classes in relation to the work done by them respectively. As Mr. Webb
concludes, the inferiority of women's wages cannot be gathered "from a
comparison of the rates for identical work, for few such cases exist,
but rather from a comparison of the standards of remuneration in men's
and women's occupations respectively." "Looked at in this light," he
continues, "it seems probable that women's work is usually less highly
paid than work of equivalent difficulty and productivity done by men."
As Mrs. Fawcett points out in an important supplement to Mr. Webb's
article (_Economic Journal_, Vol. II. p. 174), women are crowded into
classes of industry which are less remunerative than those open to men.
Recognising the fact of different remuneration for the same amount of
work, we have next to consider the causes. It is evident that the sort
of explanation offered by Adam Smith for difference of wages in
different employments will not avail much in the case with which we are
dealing. The lower remuneration of women is not brought about by way of
compensation for the greater "agreeableness" or other pleasurable
incident or perquisite of their tasks. Possibly we might refer to this
head, as well as to others, the circumstance that women having in
prospect the hopes of domestic life are likely to take less interest in
their trade than men do who cast in their lot for life, if this
difference in future prospects is attended with a difference in the
effort of attention given to work in the present. But doubtless the
explanation is to be found chiefly not in compensation produced by the
levelling action of competition, but in the absence of competition
between men and women--in the existence of monopoly whether natural or
artificial, to use Mill's distinction (_Political Economy_, Vol. II.
Chapter XIV.), together with custom and what Mill calls "the unintended
effect of general social regulations."
A natural monopoly is constituted by the superior strength of man, the
occasional exercise of which, as just noticed, entitles him to some
superiority of pay for work which at first sight may appear almost
identical with that of women. The experience recorded in the following
pages does not afford any expectation that this kind of superiority
tends to vanish. "There is an almost unanimous chorus of opinion that
women's work as compositors is so inferior to men's that it does not
pay in the long run" (Chapter IV.). Speaking of the physiological
differences between men and women in relation to their work, the Editor
concludes that "when all false emphasis and exaggeration have been
removed a considerable residuum of difference must remain."
Custom and the somewhat capricious sense of decorum counts for more than
might have been expected in restricting women to certain industries, and
accordingly, on the principle emphasised by Mrs. Fawcett, depressing
their wages. "I know my place, and I'm not going to take men's work from
them," said a female operative to an employer who wanted her to varnish
books (Chapter IV.). "Why, that is men's work, and we shouldn't think of
doing it," was the answer given by forewomen and others to the question
why they did not turn their hands to simple and easy processes which
were being done by men (Chapter V.).
Among artificial monopolies must be placed that which is constituted by
legislation. The Factory Laws, of which a lucid summary is given
(Chapter VI. § 1), impose certain conditions on the work of women which,
it may be supposed and has been asserted, place them at a sensible
disadvantage in their competition with men, who are free from those
restrictions. But the evidence now collected goes to prove that the
disadvantage occasioned to women in their competition with men by the
Factory Acts is not appreciable; thus confirming the conclusions
obtained by the Committee which the British Association appointed to
consider this very question (Report, 1903). The evidence of the large
majority of employers in the printing trade is in favour of the Acts;
the evidence of employees is almost unanimous. Of a hundred and three
employers "not half-a-dozen remembered dismissing women in consequence
of the new enactment" (Chapter VI. § 2). Of a hundred and three
employers, who expressed an opinion, twenty-six stated that in their
opinion legislation had not affected women's labour at all, sixty
considered it to have been beneficial, and seventeen looked on all
legislation as grandmotherly and ridiculous (p. 82). The opinion of the
employers is much influenced by the experience that "after overtime the
next day's work suffers." The still stronger feeling of the workers in
favour of the Factory Acts is partly based on the same fact: "Long
hours," said one, "don't do any good, for they mean that you work less
next day: if you work all night, then you are so tired that you have to
take a day off; you have gained nothing" (p. 86). Upon the whole the
moderate conclusion appears to be that "except in a few small houses the
employment of women as compositors has not been affected by the Factory
Acts" (p. 75). What little evidence there is to the contrary is
exhibited by the Editor with creditable candour (p. 80). It is admitted
that a "slight residuum of night work" may have been transferred to male
hands.
Trades unionism forms another species of "artificial monopoly," the
organisation of men in the printing trades being much stronger than that
of women. The difference is partly accounted for by the fact, already
noticed in other connections, that woman having an eye to marriage is
not equally wedded to her trade. Some frankly admit that "marriage is
sure to come along, and then they will work in factories and workshops
no longer" (p. 42). Whatever the cause, it appears from the Editor's
historical retrospect that women's unions have not flourished in the
trades under consideration. All attempts to organise women in the
printing trade proper, as distinguished from the bookbinding industry,
have failed. Even the Society of Women Employed in Bookbinding, though
organised by Mrs. Emma Paterson, seems to have had only a moderate
success. Thus the men unionists have had their way in arranging that
their standard wage should not be lowered by the influx of cheap labour
offered by women.
Some unions indeed admit women on equal terms with men, with less
advantage to the former than might have been expected. A regulation of
this sort adopted by the London Society of Compositors is followed by
the result that "it is practically impossible for any woman to join the
society" (p. 28). At Perth a few years ago, when women began to be
employed on general bookwork and setting up newspaper copy, the men's
union decided that the women must either be paid the same rates as the
men or be got rid of altogether (p. 46). One general result of such
_primâ facie_ equalitarian regulations is probably to promote that
crowding of women into less remunerative occupations which was above
noticed as a cardinal fact of the situation. It is for this reason
apparently that Mrs. Fawcett does not welcome the principle that
"women's wages should be the same as men's for the same work." "To
encourage women under all circumstances to claim the same wages as men
for the same work would be to exclude from work altogether all those
women who were industrially less efficient than men" (see the article by
Mrs. Fawcett referred to in the _Economic Journal_, Vol. III. p. 366,
and compare her article in that Journal, Vol. II. p. 174, already
cited).
Of course it may be argued that, in view of the circumstance that women
workers are often subsidised by men and of other incidents of family
life, to permit the unrestricted competition of men with women would
tend to lower the remuneration and degrade the character of labour as a
whole. Without expressing an opinion on this matter, seeking to explain
rather than to justify the cardinal fact that the industrial competition
between men and women is very imperfect, one may suggest that it is
favoured by another element of monopoly. The employer in a large
business has some of the powers proper to monopoly. As Professor
Marshall says (in a somewhat different connection) "a man who employs a
thousand others is in himself an absolutely rigid combination to the
extent of one thousand units in the labour market." This consideration
may render it easier to understand how it is possible for certain
employers to give effect to the dispositions which are attributed to
them in the following passages: "Conservative notions about women's
sphere, and chivalrous prejudices about protecting them, influence
certain employers in determining what work they _ought_ to do" (p. 52).
"A rigid sense of propriety based on a certain amount of good reason,
seems to determine many employers to separate male from female
departments" (p. 53).
A notice of this subject would be inadequate without reference to the
relation between the use of machinery and the competition of women
against men. In some cases the cheapness of women's work averts the
introduction of machinery. "One investigator whilst being taken over
certain large printing works was shown women folding one of the
illustrated weekly papers. Folding machines were standing idle in the
department, and she was told that these were used by the men when
folding had to be done at times when the Factory Law prohibited women's
labour" (p. 98). A well-known bookbinder said: "If women would take a
fair price for work done it would not be necessary to employ machinery."
In the Warrington newspaper offices the cheapness of women's labour
makes it unnecessary to introduce linotypes (pp. 46 and 98). On the
other hand, in the case of bookbinding, the employment of machinery
makes it possible for the less skilled and lower-paid women to do work
formerly done by men (p. 48). But the relations are not in general so
simple. Rather, as the Editor remarks, "what really happens is an
all-round shifting of the distribution of labour-power and skill, and a
rearrangement of the subdivision of labour" (p. 48). The cheerful
assumption proper to abstract economics, that labour displaced by the
introduction of machinery can turn to some other employment, is seldom,
it is to be feared, so perfectly realised as in the case of the
bookbinders below mentioned (p. 48, note): "There was much gloom among
the men when the rounding and backing machine came in, but though
profitable work was taken away from the 'rounders' and 'backers' they
had more 'lining up' and other work to do in consequence, so nobody was
turned off."
So far I have adverted to only one of the problems which are elucidated
by this investigation. A sense of proportion might require that I should
dwell on other topics of great interest such as home work and the work
of married women, the technique of the industries connected with
printing which the Editor has described minutely, and the statistics
relating to women's wages, in the treatment of which a master hand, that
of Mr. A. L. Bowley, may be recognised. But I must not go on like the
chairman who with a lengthy opening address detains an audience eager to
hear the principal speaker. I will only in conclusion express the hope
that the Committee which has obtained such useful results may be enabled
to prosecute further investigations with like diligence.
F. Y. EDGEWORTH.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION xv
I.
I. THE TRADES DESCRIBED 1
II. WOMEN IN THE TRADES 17
III. WOMEN'S WORK AND ORGANISATION 24
IV. MEN AND WOMEN AS WORKERS 44
V. INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 55
VI. LEGISLATION 69
VII. WOMEN AND MACHINERY 94
VIII. HOME WORK 99
IX. MARRIED AND UNMARRIED 102
X. WAGES 113
II.--APPENDICES.
I. POINTS UPON WHICH ENQUIRIES WERE MADE 139
II. DESCRIPTIONS OF CERTAIN TYPICAL FIRMS 141
III. GENERAL GLASGOW REPORT 170
IV. WOMEN IN THE PRINTING TRADES IN BIRMINGHAM 179
V. TABLES OF INDIVIDUAL EARNINGS FOR CONSECUTIVE WEEKS
THROUGH LENGTHENED PERIODS 184
VI. MR. DUNNING'S STATEMENT OF WAGES, 1849 199
VII. TABLE SHOWING NUMBER OF MALES AND FEMALES ENGAGED
IN THESE TRADES AT VARIOUS AGES IN 1901 203
INDEX 205
INTRODUCTION.
The investigation upon which this book is based was undertaken by the
Women's Industrial Council; the Royal Statistical Society, the Royal
Economic Society, and the Hutchinson Trustees consenting to be
represented on the Committee responsible for the work. Upon this
Committee, the Women's Industrial Council was represented by Miss A.
Black, Miss C. Black, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Stephen N. Fox, and Mr. J.
Ramsay Macdonald; the Royal Statistical Society by Mr. J. A. Baines; the
Royal Economic Society by Professor F. Y. Edgeworth, and the Hutchinson
Trustees by Mr. A. L. Bowley. Mrs. Hogg also represented the Women's
Industrial Council up to her death in 1900.
The Committee takes this opportunity of thanking the Hutchinson Trustees
for their liberal financial assistance, and of expressing its
appreciation of the services so carefully and enthusiastically performed
by the investigators, especially those of Mrs. Hammond, who is mainly
responsible for the work done in London; of Mrs. Oakeshott, who assisted
Mrs. Hammond; of Mrs. Muirhead, who supplied information about
Birmingham; of Miss Harrison, who investigated Bristol and the
South-West, and Leeds and district; and of Miss Irwin and Mr. Jones, who
were in charge of the Scottish enquiries. To the many employers, Trade
Union secretaries, and others who were so willing to give assistance to
the investigators, the Committee also desires to express its gratitude.
Whoever has had experience in collecting and sifting such evidence as is
dealt with in this investigation knows how difficult it is to arrive at
proper values and just conclusions. And women's trades seem to offer
special difficulties of this kind. There are no Trade Union conditions,
no general trade rules, no uniformity in apprenticeships, so far as the
woman worker is concerned, and the variations in conditions are most
striking, even between neighbouring employers drawing their supply of
labour from practically the same district, though perhaps not from the
same social strata. That difference in strata is in some cases a
predominating factor in women's employment, and it everywhere confuses
economic and industrial considerations. When to this irregularity of
conditions is added a reticence as to "one's personal affairs," due
partly to women's lack of the sense that their position is of public
interest, and also partly to an unwillingness shown by many employers to
disclose the facts of cheap labour, it can readily be seen that the
Committee had to exercise the greatest care in its work.
When the investigation was begun there was an idea that it should be the
commencement of an enquiry into women's labour in every trade of any
importance, but whether that will be carried on or not will now depend
on the reception of this volume and on what further financial assistance
is forthcoming. The group of trades selected for first treatment shows
neither an overwhelming preponderance of women nor a very marked
increase in the employment of women. But it illustrates in a specially
normal way the main problems of women's labour under ordinary modern
conditions. Upon one important point this group does not throw much
light. The employment of Women in the Printing Trades does not show to
any satisfactory extent the family influence of married and unmarried
women wage earners. What information the Committee was able to gather is
dealt with in its proper place, but careful enquiries will have to be
made in the highly-organised factory industries before that wealth of
fact can be obtained from which conclusions can be drawn, with details
properly filled in, regarding the influence of women's earnings upon
family incomes.
In other respects these trades have yielded most interesting
information. They illustrate the industrial mind and capacity of women
in the different aspects of training, rates of pay, competition with
men, influence of machinery, effect of legislation, and so on. These
subjects are dealt with under separate chapters, and though it has been
the chief aim of the Committee to present well-sifted and reliable
facts, it has stated some conclusions which are most obvious, and which
appear to be necessary, if bare figures and dry industrial data are to
carry any sociological enlightenment. The volume is therefore offered
not as a mere description of industrial organisation, but as a study in
sociology which indicates a path ahead as well as points out where we
stand at the moment.
Miss Clementina Black is responsible for the description of the Trades,
Mr. A. L. Bowley for the Chapter on Wages, and Mr. Stephen Fox for the
legal and historical part of that on Legislation. For the rest, the
Editor is responsible.
CHAPTER I.
_THE TRADES DESCRIBED._
The trades covered by this enquiry include a great number of processes,
some brief account of which is necessary if the succeeding chapters are
to be comprehensible. It will, perhaps, be the easiest way to follow the
stages by which paper is converted into books and to return afterwards
to such accessory matters as envelope making, relief stamping,
lithography, etc.
_Paper-making._--Paper-making is carried on mainly in the counties of
Kent, Lancashire, Buckingham, Yorkshire, Fife, Lanark, Aberdeen and
Midlothian, but mills are found scattered over the country where water
is favourable to the manufacture.[1] In London, there is one mill only,
and not more than thirteen women are employed in it. Of these the
majority are occupied in sorting esparto grass, and throwing it by means
of pitchforks into machines where the abundant dust is shaken out, and
from which the grass is carried on moving bands to the vats where it is
boiled into pulp. A few older married women are engaged in cutting rags,
removing buttons, etc.; but at the present day paper is but rarely made
from rags, and the rags so used are generally sorted and cut by
machinery. This is an instance in which machinery has undoubtedly
superseded the work of women; but, perhaps, few persons will regret
that an occupation so uninviting as the cutting up of old rags should be
undertaken rather by a machine than by a human being. With the later
processes in the manufacture of paper--the boiling, mixing, bleaching,
and refining--women have nothing to do; but a few women are employed in
"counting" the sheets of paper before they leave the mill.
[Footnote 1: _The Directory of Paper-makers_ for 1903 gives the
following number of paper mills as being situated in the following
counties:--Bucks, 16; Devon, 10; Durham, 9; Kent, 30; Lancashire, 44;
Yorkshire, 27; Edinburgh, 17; Lanark, 9; Stirling, 8; Fife, 7; Aberdeen,
5; Dublin, 6.]
The work of the women, who are time-workers at from 8_s._ to 10_s._ a
week, requires no training. The working day begins at 6 a.m., an earlier
hour than that of any other factory or shop dealt with in this enquiry.
The machinery is kept in constant action, double shifts of men being
employed, and when it becomes necessary to feed the machines with grass
at night men do the work performed in the day by women.
_Letter-press Printing._--The primary business of the "compositor" is to
"set-up type," _i.e._, to arrange the separate movable types in required
order for printing successive lines of words. These lines are then
arranged in frames called _chases_, each of which containing the types
is known as a _forme_; the _formes_ are "locked up," that is, made firm
by wooden or metal wedges called _quoins_, and are then carried to the
press for a proof impression. The printed page passes on in the shape of
proof to the "corrector," and from him to the author, and is then
returned in order that corresponding alterations may be made in the
placing of the type. Finally, when the whole corrected impression has
been printed off, comes the "distributing"--the removal of the types
from their places and re-sorting into the proper divisions in the
"case." Were books the only form of printed matter, this description
would cover the whole business of the compositor, but there are also
handbills and newspapers--to say nothing of lithographic printing, which
will be dealt with farther on. The printing of handbills, etc., and the
printing of newspapers, require, each in its own way, a high degree of
skill and experience, to which women, the vast majority of whom leave
the trade comparatively young, seldom attain.
In the provinces, however, a few women are engaged upon the printing of
weekly or bi-weekly newspapers; and in London, one establishment has
been visited in which women regularly do "jobbing" or "display
work"--terms which cover the printing of advertisements, posters,
handbills, etc.--while at least two other firms employ each one girl
upon such work. "None of the other workers," it is reported, "seem to
care to learn."
The difference between skilful and unskilful work in this department is
far greater than an uninitiated person might suppose; and the
attractiveness of a poster, advertisement or invitation card depends
very largely upon the way in which the type is spaced.
In all printing houses employing women compositors, setting up,
correcting, and distributing are done by women; in the Women's Printing
Society women regularly "impose," that is, divide up the long galleys of
type into pages and place the pages so that they may follow in proper
order when the sheet is folded, and in another firm a woman was found
who could impose; but as a general rule the "imposing" is the work of
the man or men employed to lock-up and carry about the heavy formes. No
instance has been found in which this latter work, which in some cases
is extremely heavy, is done by women.
_Bookbinding._--This trade covers at least two main divisions, and one
of these is minutely subdivided into a great variety of processes. The
first process is, in all cases, that of folding. All printed matter
occupying more than a single page has to be so folded as to bring the
pages into consecutive order, and this process is essentially the same
whether the printed sheet be that of a book, a pamphlet, a magazine, or
a newspaper. From the trade point of view, however, there is a
distinction between the folding of matter intended to be bound up in a
real book cover (book-folding) and matter which is not to be bound
(printers' folding). As a general rule--liable, however, to many
exceptions--book-folding is performed in a binder's shop and printers'
folding in a printing house, whence the names. But many printers now
have a regular binding department, and periodical or pamphlet work is on
the other hand often folded in the workshop of the publisher's binder.
The line of demarcation is therefore no very distinct one. Prospectus
work is _par excellence_ printers' folding, and so are such weekly
papers as are still folded by hand.
Book-folding is done by women, of whom in theory nearly all, and in
practice many, are regularly employed. The process is practically
identical in both cases. Printers' folding is carried on in large firms
chiefly by a regular staff; but in times of pressure "job hands" or
"grass hands" are called in; and in smaller workplaces job hands do the
whole of the work. Great sheets of matter, fresh from the press, are
distributed in thousands to the workers to be folded either by hand or
by machine. In the latter case, the woman merely feeds the machine,
taking care to lay the sheet in exactly the right place. In the former,
she becomes practically a machine herself, so monotonous is the
occupation. The sheet is folded once, twice, three, or even four times,
as the case may be, on a fixed plan, and sometimes has to be cut with a
long knife as well as folded. The various sheets of a book having been
folded, the process of _gathering_ follows. Each folder has received a
fixed number (probably a thousand) copies of the same sheet, and when
she has finished folding the gatherer places the sheets in piles of each
"signature," _e.g._ the index letter which one observes on the first
page of each sheet in a book, in regular order on a long table. She then
walks up and down the side of this table collecting one copy of each
sheet and so forming a complete book. The collection thus made passes
from the gatherer to the _collator_, who runs over it, noting by means
of the printer's "signature" that all the sheets are in order, and
placing her mark on the book, thereby becoming responsible for its
accuracy. In the case of illustrated books the process of _placing_
comes at this stage. The plates to be inserted are "fanned out"--_i.e._,
laid out in fan shape--each receives a narrow strip of paste at the back
and is placed next, and stuck to, its proper page. This placing is
sometimes done by the collator, sometimes by a separate hand. The whole
process of collating is often omitted in the case of pamphlets and small
work, and the sheets then pass straight from the folder to the stitcher
or sewer. Of _sewing_ or _stitching_ there are many varieties. The
threads of hand-sewn books generally pass through three bands of tape
kept taut by being attached at one end to the table at which the worker
sits and at the other to a horizontal bar above. Sometimes the book will
have been prepared by the sawing of grooves in the back to receive the
sewing. This sawing is done by men. Stitching machines vary greatly. The
simplest kind merely inserts the unpleasant "staple-binder" of wire that
is so large a factor in the rapid decomposition of cheap books. In these
machines, one variety of which uses thread and knots it, the pamphlet or
other work in hand is placed at a particular place in a kind of trough;
the operator presses a treadle and the wire is mechanically passed
through and pressed flat. Other machines of a more complicated sort will
sew with thread upon tapes. In this case one girl is required to
superintend and a younger assistant to cut apart the books which are
delivered by the machine fixed at intervals upon a long continuous tape.
Such machines are worked by power and set going by the pressure of a
treadle. Pamphlets or newspapers having neither "cover" nor "wrapper"
are now finished--unless, indeed, _inserts_ or _insets_ are to be placed
between the pages. These are those unattached advertisements which fall
out upon the reader's knee on a first opening, and thereby certainly
succeed in catching his attention, though not perhaps his approval.
Magazines or paper-covered books are sometimes "wrappered" by women, a
simple process consisting of glueing the back of each book and clapping
on the cover. Bound books have end-papers added to them by women, who
also paste down the projecting tapes to the fly-pages. At this stage the
book passes into the hands of men to be touched no more by women, except
perhaps in a few subsidiary processes. But since much debate has taken
place over the allotment to men and women of other parts of the work, it
becomes necessary to give a cursory glance at the further stages of a
book's progress.
On leaving the women's hands the book--now no longer a collection of
loose sheets but an entity--is placed in a machine to be "nipped," that
is, to have the back pressed; then the edges are cut smooth in a
"guillotine"; the back is glued upon muslin and rounded, and a groove is
made, by hand or machine, at each side of the back, so that the cover
may lie flat; this is called "backing," the covering boards and cloth
are cut out and pasted together; the design and lettering are stamped
upon them in the "blocking-room"; the books are "pasted down," that is,
are fixed into their covers by means of pasting down the end leaves, and
are "built up" in a large press. If the designs and lettering of the
cover are to be gilded, the gold-leaf is laid on by hand according to
the stamped-out pattern, which is then restamped, and any gold-leaf not
firmly adhering is rubbed off with an old stocking. The stocking is
burned in a crucible, and the precious remainder of the gold collected
again. "Gold laying-on" is done by women; and the workers engaged in
this task do nothing else. Much dexterity is needed, the gold-leaf
being apt to break or blow away at the slightest breath. One
investigator describes as "seeming almost marvellous" the skill with
which this difficult material is laid in exactly the right place by
means of a knife. Women also "open-up," _i.e._, look through the books
ready to be sent out to see that there are no flaws. Such is the
life-history of the ordinary book as it comes from the publisher, but
"publishers' binding" is not the only section of the binding trade, and
is indeed regarded by the workers as "decidedly inferior" to
"leather-work," which is emphatically distinguished as "bookbinding."
Leather-binding is employed mainly for rebinding. It forms, as may be
supposed, a comparatively small part of the whole trade, and is
practically confined to three large firms in the West End, a few small
places, and separate rooms in some general binding establishments. The
chief difference of method lies in the better fixing together of back
and cover, the "bound" book being laced into the cover, and in the
presence of a "head-band," at top and bottom of the back. Books to be
re-bound are picked to pieces by women and cleaned from glue, etc.,
re-folded, if necessary, collated, and after being rolled flat (by a
man) are sewn at a hand press. Repairs to torn pages or plates and the
removal of stains are also done by women. This last process demands
great care and skill, "foxed" pages requiring to be dipped into a
preparation of acid which destroys not only the objectionable stain but
also the body of the paper, so that the leaf has to be newly sized and
strengthened, and naturally needs very tender handling throughout this
whole course of treatment. The best head-bands, too, are made by women
by hand, but the head-bands of cheaper books--when they exist at
all--are machine-made. Head-band makers form a special and extremely
small class of workers.
A third branch of the trade is "vellum-binding," a name which covers the
binding of all ledgers, account books, and bank books, whether bound in
vellum or no. The workers engaged in this branch form a separate group,
are rarely found on the premises of regular bookbinders, and work
chiefly in a separate department in printing houses. The employments of
women in vellum-binding are much the same as in publishers' binding;
they fold and sew much in the usual manner, the only marked difference
arising in the case of large day-books, etc., which are elaborately
hand-sewn in frames, each section of the book having a separate guard of
linen.
It is difficult to draw lines of demarcation between the various workers
whose occupations have now been described. In large workplaces a worker
will probably be kept at one minute process; the folder will do nothing
but fold, the sewer will only sew, the collator only collate, and the
inserter only insert. Some forewomen, however, think it better to give
the women a change of employment. Gold layers-on and openers-up are
always entirely apart from folders and sewers, but collators begin with
folding and sewing, and in small houses sometimes combine one or both
these processes with collating.
The divisions of work between men and women are not made upon any
discernible principle of fitness, and except in the case of folding and
sewing, which have belonged to women from time immemorial, the various
processes began in the hands of men and have been gradually taken up by
women. This gradual encroachment has been generally resented and often
resisted by the men, and in May, 1893, an elaborate agreement was drawn
up by the Bookbinding Trade Section of the London Chamber of Commerce
representing the masters, and the secretaries of the men's unions
representing the men working in the trade. The women workers were not
represented or consulted. The agreement is as follows:--
LONDON SOCIETIES OF JOURNEYMEN BOOKBINDERS.
_London Consolidated Society; Bookbinders' and Machine Rulers'
Consolidated Union, London Branch; Society of Day-working
Bookbinders._
That this meeting of representatives of the Bookbinding Section of
the London Chamber of Commerce, with representatives of the
Journeymen Bookbinders' Trade Societies, deeming it desirable that
a definition of bookbinding should be agreed upon for the
delimitation of work to be paid for at recognised rates, hereby
agrees that the following divisions or sub-divisions of labour be
for the future recognised as the work of bookbinders or
apprentices, taking the book from the time of leaving the women
after sewing, except wrappering, which is unaffected by this
agreement:--
Forwarding, and the following sub-divisions of bookbinding:
Nipping, knocking down, or pressing.
Cutting books or magazines.
Colouring edges of books (where done indoors).
Cutting leather, except corners, and backs for flush work from
sheep and roan.
Cutting cloth.
Cutting hollows and linings.
Cutting boards.
Bevelling boards.
Case making.
Pasting down and building up.
Flush work throughout.
Finishing throughout.
Assistant finishing throughout.
Blocking throughout.
Circuit and box work. (Bible trade.)
PROVIDED:--That the representatives of the journeymen agree that
they will not make it a grievance if female or unskilled labour is
placed upon:--
The rolling, pressing before sewing, sawing up, or papering of
outboard work.
The laying on, washing up, or cleaning off of cloth work.
The varnishing of cloth or Bible work.
The paper mounts and pictures on cloth cases.
Taking work out of the press after pasting down, and opening up.
The carrying of loads of work about the workshop.
Further, that the representatives of the journeymen will not
object to the introduction of unskilled labour upon cloth cutting,
if the recognised rate of wages of 32_s._ per 48 hours be paid
after a probationary period of twelve months, in which the novice
may learn the work.
Owing to the difficulties of drafting a clause affecting the
laying on in such a manner as to lay down a line of demarcation
between cloth and leather work, it is hereby agreed to leave the
subject of laying on _in statu quo_, upon the understanding that
it shall not be the policy of the Trade Societies to interfere,
except in the case of innovations upon existing custom.[2]
This agreement not to be construed to the prejudice of the
existing holders of situations.
Adopted by the Bookbinding Trade Section of the London Chamber of
Commerce at its annual meeting on 7th May, 1893.
JOHN DIPROSE, _Chairman_.
Ratified by the executives of the hereunder-mentioned Societies on
May 30th, 1893, and signed on their behalf.
HENRY R. KING, _Secretary, London Consolidated Society_.
WILLIAM BOCKETT, _Secretary, Day Working Bookbinders' Society_.
THOMAS E. POWELL, _Secretary, Bookbinders and Machine Rulers'
Consolidated Union_ (_London Branch_).
[Footnote 2: This clause has been interpreted by the award given in
March, 1903, by Mr. C. J. Stewart, the arbitrator appointed by the Board
of Trade to settle a dispute in the trade regarding wages, hours,
apprentices and piece work. The 6th clause in that award is as
follows:--"That the right or practice existing with regard to female
labour employed on wrappering and for laying on gold in case work, cloth
or leather, or other material, in certain workshops in the trade, shall
be made to apply to all workshops in the trade, it being agreed by the
employers that no man exclusively employed in gold laying-on shall lose
his employment by reason of the employment of women on such work."]
Closely connected with vellum-binding are the processes of
machine-ruling, numbering, paging and perforating.
_Machine-ruling_ is the process by which lines are ruled for ledgers,
invoices, etc. The machine employed resembles a hand-loom in appearance,
and is in effect a framework in which pens are fixed at the required
distances. Ink is conveyed into these from a pad of thick flannel above,
and the page to be ruled lies on a broad band below. The re-inking of
the flannel is in some cases effected by means of a reservoir and tap
supplying a regulated flow, in others the ink is laid on from bowls of
red or blue colour by means of a brush. Machines worked by a handle
still survive in a few places, but as a general rule the machine is
driven by power and the operator merely superintends, correcting the
machine if it goes wrong, setting the pens and regulating the supply of
ink. The newest machines require the services of neither "feeders" nor
"wetters," and the simple old picturesque accessories, the cords, the
wooden frame, the bowls of colour, are disappearing. Women are employed
in some houses to feed the machines, which is purely mechanical work;
our investigators found four establishments in London in which women can
rise to the higher position of "minder," and one other in which they are
allowed to damp the flannel and partially "mind."
_Numbering_ is the process by which consecutive figures are stamped upon
cheques, bills, receipts, tickets, or other loose sheets. A machine
worked by hand is employed, the number types changing automatically. The
attention of the worker is required on three points only: the paper must
be placed so as to bring the number into the right position; the machine
must not be allowed to skip numbers at a jump--as it is inclined to do;
and whenever an additional figure becomes necessary, a certain change
must be made. The handle of the machine works up and down, and the
process is different from that of stamping, to be described later. There
are no power machines for numbering.
Numbering is said to try the eyes, and the working of a machine handle
is considered bad for girls who have any weakness of the chest.
_Paging_ is the process by which numbers are printed upon the pages of a
bound volume. As in numbering, a change has to be made at each "100";
and there is need of further care to avoid missing pages. Where these
are thin or interleaved with tissue paper omissions are very easily
made.
_Perforating_ is done by machines generally worked by power, but
sometimes by treadle, with one foot; and this treadle work was described
by a woman constantly employed at it as excessively hard work.
_Lithography._--The work of women and girls in lithography seems to be
confined to the feeding of machines. In London the introduction of
female labour is comparatively recent, dating from about six or seven
years ago, but in the provinces women have been employed for more than
thirty years. Employers are, for some reason or another, not very ready
to give information about this branch of work; but some of the
investigators engaged in this enquiry have succeeded in seeing the
process. A girl stands on a high platform putting sheets into the proper
place in the machine until she has completed the job. A long interval
may follow in which she may sew, knit or read. The noise of the machine
is incessant, and the work hard, monotonous and mechanical, but if done
under proper conditions not necessarily unhealthy. Many working-places
in London, however, where space is so valuable, are partly underground,
dark and ill-ventilated, and in these the ceaseless whirring noise and
the smell of the ink grow unendurably trying. Workers in such places are
rough and of low social standing. Most men working in the general
stationery trades, and some employers who do not employ women, condemn
the doing of this work by women, and since the women have superseded not
men but boys, the views of the workmen are not those of trade rivals.
Girls are said to be in various ways better workers than
boys--cleaner-handed, more careful and accurate, less disposed to meddle
with the machinery, and therefore less liable to accidents; above all,
quieter, more docile, and less apt to strike. The men employed in
lithography look favourably on the employment of girls, because no girl
attempts to rise into the higher grades and "pick up" the trade without
apprenticeship. Girls do not, and boys as feeders do, "constitute a
danger to the Society." Moreover, a trade that offers only so uncertain
a chance of rising is generally disapproved for a boy.
The objection to the employment for girls is that they work among
men--an objection which may be a very grave one indeed, or a
comparatively slight one, according to the character of the foreman and
the management of the workshop. It may be noted that respectable
working-class parents almost always consider this objection serious.
A few women are reported to be employed as lithographic artists, but no
one has been seen in the course of this enquiry.
Minor stationery trades are envelope-making, black bordering, plain and
relief stamping.
_Envelope-making_ has several subdivisions. The paper is first cut to
shape in machines worked by men, then passed to women to be "cemented,"
_i.e._, to be gummed upon the flaps, folded or "creased," and stuck
together. Finally the envelopes are packed by women.
Cementing and folding are reckoned distinct trades. One cementer
explained to an investigator, however, that she described herself as a
folder, "for people are so ignorant that if you say you are a cementer
they think you have something to do with the pavement." Cementing may be
done by hand or by machine, and the workers are not interchangeable. The
hand-worker spreads out the envelopes in the shape of a fan, and passes
her brush over all the flaps at once. The machine-cementer puts 500 or
1,000 envelopes into a small machine, which grips them and drips gum
upon their flaps. The worker extricates the envelopes one by one, and
spreads them out to dry. A more complex machine is being introduced
which performs the various processes for itself, requiring one girl to
feed and one to take-off.
The flaps being dry, the envelopes are taken in bundles to the
_folders_, who first "crease" them--that is, fold in the sides--then
"gum" them with a brush at the required points, and fasten them. This
process can also be performed by a machine, and the operator in that
case merely feeds the machine with the cemented paper, and the envelope
is delivered made.
The envelopes are then handed on to the "packers," who count them and
make them up into packets, and the packets into parcels.
Except the original cutting, still done by men, all these processes have
always been executed by women.
The trade of _black bordering_ is carried on by women who seldom or
never perform any other process. Black bordering is usually done by
hand. The worker spreads out a number of sheets, cards or envelopes, in
such a manner as to expose only a certain width of border, and over this
exposed portion she passes a brush. Of course, only two edges of each
sheet, etc., can be laid ready at one time, and each object has to be
"laid out" a second time after drying. "It is marvellous to see the
speed and dexterity with which the women do the 'laying-out.' They
gather up a large number of sheets, lay them on the board and fan them
out with a piece of wood used for the purpose, showing the most
astounding accuracy of eye in leaving just the right width exposed.
Sometimes the 'laying out' is done by a machine, and only the blacking
by hand." This trade--a steady one on the whole--has, unlike nearly all
the other stationery trades, been more prosperous owing to the South
African war--a grim little example of the way in which large public
events eddy away into undreamed of backwaters! Men now never do black
bordering, but are reported to have done so once. Machinery is now being
more widely introduced.
_Plain, Relief and Cameo Stamping._--Under these heads are included all
the various processes by which crests, monograms, addresses, etc., are
embossed upon notepaper, cards, programmes, or private Christmas cards.
The trade has increased enormously of late years, and a new process has
been introduced which renders it possible to employ the printing press.
This, however, is only worth while when the order to be executed is a
very large one; and most stamping is done by hand machines, a die being
fixed into the machine and impressed by tightly screwing down. The
machine is worked (like an ordinary copying press) by a horizontal bar,
having a ball at each end, and swung from right to left. The lighter
machines can be worked by one hand; the heavier require two, and are
found fatiguing. Some are so heavy that they can only be worked by men.
Practice is necessary in order to get the stamp in exactly the right
place, and, in relief or cameo work, in order to mix the colours, which
are rubbed on the die, to precisely the right thickness.
Plain stamping--the easiest process--is that in which letters, a coat of
arms, or a trade mark, are raised but not coloured; in relief stamping
the raised surface is coloured; and in cameo stamping (of which the
registered letter envelope is an example) a white device stands out from
a coloured background.
When two or more colours are employed considerable care, skill, and
patience are needed. This work, in two or more colours, is called
_illuminating_; in one branch of it--the highest--gold and silver are
employed on a coloured surface, and here women are not employed.
_Show-card Mounting._--Card mounting is a distinct trade, and is almost
entirely in female hands. Almanacs, advertisements, and texts for
hanging up, all belong to the province of the card mounter, whose main
business is to unite the picture and cardboard that arrive separately in
her workshop. The board is first cut either by a man at a cutting
machine--or "guillotine"--or occasionally by a girl at a rotary machine
adjustable to different gauges; then "lined," by having paper pasted
over the back and edges. Inferior work is not lined. Finally, the
picture or print is pasted on the card, the backs of three or four
pictures being pasted at once, and each in succession being applied to
its own card. Some means of hanging up is still needed, and various
methods are in use. Sometimes eyelets are inserted into a punched hole
by means of a small machine which a girl works by hand. Sometimes the
edge is bound with a strip of tin, having loops attached to it; in this
case the tin strips are cut by men, and applied by hand machines, again
worked by girls. Sometimes, as in the case of maps, charts, and large
diagrams, a wooden rod is fixed at the top, this fixing being done by
girls.
The trade is not, it will readily be perceived, one that demands great
skill, practice or intelligence, and the majority of the workers are
very young. Still, a certain degree of experience is necessary, since
the application of either too much or too little paste results in a
"blister," and blistered work is spoiled. One investigator was shown a
lot of 500 cards, the estimated value of which was 6_d._ each, no less
than 385 of which had thus been spoiled and rendered quite useless. The
workers stand at their work and report that it exhausts them. It used,
till about twenty-eight years ago, to be done by men; but the trade was
at that time a much smaller one. Night work, when considered necessary,
is still done by men.
A little laying-on of gold is done in connection with card mounting. The
process has been described already under bookbinding.
The Christmas card industry (which may be considered as a variety of
show-card mounting) serves to exemplify one of the anomalies of the
Factory Act. These cards may be sorted, packed, etc., to any hours of
the night, because mere packing is not regarded as manufacture; but if a
"bow of ribbon" is to be affixed to each card, the process becomes
"preparation for sale," and the regulations of the Act apply.[3]
[Footnote 3: Cf. pp. 76,77.]
_Typefounding._--Typefounding is a small, ancient and conservative trade
into which women have only crept during the last few years. In London
there are only about eight typefoundries proper, and in these labour is
elaborately subdivided, every workman performing but one process.
Recently, however, some large printing houses have begun to cast their
own type, and in these the few men employed perform all the processes,
or, to use their own term, "do the work through," thus, curiously
enough, reverting to an earlier stage in the development of the trade.
Women are employed in the large foundries, where they perform certain
subsidiary parts of the work. Each type when it comes from the machine
wherein it has been cast has a little superfluous bit of thin metal,
known as a "break" on its end or "foot." These bits are broken off by
girls, the "foot" of the type being pressed against a table and the
"break" snapped off. No great skill is required, but quickness only
comes with practice. The type is also "set-up"--_i.e._, put in rows in a
long stick or "galley"--by girls; here, again, nothing is needed beyond
a certain manual dexterity. Sometimes another stage, "rubbing,"
intervenes between the "breaking" and the "setting-up." Rubbing is
merely the smoothing off on a flat grindstone of any roughness that may
be left by the machine round the "face" end of the type. In one case, in
London, one or two women were once employed in rubbing, but none appear
to be so engaged at present, and the newer appliances have made rubbing
unnecessary. "Dressing," the final process through which the type
passes, is said to be in some places performed by women; but no such
instances have been found in London in the course of this investigation.
The dresser receives the lines or sticks of type, polishes the sides,
measures their length and breadth with a delicate spanner, "nicks" the
foot of each type, and finally "picks over" the type--that is, scans the
row of "faces" through a magnifying glass, and rejects any on which the
letters are not absolutely truly placed.
One large London firm, employing many girls, has a different process.
The types are cast in long lines and have to be divided, no breaking or
setting-up being required. As one of the workers said, "This is not a
trade; just any one can do it!"
Girls began to do "breaking" and "setting-up" in London about thirteen
years ago. There were then but thirteen so employed. During the last few
years their numbers have increased, and it is estimated that those now
employed number from 100 to 150. One firm is known to employ fifty and
another forty. They have superseded boys, and were mainly introduced
because boys were difficult to get. The chances of rising being small
for boys, they were disinclined to enter the trade. The chances for
girls are _nil_, but this consideration does not weigh much with girls
belonging to the class that supplies workers to typefounding. The female
workers are all young, and at present no married women seem to be
employed, a fact which may perhaps be due to the comparatively recent
entrance of women into the trade.
The occupation has a special feature of unhealthiness--the danger of
lead-poisoning; and the Factory Act, recognising this, prohibits women,
young persons or children, from taking a meal upon the premises where
typefounding is carried on. As in other lead industries, much depends on
the care and cleanliness of the worker. To eat with hands lead-blackened
by some hours of "breaking-off" is to run considerable risk of
lead-poisoning. It is suggested that girls, being more fastidious than
boys upon such points, may possibly suffer less frequently from the
dangers involved in the industry of typefounding.
CHAPTER II.
_WOMEN IN THE TRADES._
[Sidenote: Census figures.]
Before 1841 the census occupation tables do not state the numbers
employed in the detailed trades, and even in that year we find either
that no separate return was made for some of the industries with which
this volume deals, or that no women were employed at all. Presumably,
therefore, previous statistics would not have shown that women were
employed in these industries to any appreciable extent.
The following tables show the employment of women in England and Wales
and Scotland in the Printing and Kindred Trades according to the census
returns from 1841 to 1901. The figures must be used with caution, as
they include employers as well as employed (an error, however, which is
immaterial in the case of women workers). Subsidiary helpers are also
classified with those actually entitled to be regarded as members of the
trade, and the tables do not discriminate sufficiently between the
various subdivisions of occupations. These last two errors considerably
affect the figures relating to women. In the bookbinding section, for
instance,[4] the figures are altogether misleading, since by far the
greater number of women included as bookbinders are really paper and
book-folders, and are no more entitled to the name bookbinder than a
bricklayer's labourer is to that of bricklayer.
[Footnote 4: Since 1881 in the Scottish returns.]
ENGLAND AND WALES.
Males. Females.
_Census 1841. (Employers and Employed included.)_
Booksellers, bookbinders, etc. 8,873 2,035
Printers 15,582 161
Lithographers, etc. 667 12
Paper manufacture 4,375 1,287
Paper rulers 113 16
Paper stainers 1,243 92
Type founders 629 6
Vellum binders 131 3
_Census 1851._ (_Employers and Employed included._)
Bookbinders 5,501 } 3,926
Printers, etc 23,568 }
Lithographers (Great Britain) 1,984 6
Paper manufacture 6,123 4,686
Paper stainers 2,001 Not enumerated.
_Census 1861._ (_Employers and Employed included._)
Bookbinders 6,556 5,364
Printers 30,171 419
Lithographers, etc. 3,588 --
Paper manufacture 7,746 5,611
Machine rulers 564 54
Envelope makers 179 860
Paper stainers 1,556 399
Type founders 863 11
_Census 1871._ (_Employers and Employed included._)
Bookbinders 7,917 7,557
Printers 44,073 741
Lithographers, etc 3,785 Not enumerated.
Paper manufacture 10,142 6,630
Envelope makers Not enumerated. 1,477
Paper stainers 1,311 448
_Census 1881._ (_Employers and Employed included._)
Bookbinders 9,505 10,592
Printers 59,088 2,202
Lithographers, etc 6,009 147
Paper manufacture 10,352 8,277
Envelope makers 175 1,933
Paper stainers 1,822 445
Type cutters and founders 1,137 32
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| _Census | Employ- | Employ- | Working | Others | TOTAL. |
| 1891._ | ers. | ed. | on | not | |
| | | | Own | Speci- | |
| | | | Account. | fied. | |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Book- | M. 615 | 10,038 | 355 | 479 | 11,487 |
| binders | F. 72 | 13,401 | 74 | 702 | 14,249 |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Printers | M. 3,979 | 73,288 | 1,052 | 3,640 | 81,959 |
| | F. 158 | 4,133 | 32 | 204 | 4,527 |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Litho- | M. 499 | 7,486 | 359 | 292 | 8,636 |
| graphers, | F. 9 | 309 | 7 | 24 | 349 |
| etc. | | | | | |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Paper | M. 396 | 11,081 | 97 | 440 | 12,014 |
| manu- | F. 12 | 7,598 | 29 | 390 | 8,029 |
| facture | | | | | |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Envelope | M. 9 | 260 | 6 | 14 | 289 |
| makers | F. 2 | 2,339 | 13 | 104 | 2,458 |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Paper | M. 135 | 1,861 | 60 | 78 | 2,134 |
| stainers | F. 10 | 370 | 7 | 16 | 403 |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Type | M. 35 | 1,204 | 23 | 52 | 1,314 |
| cutters | F. 1 | 49 | 0 | 5 | 55 |
| and | | | | | |
| founders | | | | | |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| _Census | Employ- | Employ- | Working | Others | TOTAL. |
| 1901._ | ers. | ed. | on | not | |
| | | | Own | Speci- | |
| | | | Account. | fied. | |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Book- | M. 554 | 11,609 | 388 | 113 | 12,664 |
| binders | F. 46 | 18,933 | 82 | 162 | 19,223 |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Printers | M. 4,805 | 89,306 | 1,603 | 774 | 96,488 |
| | F. 117 | 9,463 | 48 | 65 | 9,693 |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Litho- | M. 496 | 9,648 | 445 | 93 | 10,682 |
| graphers, | F. 7 | 1,015 | 14 | 7 | 1,043 |
| etc. | | | | | |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Paper | M. 337 | 14,920 | 47 | 55 | 15,359 |
| manu- | F. 11 | 8,815 | 7 | 18 | 8,851 |
| facture | | | | | |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Envelope | M. 14 | 352 | 1 | 3 | 370 |
| makers | F. 6 | 3,113 | 1 | 23 | 3,143 |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Paper | M. 45 | 1,928 | 34 | 25 | 2,032 |
| stainers | F. 2 | 280 | 1 | 4 | 287 |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Type | M. 35 | 1,223 | 15 | 14 | 1,287 |
| cutters | F. 0 | 181 | 0 | 2 | 183 |
| and | | | | | |
| founders | | | | | |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Sta- | M. 352 | 3,910 | 91 | 28 | 4,381 |
| tionary | F. 24 | 4,615 | 12 | 47 | 4,698 |
| manu- | | | | | |
| facture | | | | | |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
SCOTLAND.
Males. Females.
_Census 1841. (Employers and Employed included.)_
Booksellers, etc. 2,164 283
Printers 2,446 21
Lithographers, etc. 234 1
Paper manufacture 732 738
Paper rulers 61 8
Paper stainers 31 1
Type founders 292 --
_Census 1851._ (_Employers and Employed included._)
Bookbinders 1,09 } 710
Printers, etc. 3,526 }
Paper manufacture 1,265 2,159
Paper stainers 49 Not enumerated.
_Census 1861._ (_Employers and Employed included._)
Bookbinders 1,174 100
Printers 4,400 70
Lithographers, etc. 1,101 2
Engravers 651 6
Bookfolders 2 1,094
Machine rulers 171 18
Paper manufacture 1,648 2,773
Envelope makers 5 309
Paper stainers 77 --
Type founders 434 --
_Census 1871._ (_Employers and Employed included._)
Bookbinders 1,293 174
Printers 5,476 113
Lithographers, etc. 1,125 36
Print and map colourers 192 57
Bookfolders -- 1,646
Paper manufacture 2,770 3,504
Envelope makers 7 412
Paper rulers 214 100
Paper stainers 110 50
Type founders 496 --
_Census 1881._ (_Employers and Employed included._)
Bookbinders 1,433 2,587(a)
Printers 6,936 839
Lithographers, etc. 1,269 153
Map and print colourers and sellers 50 41
Paper rulers 188 115
Paper manufacture 3,363 4,612
Envelope makers 32 580
Paper stainers 34 97
Type cutters and founders 471 71
(a) Bookfolders are included here.
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| _Census | Employ- | Employ- | Working | Not | TOTAL. |
| 1891._ | ers. | ed. | on | Speci- | |
| | | | Own | fied. | |
| | | | Account. | | |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Book- |M. 68 | 1,413 | 13 | 22 | 1,516 |
| binders |F. 3 | 2,865 | 3 | 18 | 2,889 |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Printers |M. 322 | 8,367 | 69 | 84 | 8,842 |
| |F. 5 | 1,417 | 1 | 7 | 1,430 |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Litho |M. 109 | 1,516 | 22 | 10 | 1,657 |
| graphers, |F. -- | 397 | 1 | 2 | 400 |
| etc. | | | | | |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Paper |M. 10 | 315 | 1 | 13 | 339 |
| rulers |F. 1 | 192 | -- | 4 | 197 |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Paper |M. 107 | 4,332 | 21 | 51 | 4,511 |
| manu- |F. 3 | 4,546 | 4 | 66 | 4,619 |
| facture | | | | |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Envelope |M. 3 | 33 | 2 | -- | 38 |
| makers |F. -- | 698 | 1 | -- | 699 |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Paper |M. 6 | 113 | 1 | -- | 120 |
| stainers |F. -- | 28 | -- | -- | 28 |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Type |M. 9 | 496 | 3 | 4 | 512 |
| cutters |F. -- | 75 | -- | -- | 75 |
| and | | | | | |
| founders | | | | | |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| _Census | Employ- | Employ- | Working | Not | TOTAL. |
| 1901._ | ers. | ed. | on | Speci- | |
| | | | Own | fied. | |
| | | | Account. | | |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Book | M. 67 | 1,422 | 16 | -- | 1,505 |
| binders | F. 4 | 3,522 | 4 | -- | 3,530 |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Printers | M. 378 | 9,643 | 54 | 2 | 10,077 |
| | F. 7 | 2,852 | 1 | -- | 2,860 |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Litho | M. 87 | 1,640 | 25 | -- | 1,752 |
| graphers, | F. 2 | 728 | 1 | -- | 731 |
| etc. | | | | | |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Paper | M. 103 | 4,860 | 6 | 1 | 5,000 |
| manu- | F. 2 | 4,653 | -- | -- | 4,655 |
| facture | | | | | |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Envelope | M. 4 | 53 | -- | -- | 57 |
| makers | F. 1 | 895 | -- | -- | 896 |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Paper | M. 1 | 120 | 1 | -- | 122 |
| stainers | F. -- | 52 | 1 | -- | 53 |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Type | M. 6 | 419 | 5 | -- | 430 |
| cutters | F. -- | 53 | -- | -- | 53 |
| and | | | | | |
| founders | | | | | |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
| Sta- | M. 22 | 95 | 1 | -- | 118 |
| tionery | F. 1 | 492 | 3 | -- | 496 |
| manu- | | | | | |
| facture | | | | | |
+-----------+----------+---------+----------+--------+--------+
[Sidenote: Chief Factory Inspector's figures.]
In 1896 the Home Office began to publish as an appendix to the Chief
Factory Inspector's Report a series of figures of occupation which were
exceedingly valuable for purposes of comparison, and in time would have
been the best existing statistical index of industrial movements.
Unfortunately these figures have not been published since 1899; but for
the years that they were issued, those relating to the printing trades
were as follows:--
FACTORY INSPECTOR'S REPORTS.
_Paper, Printing, Stationery, Etc. (Includes all the industries
under this section.)_
Total Total Male Female
Male. Female. over 18. over 18.
1895 Factories 159,987 63,626 123,895 42,904
Workshops 3,355 4,692 2,224 3,073
------- ------ ------- ------
Total 163,342 68,318 126,119 45,977
1896 Factories 169,500 68,769 131,166 45,632
Workshops 4,508 5,919 3,152 3,898
------- ------ ------- ------
Total 174,008 74,688 134,318 49,530
1897 Factories 171,151 69,898 134,221 45,479
Workshops 4,458 6,305 3,192 4,192
------- ------ ------- ------
Total 175,609 76,203 137,413 49,671
1898-99(a) 173,964 72,833 137,504 46,681
SOME DETAILS OF ABOVE.
Total Total Male Female
Male. Female. over 18. over 18.
_Paper-making._
1895 Factories 21,263 11,008 18,271 8,935
1896 " 22,091 11,744 18,777 9,403
1897 " 22,174 11,309 19,086 9,138
1898-99(a) " 22,340 11,506 19,158 9,197
_Bookbinding._
1895 Factories 11,791 16,098 9,304 10,802
1896 " 13,300 17,159 10,580 11,498
1897 " 14,661 20,877 11,705 13,985
1898-99(a) " 14,893 22,555 12,046 14,653
_Letter-press Printing._
1895 Factories 104,162 19,974 80,232 12,699
1896 " 104,860 20,634 80,719 12,732
1897 " 100,629 14,473 79,124 8,725
1898-99(a) " 102,800 13,348 81,598 8,283
_Lithography, Engraving and Photography._
1895 Factories 12,789 4,516 9,024 2,735
Workshops 2,226 1,425 1,494 943
1896 Factories 14,854 5,252 10,572 3,076
Workshops 3,116 2,146 2,224 1,437
1897 Factories 17,960 6,278 12,867 3,451
Workshops 2,794 2,115 2,076 1,477
1898-99(a) Factories 17,737 6,457 12,727 3,522
_Machine Ruling._
1895 Factories 664 482 408 170
Workshops 233 134 97 45
1896 Factories 981 599 594 197
Workshops 269 168 135 59
1897 Factories 1,764 1,414 1,115 538
Workshops 322 166 163 57
1898-99(a) Factories 2,062 1,571 1,328 534
_Paper Staining, Colouring and Enamelling._
1895 Factories 4,254 983 2,916 540
Workshops 102 28 74 16
1896 Factories 4,468 1,065 3,114 577
Workshops 138 70 111 42
1897 Factories 4,795 1,368 3,395 784
Workshops 40 66 33 38
1898-99(a) Factories 4,874 1,320 3,529 746
_Envelope Making._
1897 Factories 1,203 4,156 8 96 2,865
Workshops 37 292 25 191
1898-99(a) Factories 1,405 4,996 1,030 3,313
(a) Factories only.
These figures must not be compared with the census returns as they
relate only to those establishments making reports to the Factory
Inspectors under the Factory and Workshop Law.
CHAPTER III.
_WOMEN'S WORK AND ORGANISATION._
[Sidenote: Women as Compositors. Historical.]
The subdivision of labour which has broken up the original printing
"profession" into a score or so of different trades, each minutely
subdivided in turn, has been the chief cause of the employment of women
in this industry in modern times, although it appears that nuns were
engaged as compositors at the Ripoli Monastery Press in Florence towards
the end of the fifteenth century,[5] within half a century of the
introduction of printing. Only very exceptional women could obtain a
footing in a profession which embraced typefounding, ink-making,
press-carpentry, composing, folding, and bookbinding. The United States,
where, in so many respects, women have stepped in advance of European
conditions, boasts of Jenny Hirsch, who carried on a printer's business
in Boston about 1690, and during the next two centuries women printers
were common in the thirteen States. It was a woman, Mary Catherine
Goddard, who printed the first issue of the "Declaration of
Independence." The years of the French Revolution also seem to be marked
by the number of women engaged in the printing trade, whether owing to
the general emancipating impulses of the time or to the increased demand
for compositors, is not quite clear. The amiable and eccentric Thomas
Beddoes, moved by the interest he took in social affairs, and inspired
by the emancipatory movement of his time, had been struck with the
opening which the printing trades seemed to offer to women, and gave his
"Alexander's Expedition"[6] to a woman of his village, Madely, to set
up. "I know not," he wrote in the Advertisement to the book, "if women
be commonly engaged in printing, but their nimble and delicate fingers
seem extremely well adapted to the office of compositor, and it will be
readily granted that employment for females is amongst the greatest
_desiderata_ of society." In England, however, the labour of women
outside their homes continued to be extremely limited, and the printing
trades were confined to men. During the eighteenth century women seem to
have been employed in folding and sewing book and news sheets, but they
did not come into the trade in any considerable numbers until the
nineteenth century was half spent. This was very largely owing to the
heavy nature of the work and the long apprenticeship necessary to master
the varied details of the craft. The Provincial Typographical Society's
first constitution, issued in 1849, shows that at so recent a date the
typographical apprentice had to learn "printing and bookbinding" or
"printing and stationery."[7] The printing press used in 1800 was
practically the same as that used by Gutenberg in 1450.
[Footnote 5: _Printers' Register_, August 6th, 1878, quoting _Journal
für Buchdruckerkunst_.]
[Footnote 6: Published in 1792.]
[Footnote 7: Typographical Association: "Fifty Years' Record," p. 4.]
The enormous advance in the printing trades owing to the abolition of
the stamp duties and the paper tax, together with the spread of
education and improvement in the facilities for publishing, with their
resulting large demand for printed matter, speedily revolutionised these
trades and led to the introduction of the great machines. Pressmen
became differentiated from compositors, "minders" from layers-on or
takers-off, jobbers from book-hands, folders from makers-up; whilst
bookbinding finally became a separate trade altogether. Some of these
separate processes, needing but little skill and requiring no
apprenticeship, involving no heavy labour and no responsibility, offered
openings for women.
[Sidenote: Conflict between men and women.]
One of the earliest references to women made by the Typographical
Association occurs in 1860, when the Executive of the Union mentioned
them in its half-yearly report. Printing houses were then closed to
Union members on account of the employment of women. The Typographical
Society's _Monthly Circular_ for August, 1865, for instance, states that
a Bacup newspaper office was closed to members of the Typographical
Union, owing to the employment of female labour. The exact form of
employment is not given. Again, in the report for June, 1866, the
Executive of the Union refers to having trouble with an employer who
tried to employ female labour, but who had failed "to get suitable
applicants of the gentle sex." In 1886 it was agreed that women should
be admitted to both the Typographical Association and the London Society
of Compositors on the same terms as men, but only one woman has availed
herself of this resolution.[8]
[Footnote 8: She joined the London Society of Compositors on August
30th, 1892, but she has now ceased to be a member.]
[Sidenote: Printing Trades and the Women's Movement.]
At this point, the movement for the emancipation of women contributes an
interesting chapter to the history of these trades.
The printing trades were regarded by a few of the leading spirits in the
agitation for "Women's Rights" as being well adapted to women's skill
and _physique_, and in 1860 Miss Emily Faithfull not only started the
Victoria Press, in which women alone were to be employed, but directed
the attention of women generally to the openings afforded them by this
group of trades. "The compositor trades," the _Englishwoman's Journal_
(June, 1860) said, "should be in the hands of women only." Miss
Faithfull's experiments produced some considerable flutter amongst men.
At first, the men looked down upon them with the contempt of traditional
superiority; women compositors were "to die off like birds in winter"
(_cf._ _Printers' Journal_, August 5th, 1867, where a correspondent
stated that "the day is far distant when such labour can hope to
supersede our own"); but some trepidation was speedily caused when it
was found that women's shops were undercutting men's, and an alarmist
article in the _Printers' Register_ of February 6th, 1869, states that
"the exertions of the advocates of female labour in the printing
business have resulted in the establishment of a printing office where
printing can be done on lower terms than those usually charged." That
year Miss Faithfull was engaged in her libel action against Mr. Grant
for calling her an atheist, and the _Publishers' Circular_ furiously
attacked her work. By-and-by, however, the controversy died down. Miss
Faithfull's several attempts[9] to establish permanently a printing
establishment bore fruit in the still existing Women's Printing Society,
started in 1874.
[Footnote 9: 1860, 1869, 1873; in 1869 another Women's Printing Office
was started as a means of finding employment for educated ladies:
_Printers' Register_, January 6th, 1869.]
As an industrial factor, however, the "Women's Movement" has been
altogether secondary, and women have been induced to enter the trades
under review mainly because the subdivision of labour and the
application of mechanical power had created simple processes; because
they were willing to accept low wages; and because, unlike the men, who
were members of Unions, they made no efforts to interfere in the
management of the works.
[Sidenote: The London experience.]
Partly owing to the nature of the work done and partly to the power of
the London Society of Compositors, no systematic attempt seems to have
been made generally to introduce women compositors into London houses
since 1878, and it is of some significance to note that most of the
London firms which employed women compositors between 1873 and 1878--the
period when the attempt was most actively made--have since disappeared,
owing to bad equipment and the inferior character of their trade.
But the opposition to women lingered on after the attempts to introduce
them more generally had ceased. In 1879 the London Society of
Compositors decided that none of their members should finish work set up
by women, and the firm of Messrs. Smyth and Yerworth was struck by the
men's Union.[10]
[Footnote 10: It is interesting to note that in these days also the
women only set up the type and the men "made it up."]
Commenting on this trouble, the _Standard_, in a leading article
(October 8th, 1879) cynically remarked: "What women ask is not to be
allowed to compete with men, which the more sensible among them know to
be impossible, but to be allowed the chance of a small livelihood by
doing the work of men a little cheaper than men care to do it. This is
underselling of course, but it is difficult to see why, when all is said
and done, men should object to be undersold by their own wives and
daughters."
"_Capital and Labour_," as quoted by the _Victoria Magazine_,[11] put
the case for the women thus: "This work is much more remunerative, and
far less toilsome and irritating than the occupation of the average
nursery governess, and we anticipate that, with proper arrangements,
there will be a large addition to the number of women compositors. The
reasons assigned against their employment in this capacity seem to be
the outcome of pedantry, prejudice, and jealousy; and no trade rules can
be permitted to interpose obstacles to the attainment of such a
desirable object as furnishing occupation to a number of females who are
qualified by deftness of hand and mental capacity to earn in it an
honourable livelihood. What would one of the men, who chose to leave
Messrs. Smyth and Yerworth at the behest of the Union, say, if having a
daughter of his own to assist him in his occupations, she were to be
compelled to sit idle while he was made to employ a male assistant at
high wages? Yet these men, though intelligent, capable, and industrious,
deliberately throw themselves out of work, and become for the time
paupers of their Union, because it will not permit them to assist in
perfecting any processes which have been begun by women. This is the way
in which men run their heads against a brick wall."
[Footnote 11: November, 1879.]
In December, 1882, the _Printers' Register_ published the following
notice: "In a West End office, objection having been made to the
introduction of female labour, and an undue number of turnovers, a
strike appeared imminent, but the Committee of the Society succeeded in
settling the dispute to the satisfaction of both sides."
The question does not appear to have troubled the London Society again,
but in 1886, a Conference of the Typographical Societies of the United
Kingdom and Continent, held in London (October 21st-23rd), resolved:
"That while strongly of opinion that women are not physically capable of
performing the duties of a compositor, this Conference recommends their
admission to membership of the various Typographical Unions, upon the
same conditions as journeymen, provided always the females are paid
strictly in accordance with scale."
This resolution was subsequently adopted by the London Society of
Compositors as noted above, and is at present in force, with the result
that it is practically impossible for any woman to join the Society.[12]
[Footnote 12: A curious point in connection with the work being sent out
of London is that except in the case of Edinburgh the greater cheapness
of the work outside London is not due so much to cheaper labour as to
lower rent, etc. Several firms out in the country in England where there
is no question of a Union preventing them, have tried to introduce
women, but with very little success. This is put down as lack of
intelligence in the women. No doubt a girl who has had only a village
elementary education is not the best material out of which to make a
good compositor, and the wages offered are not high enough to tempt town
bred girls to undergo the tedium of country life.]
[Sidenote: Provincial experience.]
The Scottish compositors are organised in the Scottish Typographical
Association, which has no women members. Women, particularly in
Edinburgh and Perth, and to a smaller extent in Aberdeen, have been
employed to defeat the ends of the Society.[13]
[Footnote 13: See p. 45.]
The few attempts made to organise women in the printing trades have
failed. Women have been introduced into these trades at times of trouble
with the men's Unions, and are consequently not likely to form
organisations of their own. Their work has been so precarious and so
largely confined to the mechanical and lower grades of labour,[14] that
they have had no incentive to aspire to high standards of wages or other
industrial conditions. The women employed in the actual printing
processes do not seem to have regarded their work as their permanent
means of livelihood to the same extent as folders, for instance, have
done, and have been less interested, consequently, in improving their
trade conditions; and, finally, the men's Societies, for various
reasons, some well-founded and some groundless, have regarded women
printers as a form of cheap labour--"undercutters"--and have looked upon
them as dangerous intruders.
[Footnote 14: _Cf._ pp. 64-68.]
When, however, we turn to the organisation of women in the trades
dealing with printed matter, especially folding and bookbinding, we find
much greater collective activity and closer co-operation both amongst
themselves and with the men. Their Trade Union record is still but
scanty, nevertheless, the frequent and persistent efforts of women to
act jointly, without establishing a permanent organisation, form one of
the characteristic features of the trade. This apparently is almost
entirely due to the fact that women's labour in bookbinding, _e.g._, in
folding, was accepted by the men, and that in all workshop matters women
were the fellow-workers and not the rivals of the men. This distinction
between printing and bookbinding is most marked and requires to be
emphasised.
[Sidenote: Organisation amongst bookbinders.]
The bookbinders' organisation sprang up in 1779-80, as most
organisations then did, from friendly meetings in certain houses of
call. It was at first known as "The Friends." In 1786, the working day
was from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., with certain breaks for meals, giving,
perhaps, an actual working time of twelve and a half hours per day. But
in March of that year, a Conference of the sections decided to ask for a
reduction of an hour per day, and their petition was followed by the
discharge of workmen.[15] The employers then went further, and in May,
1786, indicted twenty-four of the ringleaders for conspiracy. In a
manifesto to the public, the men complained that their wages were only
from 15_s._ to 18_s._ per week, rising in a few cases to a guinea, and
proceeded to charge the employers with having "with vindictive rage
forced into the sweet retreats of domestic felicity" wives who were
employed in the trade. This action on the part of the employers was not
prompted, however, by an objection to women, for, according to the
testimony of Mr. W. M. Hall,[16] one of the men indicted, an attempt was
made to supply the book market as a temporary makeshift during the
dispute with the imperfect work of women. He says, "I cannot remember
the exact time of striking the women. This I remember, it was on account
of them and the apprentices doing books in boards, by the booksellers
consenting to take them so for a time, I was appointed to strike Black
Jock's[17] women. I went at one o'clock to see Maria, his forewoman, who
used to dine in the shop, she being single. I told her she must inform
the other women of the injury they were doing us by continuing at work.
If they were willing to serve our interest and leave their work, they
should receive their wages for doing nothing. If we gained our cause,
they should be sure of employ, and the advantage of the hour also.
Coming downstairs, I met Mr. McKinley.
"'Well, Mr. Hall, are you coming to work again directly?'
"'Sir, if you will grant the hour----'
"'Come in here,' he says, going into his dining-room, and setting down a
large square bottle of Hollands to give me a glass, taking one himself
and pouring out another. Pat, pat, pat! came our ladies downstairs.
'What is all this about?' I was glad to make my escape. The six or seven
women were all subpoenaed against me on the trial."
[Footnote 15: In the Report of the Committee on Trades' Societies
published in 1860 by the National Association for the Promotion of
Social Science, Mr. Dunning tells the history of the London Consolidated
Society of Bookbinders. pp. 93-104.]
[Footnote 16: _The Finishers' Friendly Circular_, May, 1846, No. 4.]
[Footnote 17: An employer named John McKinley.]
The narrative of this famous struggle--one of the most important in the
history of Trade Unionism, involving persecution, imprisonment, and
death--contains no further records of the part played by women in it,
but Mr. Hall's reminiscence indicates how they behaved. The men were
successful, and in 1794, the working day was again reduced, so that it
lasted from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Presumably the women shared in these
advantages, and also in that of an afternoon tea half-hour, which was
theirs exclusively until 1806, when the men, during a period of active
trade and overtime, demanded the same privilege. James Watson, in his
"Recollections,"[18] hints that the kind indulgence of the women to the
men, permitted in some shops, made the afternoon tea half-hour a general
demand. "Their kind friends, the ladies, while preparing for their own
comfort, neglected not those of their less fortunate companions, but
contrived by making their tea to accommodate them as much as possible,
and the men, if not immediately under the eye of their employer, would
seat themselves on the end of their presses for ten minutes or so and
thus partake of it." A strike to secure the half-hour was unsuccessful,
but the men gradually won their point. Mr. Watson tells how, after the
strike, it happened that he was being engaged by one of the opposing
masters. The master, "being pressed upon the point, damned the
half-hour, but said I might come in and do as I liked. I accordingly
accepted the situation, and at tea-time, when I prepared to sit down, I
expected to be supported by the men of the shop who were well aware of
my intention, but not one of them would move. I was thus placed in an
awkward position, and could only turn to my good friends, the ladies, to
countenance my proceedings, who kindly invited me to their tea table."
In about a month, Mr. Watson informs us, every man in the place was
following his example.[19]
[Footnote 18: _British Bookmaker_, June, 1892.]
[Footnote 19: The friendly conduct of "the ladies" was long remembered
in the trade, and was celebrated as late as 1847 in a song:--
"What we enjoy we dearly bought,
And nobly they the battle fought,
Who--though the ladies' aid they sought,
Would--right or wrong--have tea.
_Chorus_
"Then let us all our voices raise,
And loudly chant to-night in praise
Of those who gained in byegone days,
The time we have for tea."]
[Sidenote: The Bible Society controversy.]
The struggle which the bookbinders fought with most pertinacity
was, however, that which they waged against the Religious
Societies--particularly the British and Foreign Bible Society--when
attempting to cheapen the production of religious literature by means
which, the bookbinders contended, involved unreasonably low rates of
pay. In this struggle women played a prominent part.
It broke out as early as 1825 when the Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge reduced its prices and the master bookbinders working for it
reduced wages. The strike which followed collapsed for want of funds. In
1833 the contest was resumed with the British and Foreign Bible Society.
That year the five houses then employed by the Society reduced wages,
and it appears that when the dispute was about to be settled by both
sides accepting a compromise, a representative of the Bible Society
instructed the masters to hold out. The men appealed to the Society, but
were told that it could not intervene. No definite settlement was ever
arrived at.
The first petition which the men addressed to the Society in 1833 made
special reference to the condition of the women workers. "Your
memorialists beg leave to state," they wrote, "that there are a number
of females (about 200) employed in binding the books of your Society,
the whole of whose wages have been reduced in consequence of the late
alteration in the prices of these books. Their wages were before very
low. Your memorialists respectfully submit that the making it more
difficult, and in some cases impossible, for females to earn an honest
subsistence, by their labour, is in the same proportion to give potency
to the seducers of female virtue." Reply and counter-reply were made,
and the Society was heartily attacked by the Union with texts from
Scripture and reflections on applied Christianity. In the defence which
the Society issued in 1834, it is stated that its binders informed it
that "competent and industrious men in our employ earn on an average
6_d._ an hour or 30_s._ weekly when in constant work; and women in the
same description from 8_s._ to 10_s._ and upwards."
Mr. Dunning, the Union Secretary, replied that he could prove that the
scale given was an "entire falsehood," and published a second "Address
to the Religious Public," in which the wages paid by the principal firm
were given, the average for thirteen men working out at a small fraction
over a guinea per week, and of twenty-four women at 5_s._ 11_d._ per
week. In 1843 the dispute was allowed to end, when the five firms
promised to pay the women on timework at rates between 7_s._ 6_d._ and
15_s._ per week, and to work them only ten hours per day.
In 1845 the Society decided to give all its binding to one firm, the
proprietress of which was Miss Watkins, and four years later the most
famous dispute of the series broke out. The "controversy," as it is
called in the bookbinders' records, opened by an appeal addressed to the
Society on August 17th, 1849, by the journeymen bookbinders of London
and Westminster, in which it was alleged that Miss Watkins had returned
to piecework, and that the wages she was paying to women averaged only
5_s._ 6_d._ to 6_s._ per week for a longer day than ten hours. Learners
were taken on and were discharged so soon as they were entitled to
increases in wages, and a rule was said to be in operation by which, so
soon as a woman worker was qualified to be paid more than 7_s._ a week,
she was discharged. "Exorbitant" fines were also imposed. "Females,"
remarks the appeal, "often have not the power to plead their own cause
in such matters, and being helpless in many respects where their wages
are concerned, they are trodden down until a state of things such as
described in the 'Song of the Shirt' appals the mind with the enormity
of their injuries, their suffering, and their moral condition." The
appeal contained the following table, showing the difference in wages
paid to women working for the Bible Society and those working for the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
Bible Society for Promoting
Society. Christian Knowledge.
_s._ _d._ _s._ _d._
5 0 Pearl Bibles, per 100 vols. 7 6
5 1½ Ruby " " 7 0
6 10½ Large Pica Bibles, " 8 4
6 8 Small " " " 8 4
One of the grievances specially mentioned in this appeal was that women
were not allowed hot water, except between 4 and 4.30 p.m., and were
then charged 1_d._ per week for it.
Immediately (August 22nd, 1849) after the issue of the "Appeal" the
women employed by Miss Watkins were asked to sign a statement that they
were perfectly satisfied with their pay and conditions. Several signed,
not knowing the purport of the paper; others refused. On the advice of
the men's Union a counter-statement was drawn up and signed, and sent in
to the Bible Society, and on finding that the forewoman who had taken
their part, together with the active promoters of the counter-petition,
were to be discharged, the women left work, and demanded:--
1. That prices should be raised to the standard paid by the Society for
Promoting Christian Knowledge.
2. That fines should be abolished.
3. That they should have access to cold water as well as hot for tea.
4. That after the learners then employed had completed their
apprenticeship, not more than twenty learners should be employed at one
time.
About a hundred women had come out, and the men's Union organised a
relief fund.[20]
[Footnote 20: It may not be amiss to copy a few sentences from Mr.
Dunning's obituary notice in the _Bookbinder's Trade Circular_, January
21st, 1862, of the women's leader, Mary E. Zugg, an early and humble
worker in women's organisations. "Nothing could exceed the temper,
moderation and firmness she displayed. Possessing great energy, strong
sense and great acuteness of perception, detecting at a glance pretence
from reality, she was not what was termed a strong-minded woman,
commanding great respect and but little affection, for her goodness of
heart and great regard for the feelings and welfare of others endeared
her to all." She died at the age of thirty-three of consumption on
November 13th, 1861, and is buried in Bow Cemetery.]
Miss Watkins replied, denying every charge made by Mr. Dunning, and
giving 10_s._ as the earnings for a week of sixty hours. The Union
replied by asking that a deputation should be allowed to inspect the
wages books of the firm. It claimed to be in possession of the rates of
wages paid to ninety-seven folders and sewers for three weeks in August,
and gave the average as 6_s._ 2½_d._ for a sixty-hours' week, and in
other respects it supported its original charges.
The _Times_ of January 25th, 1850, contains in its advertisement columns
the report of a Committee of the Southwark Auxiliary of the Bible
Society, which examined Miss Watkins' books, and it supported her
statements. The women earned from 9_s._ to 14_s._ per week. But Mr.
Dunning was not silenced, and on March 25th he issued a long pamphlet,
the last of the "controversy" for the time. In it, it is stated that the
committee of investigation had been deceived so as to mistake wages paid
for ten days as though they were paid for a week, and a table of wages
for three weeks in September and October, for the week ending July 28th,
1849, and for the four weeks preceding the strike, was printed.[21] The
wage average of the periods was from 5_s._ 9½_d._ to 6_s._ 4½_d._ per
week of sixty hours.
[Footnote 21: See p. 184.]
The agitation failed. The women either found work elsewhere, or went
back under the conditions against which they had struck. Mr. Dunning
could only say that the dispute had arrested a downward tendency in
prices and wages.
The dispute cost the men's Union £146. This was spent mostly in printing
and postage, but it included grants amounting to £22 given to the
separate Women's Committee, which had collected an additional fund of
£650 to aid the strikers.
The finishers had strongly opposed the support which the Union had given
to the women, and their section, to the number of 150, was finally
expelled from the Union.
But whilst this unusual harmony existed between the men's Union and the
women workers, no serious attempt had been made to organise the women
permanently, either as members of the men's Society, or in one of their
own. In 1833, in an address to the London journeymen bookbinders, a Mr.
Benjamin Teasdale, of Manchester, advised the formation of a women's
Society, but nothing appears to have been done. In 1855 they were
allowed to borrow books from the men's library on the payment of 6_d._ a
quarter. It is impossible to ascertain how far the agreement between
men and masters for a nine hours' day in 1872 really affected women, as
a considerable proportion of them had been working only for nine hours
before the agreement was made.
[Sidenote: The Society of Women employed in Bookbinding.]
Not till 1874 was there a determined and successful attempt made to
organise women bookbinders into a Union. On September 12th of that year
"the first Society formed for women," the Society of Women employed in
Bookbinding, was formed by Mrs. Emma Paterson, the pioneer of women's
Trade Unions in England,[22] and in the following year Mrs. Paterson was
sent as its delegate to the Trade Union Congress meeting in Glasgow.
This was the first time that a woman had appeared at these parliaments
of Trade Unionism, which had been held annually since 1868. From the
commencement the relations between the men's and the women's Societies
were most cordial, and at the first annual meeting of the latter Mrs.
Paterson read a letter she had received "some years ago" from Mr.
Dunning, in which he advised "the formation of Trades' Societies for
women." The cordial greetings extended to the new Society by its brother
organisation did not meet it everywhere. A congratulatory resolution was
moved at the London Trades' Council, and though it received the support
of the veteran George Odger, it was met with considerable opposition.
Women's labour was cheap labour, and many of the delegates to the
Trades' Council could not get beyond that fact.
[Footnote 22: Mrs. Paterson was born in London on April 5th, 1848, and
was the daughter of H. Smith, headmaster of St. George's, Hanover
Square, parish school. In 1867 she became assistant secretary to the
Club and Institute Union, and in 1872 secretary to the Women's Suffrage
Association. Next year she married Thomas Paterson, a cabinet-maker and
wood carver. With him she visited America where she saw the Female
Umbrella Makers' Union at work. On her return to London in 1874 she
formed the Women's Protective and Provident League, the membership of
which was mainly middle class, though its object was to promote Trade
Unionism amongst women. She died December 1st, 1886, and was buried in
the Paddington Cemetery. See art. _Dictionary of National Biography_.]
It is unnecessary to detail the somewhat uneventful career of the Union.
Mrs. Paterson, at the end of eighteen months, was succeeded by Miss
Eleanor Whyte, who still occupies the position of secretary.[23] The
membership began at 66 and reached 275--of whom only 200 were financial
members--at the end of the first year. From that time till now the
membership has been exceedingly variable, and no full and reliable
records seem to exist. But from the disconnected information which is at
our disposal, it would appear that the two most successful years of the
Society were 1876 (when 63 new members were enrolled), and 1890 (when 67
were enrolled). In 1870 the membership was given at 210; in 1884 at 200;
in 1891 at 240; in 1901 at 270; the period of depression from 1883 to
1889 seems to have tried the Society very severely.
[Footnote 23: December, 1903.]
The objects of this Society are stated to be: "To maintain and protect
the rights and privileges of the trade and to grant relief to such
members as may be out of work, or afflicted with illness." The
subscription is 2_d._ per week, and an entrance fee of 1_s._ is imposed.
It can hardly be expected that a Society whose membership has probably
never exceeded 270, could have much fighting force. But agitation has
never been the policy of the Society. It has refused to join with the
men in making demands upon the employers; its representatives at Trade
Union Congresses and elsewhere have steadily resisted legal restrictions
upon labour; it has not shown itself anxious to seize what the men
regarded as opportunities to make itself felt.[24]
[Footnote 24: In 1891 the women's Society refused to support the men's
in agitating for an eight-hours' day. In 1875 Mrs. Paterson said at the
Trade Union Congress that "the more they pressed for additional
legislation the greater obstacles they threw in the way of working
women. She should rather say let them suffer a little longer the evils
of overwork and long hours." The Union's representatives, however, have
always pressed for women factory inspectors, and on this matter Mrs.
Paterson was for a good many years a voice crying in the wilderness.]
Perhaps the Union has been too willing to make requests to good
employers for better conditions, and too timorous in helping to level up
the general conditions of the trade. Employers have not been hostile.
Mr. B. Collins, the publisher, for instance, presided over the annual
meeting for 1891, and Mr. Longmans and other publishers have done the
same in other years. "I know an employer," says a writer in the _British
Bookmaker_ of September, 1891, "who will give £100 to see a good women's
Union established. Why? Because if it could be done, its effect upon
other employers would remove the gross inequalities of prices that at
present exist to his detriment." But this Union has never reached that
point of strength when it could bring pressure to bear on the trade for
the mutual advantage of the good employer and the woman worker.
As a consequence, the good relations between the men and the women in
the trade have not always been maintained, and there was considerable
ill-feeling between the two sections during the eight hours' agitation
from 1891 to 1894.[25]
[Footnote 25: It should be noted, however, that the sentiment amongst
the women as a whole was friendly during the eight hours' agitation,
although the Society was taking no part in it officially. A writer in
the _British Bookmaker_ for December, 1891, tells how all the women in
the lacing department of Messrs. Waterlow's (Hill Street) struck on a
certain job, and how "at another place as I stood with the pickets
outside, about five o'clock one cold afternoon, I saw something
descending from an upper storey and found it was a quart of hot tea for
the benumbed men on duty below, lowered out by a string from the women's
shop."]
At the present moment this Society is regarded by both men and women
mainly as a benefit club. In this respect it has been most successful
and has paid with excellent regularity.
[Sidenote: The Book-folders' Union.]
An attempt was made in 1892 to start another Union for women engaged in
folding in printing houses. The sponsor of the new Society was the
Printers' and Stationers' Warehousemen's and Cutters' Union. It is a
significant fact, and one which throws a great deal of light upon the
very little which one section of workers knows even of those working at
their elbow, that the organisers of the new Union were quite unaware of
the existence of the Women Bookbinders' Society. The new Society, which
called itself the Book-folders' Union, was started during the flood of
Trade Union sentiment which followed the London Dock Strike in 1889, and
its membership grew rapidly. Within five months of its formation it is
said to have numbered 500,[26] and later on the figure of 700 was
quoted. A popular employer, Mrs. Bond, had been elected secretary, and
an assistant was appointed at a wage of 18_s._ per week. This new Union
was determined to be as active as the older one had been inactive. It
demanded a minimum wage of 15_s._, time-and-a-quarter pay for overtime,
and "no apprentices." It also demanded exemption from the nightwork
prohibition clauses of the Factory and Workshop Acts. But the Union was
doomed to an early and ignominious end. During the absence of the
secretary the finances became hopelessly involved, and a deficit in cash
decided the members to close the whole matter.[27]
[Footnote 26: _Women's Trade Union Journal_, January 15th, 1893.]
[Footnote 27: The fact that all definite recollection of this Union is
passing away, and that for the above information we have had to rely
upon the memory of two ladies who were indirectly interested in it,
throws some light upon the carelessness in industrial matters of the
woman worker. No minutes nor other documents can be found. "The person
who had them, married," and that was taken to have settled the matter.]
The Society would not even formally amalgamate with the older Society,
partly owing to differences in method, and partly to its disgust with
its failure and disgrace.
[Sidenote: National Book-folders and Kindred Trades Union.]
One more attempt to found a fighting women's Union was made in 1894 by
the Printing and Kindred Trades Federation. All women employed in the
Printing and Kindred Trades were to be eligible for membership. The
attempt arose out of two disputes. In one, the women employed by a
certain firm had successfully struck for an increase of wages and
against certain conditions of labour; in the second, women had come out
to show their sympathy with some locked-out men.[28] In recognition of
the women's "courage and loyalty" the men promoted the Union. In a month
or two its membership stood at 100, and by March 1896, 350 members had
joined. The membership at the end of 1902 was 150, mostly book-folders,
and the following points are prominent in the Union's demands:--
1. To obtain and maintain the recognised minimum scale of pay for
every member;
2. To reduce hours of labour;
3. To regulate the relations between employers and employed.
[Footnote 28: It is interesting to note that whilst the cheapness of
women's work as compositors in Edinburgh seems to have attracted a
certain class of work from London, the men's success in keeping up wages
in the London bookbinding trade does not seem to have driven bookbinding
into the provinces. There are one or two bookbinding firms in the
provinces and in Scotland which employ girls, but mainly upon diary and
account book work, the book trade being practically untouched. _Cf._
f.n., 28-29.]
It had no sick benefits, but paid £5 at death, and offered strike pay on
condition that the strike was sanctioned by the committee. The reserve
fund in 1902 was under £100.
In 1903 the Society approached the Printers' and Stationers'
Warehousemen praying to be recognised as a branch of that Union. A
ballot of the men was taken, when 700 voted that the request be granted
and 334 that it be not. The Women's Society has therefore ceased to
exist as a separate organisation.
[Sidenote: The Manchester Society.]
A Manchester Society,[29] "The Manchester and Salford Society of Women
Employed in the Bookbinding and Printing Trades" has gained some
definite success in increasing wages during its six years of existence.
In its third Annual Report, 1899, it is stated that in May, 1898, the
Society began an attempt to increase wages to a 10_s._ minimum after a
three or four years' apprenticeship, that as a consequence the wages of
forty girls were raised in September from 9_s._ to 10_s._, and that
subsequently thirty others received the shilling advance. In its next
Report, 1899-1900, it states, without giving the number of girls
affected, that "they now all receive 11_s._ and 12_s._ per week, where,
prior to joining the Union, they earned 9_s._ and 10_s._ per week." Next
year the membership was 165, and the last issued Report, 1902, whilst
stating that "a slight increase of membership" had taken place during
the year, gives no figures. "Losses through marriage and other
circumstances," the 1901 Report says, "have been great," and the Society
is kept going mainly by the devotion of one or two persons.[30]
[Footnote 29: The existing Society is the second attempt to organise the
women in these trades in Manchester.]
[Footnote 30: The last balance sheet gives at a glance the position of
this Society, and indicates its activities:--
BALANCE SHEET FOR THE YEAR ENDING APRIL 30th, 1902.--
_Income._ £ _s._ _d._
To balance from April
30th, 1901 114 0 4½
" contributions 72 3 3
" Bank interest 2 9 11
----------------
£188 13 6½
================
_Expenditure._ £ _s._ _d._
By sick pay 29 10 0
" out-of-work pay 17 1 8
" printing 2 15 9
" postages 0 8 6
" secretary's salary 5 12 6
" collector's commission 1 9 9
" grant to Women's
Trades Council 2 0 0
" grant to treasurer 0 5 0
" auditing accounts 0 4 0
" deputation expenses 0 2 0
---- -- ----
59 9 2
" cash in Bank on
April 30th, 1902 125 2 5
" cash in hands of
secretary 4 1 11½
----------------
£188 13 6½]
================
Attempts have been made to organise women elsewhere as, for instance, in
Edinburgh, where a Union of women compositors existed for a year; also
in Birmingham, where ten years ago a Union was formed specially to
include the machine-rulers who had been introduced about ten years
previously. But the movements have failed.
Such is the record of the organisation of women in the trades with which
we are dealing. It is almost exclusively confined to London and
Manchester, and in London, out of 19,000 women connected with
bookbinding, most of whom are book and paper-folders, certainly not more
than 500 are organised. In 1901, in the seven Men's Unions covering
these trades there were 41,907 members, whilst the total membership of
the Women's Unions was well under 1,000.
[Sidenote: Maintaining standards without organisation.]
Our enquiries have discovered, however, the existence of a kind of loose
organisation of majority-rule and custom in some firms. Standards of
prices and conditions are thus kept up. It must not be forgotten that
where men and women work together all concessions won by the men's
Unions are shared by women, as for instance, when the Typographical
Association of Scotland secured a fifty hours' week for Aberdeen
compositors. This is an interesting feature of feminine methods. In one
house we came across two collating-rooms, one of which was staffed by
older hands, who stood upon their dignity and would not accept inferior
work or tolerate reductions in wages. The other room was conducted after
the methods of the ordinary employer of cheap women's labour; the
workpeople were careless and casual and the room had no traditions and
no industrial "public opinion." This force of opinion, which assumes
almost the nature of caste, is most strongly developed amongst job
hands. These women manage to keep up a comparatively high standard of
pay, and we have discovered the most unusual circumstance that in one or
two instances the wages of job women have been cut down to the Union
rates. We have been told on most trustworthy authority that the
unwritten laws of these job hands are sometimes enforced upon
recalcitrant work-women by "a hiding."
[Sidenote: Organisation in the miscellaneous trades.]
As regards organisation in the more miscellaneous trades included in our
investigation, little has to be said. A few card mounters once joined
the Women's Printing and Kindred Trades Union after a strike, but soon
fell away, and a Union started in 1890, of which little information can
now be obtained, included some envelope makers: but by 1893 it, too,
seems to have died.
No attempt has been made to organise women engaged in the preparation of
materials for printing either in London or the provinces.
[Sidenote: The attitude of employers.]
The attitude of employers and employed to Trade Unions at the present
moment is most varied. Naturally, a good many employers are in no mood
to encourage Unions, because they do not know what might happen if the
women's organisations became as strong as the men's. But, on the other
hand, a considerable number of employers working under fair conditions
and doing a trade of good quality, would welcome combination. It would
help them against their cutting competitors, and they do not object to
meet the reasonable demands of their women. In thirty-four cases
employers were not aware of the existence of a Union at all. Fourteen
forewomen knew about a Union, eleven denied its existence.[31] In no
instance in London was a non-Union woman bookbinder discovered who knew
of the existence of both the Unions, though the majority of the women
knew of the existence of one or the other.
[Footnote 31: It is important to note in connection with this point that
the power of a forewoman over women is generally more unquestioned than
that of a foreman over men.]
[Sidenote: The women's attitude.]
We were anxious to find out why they did not join. Some spoke with scorn
of the older Union because it was only a benefit Society; others said,
"No use in joining; you get nothing out of it;" others thought it
dangerous; others suspected all Unions; others frankly admitted that
marriage was sure to come along, and then they would work in factories
and workshops no longer. An eloquent commentary upon this sentiment is
to be found in the figures extracted from the Factory Inspector's Annual
Reports and printed in Chapter II. When one works out from these tables
the proportion between the males of over 18 years of age and the total
number of males employed in the various trades and compares it with
that of the females, it will be found that a comparatively excessive
percentage of the latter are under 18 years of age. The same point is
brought out with more emphasis and detail in Appendix VII. The women do
not, in fact, feel it necessary to organise themselves, and a manager of
a Co-operative Printing Works, where membership of a Union is compulsory
upon women, informed us that they grumble when they are made to join and
surrender their membership as soon as they can. The notes of some of the
conversations reported are valuable indications of the mind of the woman
wage-earner in this respect.
We can only say in conclusion that, in the first place, women do not
take that strenuous interest in their labour conditions which is
essential to successful organisation. In the second place, it appears
that, except at occasional times of dispute, their work is so well
marked off from that of men, that the men's Unions in these trades are
coming more and more to the conclusion that it does not pay them to
organise the women. In the third place, we have been surprised to find
that the great majority of employers and of their women employées assume
that wages are fixed and that any effort to alter them by organisation
will be doomed to failure.[32] Our investigators have been given
instance after instance of both increase and reduction in wages, but the
general tenor of conversation is a pessimist and listless view that
whatever _is_, is fixed.
[Footnote 32: _Cf._ p. 90.]
CHAPTER IV.
_MEN AND WOMEN AS WORKERS._
[Sidenote: Do women displace men?]
One of the most important questions relating to women as workers is the
exact relationship between their work and that of men, _i.e._, how far
they are rivals in competition and how far they are helpers in
co-operation. In some of these trades, such as that of the lithographic
artists, this question has never arisen, because women have rarely
entered the trade. Only five instances of women working as lithographic
artists are known to the head of St. Bride's Institute. But that men and
women have been rivals from time to time is placed beyond doubt,
although it must always be remembered that the same work nominally is
not always the same work actually.[33]
[Footnote 33: Men feeders, for instance, carry formes and do little
things about the machine which women do not do. In one instance it was
reported that a firm with a London and a country house, employed women
in the latter to do binding done by men in the former. On enquiry it was
found that the heavy work was done in London and the light work in the
country. An interesting case in point is reported by a Scottish
investigator. "Stated that in another workshop a man had been displaced
at a paper-ruling machine and two girls taken on instead. I took special
note of this case when visiting the workshop in question later. There
were two girls employed at the machine, but they appeared to be working
along with the manager of that department, who was supervising it." But
there is work, such as the minding of platen machines which men do in
London but which women do in Edinburgh and Aberdeen.]
Gold laying for cloth binding has, within the last quarter of a century,
become the work of women who have taken the place of old "finishers" in
some bookbinding firms,[34] and at Dunstable women are reported as
doing binding throughout. Women are employed as compositors much more
frequently in the provinces than in London. In Edinburgh and Aberdeen,
for instance, women are reported as being engaged in every process,
except making-up and the heavy work of carrying type, in which men alone
are employed. Type-setting and distribution of type are often done by
women in Scotland. In some of the Edinburgh printing establishments
women do practically the same work as men. The extensive employment of
women during the compositors' strike in Edinburgh in 1872 to secure a
fifty-one hours' working week[35] was the result of the determination of
the employers to defeat the Typographical Association, and at least one
firm in London tried the same policy during the bookbinders' strike for
an eight-hours' day in 1902 though apparently with no success. The
enthusiasts for the introduction of women into the printing trades had
for some time been trying to get a hold upon Edinburgh printing offices,
but had failed until the strike of 1872. An enterprising employer then
trained some girls from the Merchant Company's Schools--a better class
of girls whom we find described sometimes as "stickit teachers"--to
compose. The results were satisfactory, and the example was speedily
followed. The strike failed and the displacement of men continued.
[Footnote 34: Reporting to their members in May, 1903, the Wages
Committee of the London Society of Journeymen Bookbinders (Third Report)
state regarding the award just given on certain points of dispute
between the Unions and the Employers: "The right of employment of women
in laying-on of gold has also been awarded against us, notwithstanding
that no part of the proceedings evoked more strenuous opposition from
your representatives. The hands of your delegates were weakened by the
fact that the practice already existed: in some cases had crept in, and
in others been extended unawares; yet they strove to preserve the right
of the workman, whilst willing and anxious that the supercession of the
workwoman, where she had been introduced, should be gradual and
considerate.--The argument for the employers is that the employment of
women on the class of gold laying-on indicated, will enable them fairly
to compete in other fields, and will tend to increase men's work instead
of to reduce it. This view, the arbitrator adopted."]
[Footnote 35: So also in Aberdeen. "About a dozen years ago during a
dispute about apprentices, seventeen men and three or five boys went
out, and girls were then taken on."]
[Sidenote: The Perth dispute.]
Something similar happened in Perth, where twenty-five years ago four
girls were taken into the newspaper department of the offices of the
_Perthshire Advertiser_. About seven years ago they were introduced into
a commercial printing office, and a year later the _Perthshire
Constitutional_ began to employ them on general bookwork and setting-up
newspaper copy, the proprietor claiming that he had the same right as
the other offices to have cheap female labour. Thus the practice
threatened to spread throughout the other commercial printing offices,
and the men's Union thought it was time to bestir itself. It decided
that the women must either be paid the same rates as the men or be got
rid of altogether. This ultimatum was sent to the employers. The
_Constitutional_ complied with the demands of the Union and dismissed
its women workers. The _Advertiser_ at first proposed gradually to
replace the girls by men in the commercial department, but to continue
to run the newspaper department by female labour. The proprietor
contended that this would not give him an unfair advantage over the
other firms, as they employed linotype machines. The Union then decided
to strike, and took thirty men out of the _Advertiser_ office. Four
remained in, and some other non-Union men were also engaged. The office
continues to work under this system.
[Sidenote: Value of women's work.]
There has also been trouble in Grimsby (1899), owing to the employment
of women on a bi-weekly newspaper, at Redhill (1898-1900), and at
Reading (1902). Other places where the Typographical Association report
women to be employed are, Louth (Lincolnshire), Aylesbury, Beccles,
Fakenham, Warrington,[36] etc.; whilst in Birmingham the experiment was
tried about 1890, but has been abandoned. They are also employed at
Bungay, but in decreasing numbers, because their proofs require so much
more correcting than the men's that the valuable time thus lost is not
compensated for by the cheapness of their labour. The same is true of
Edinburgh, where their wages have fallen from a rate of 1_s._ 6_d._ to
1_s._ per average page. In Leicester a firm tried to employ women in
distributing type at low rates of pay, but a protest from the local
executive of the Typographical Association led immediately to the
experiment being discontinued. There is an almost unanimous chorus of
opinion that women's work as compositors is so inferior to men's that
it does not pay in the long run. From the days of Miss Faithfull's
experiments, the men have been able to boast that women could not touch
them at the case. In Aberdeen the unwillingness of boys to submit to a
long apprenticeship and the fear of parents that the linotype has
spoiled the typographical trade, are said to be the main reasons
necessitating the employment of women compositors.
[Footnote 36: Women were introduced into Warrington newspaper offices
early in the decade beginning with 1880. They have been found to be
quicker than men in plain setting-up and simple straightforward work.
They do not stay very long--the eldest girl compositor employed, when
our investigator called, being only twenty-five. They are not employed
in locking the formes; nor curiously enough are they employed in the
machine-room to feed the printing presses, though they are so engaged in
Manchester. The women compositors are paid one-third of the men's rate.
Here it was definitely stated that the cheapness of women's labour made
it unnecessary to introduce linotypes.]
[Sidenote: The men's view.]
Men in these trades have never looked upon women competitors with a
friendly eye, the reason being that so many branches are just on the
margin line of those occupations which are so light and easily picked up
that women can supplant men in them altogether.[37] The Typographical
Association for over a quarter of a century has had to carry on a
constant struggle with the employers in order to protect the journeymen
printers against three forms of cheap labour--apprentices, unskilled men
and women.[38] Employers in a small way of business, maintaining
establishments on little capital, where efficiency is not high, employ
women on work done in larger and better equipped establishments
exclusively by men. Here there is rivalry and competition, and women are
preferred mainly because they accept lower wages, and because they are
not members of Unions;[39] and their lack of technical skill is not
found to be a sufficient counterpoise to these advantages. But in these
places an inferior kind of work is done, and if men were employed they
would either have to accept wages below the generally enforced scale, or
the whole character of the work and organisation of the business would
have to be changed.
[Footnote 37: It is interesting to note that an official of the
Lithographic Printers' Society, entitled to explain the attitude of the
Union, stated, "The Lithographic Society distinctly encourages girls;
when boys feed the machines they are apt to pick up too much and want to
become litho-printers before going through the apprenticeship. The
women, not desiring to become litho-printers, are better from the
Society's point of view."]
[Footnote 38: This is the real opposition which the men offer to women.
In Perth and Bungay, for instance, the women put in a bill at the end of
each week, worked out on the men's scale of rates. The cashier then
divides the total by two and pays the women accordingly. In Edinburgh
women's piece rates for composing average about two-thirds those of men.
At Warrington, women do machine-ruling for prices ranging from 15_s._ to
20_s._, whilst men are paid 32_s._ for the same work. A more definite
statement is made by a Manchester employer. He estimated that a woman
was two-thirds as valuable in a printer's and stationer's warehouse as a
man, and she was paid 15_s._ or 20_s._ to his 33_s._ A further example
of this is given in connection with a Scottish firm executing Government
work. "As the Government insists upon the men's Union price being paid,
the work is being done by men, although in the ordinary way it would
have been done by women." "But they would never allow the women," said
our informant of her employers, "to make such big money as that."]
[Footnote 39: This is why the Typographical Association offers a steady
resistance to the employment of women. It does not object to them as
women, but as forms of cheap and unskilled labour.]
[Sidenote: Apparent rivalry.]
In the better equipped houses, where women are employed on work
generally done by men, as in composing, only parts of a compositor's
duty are performed by women, and the heavier or the more technical
duties, such as carrying about the formes or imposing, are done as a
rule by boys or men.[40] So that here the rivalry is but partial, and,
moreover, the employment of women does not always pay. It appears that
in some cases, particularly in bookbinding, the application of
machinery[41] makes it possible for the less skilled and lower paid
women to do work formerly done by men, so that men regard women _plus_
the machine as their competitor. On the other hand machines have
displaced women and have made new openings for men, as in the case of
one of the most recently introduced folding machines which feeds itself.
But the re-organisation of the workshop which follows the introduction
of the machine cannot be regarded merely as a substitution of men's
labour by women's or the opposite, for what really happens is an
all-round shifting of the distribution of labour-power and skill, and a
re-arrangement of the subdivision of labour.[42] Men are transferred
from one kind of work to another, owing mainly to a change in the
volume of production; women are introduced not so much to take men's
places as to fill places created by the re-organisation of work; youths
also find a footing more often at the expense of women than of men. At
certain points the machine simplifies processes and abolishes the need
of paying for skill in the worker; at others it makes skill (sometimes,
perhaps, a new kind of skill) more necessary; at one point it abolishes
the need of paying for strength, at another it makes a new opening for
strength. Thus the displacement which occurs, and the competition set up
are often more apparent than real.
[Footnote 40: As a type of the reports from firms employing women
compositors, the following from Edinburgh firms may be summarised: Seven
girls are employed on each machine (monotype), five on the keyboards and
two correcting proofs. A man is kept for every ten or twelve girls, his
work being to "make up" the girls' work. Another firm employs a man to
attend to every three monotype machines used, for the purpose of keeping
things going. Another says it employs two men compositors and one
labourer for thirty-eight girls.]
[Footnote 41: Machinery has also tended to increase the employment of
women in stamping and embossing.]
[Footnote 42: An official of a Bookbinders' Union states: "In A works
there was much gloom among the men when the rounding and backing machine
came in; profitable work was taken away from the 'rounders' and
'backers,' but they had more 'lining-up' and other work to do in
consequence, so nobody was turned off."]
[Sidenote: A miscellaneous survey.]
In the more miscellaneous trades over which this enquiry ranged a
considerable mass of evidence points to the displacement of men by
women. General statements to this effect are common in the evidence of
both employers and employed. In firm A. it is alleged that women do the
same work in card mounting as used to be done by men, and are paid 2_s._
for work which used to be paid for at 10_s._ Paging and numbering used
to be men's work, but is now almost exclusively done by women. Plain
relief stamping and black bordering have also drifted into the hands of
women, whilst in various directions, such as the making and binding of
cases, wrappering, or feeding printing and particularly lithographic
machines, women are beginning to encroach upon men. These displacements
are very often only local. Manchester has one experience; Edinburgh
another. Leeds was agitated because women were displacing men on a
French ruling machine, whilst elsewhere no similar move was taking
place. But it must be emphasised again that in many of these instances
careful enquiry shows that when men were employed they did something
that the women do not now do,[43] and that the employment of women was
owing to an increased volume of trade, when new machinery or some other
change had made a greater subdivision of labour possible and profitable.
In some cases girls displace boys for no other reason than that boys
cannot be found to do the work; this was the case in Manchester some ten
years ago, when girls took the place of boys in letterpress work.
[Footnote 43: An Edinburgh employer put that in this way: "If women were
paid the same rates as men they would have to pay for their overseers
and assistants."]
[Sidenote: Conclusions.]
Generally, the results of our investigations show the following summary
of the advantages and disadvantages of women's labour to the employer,
and their employment in preference to men depends upon how far in any
given case or under any given circumstances the balance of these
advantages and disadvantages is on the side of the women--or, it must
also be said, how far the employer is bound by conservative use and wont
so as to be protected against any impulse to employ the best
organisation for the efficient conduct of his business.
The advantages of the woman worker are:--
1. That she will accept low wages; she usually works for about half the
men's wages.
2. That she is not a member of a Union, and is, therefore, more amenable
to the will of the employer as the absolute rule of the workshop.
3. That she is a steady[44] worker (much emphasis must not be placed
upon this, as the contrary is also alleged), and nimble at mechanical
processes, such as folding and collecting sheets.
[Footnote 44: "In Mr. W----'s youth, men used to do all the card
mounting. Women were introduced for it about twenty-nine years ago. They
were brought in because the men drank so and kept away." But later on
the same informant said that he had to introduce a varnishing machine
because women "kept away so."]
4. That she will do odd jobs which lead to nothing.[45]
[Footnote 45: Birmingham boys, for instance, would not feed printing
machines, because it "leads to nothing," so girls were employed. _Cf._
Aberdeen, p. 47, etc.]
Her disadvantages are:--
1. That she has less technical skill than a man, and is not so useful
all round.
2. That she has less strength at work and has more broken time owing to
bad health and, especially should she be married, domestic duties, and
that her output is not so great as that of a man.[46]
[Footnote 46: An employer with considerable experience both of men and
women in the printing trade in Scotland, says, "given a certain area of
floor space for men and women, on the former would probably be produced
half more than on the latter."]
3. That she is more liable to leave work just when she is getting most
useful; or, expressing this in a general way, that there are more
changes in a crowd of women workers than in a crowd of men workers.
4. That employers object to mixed departments.[47]
[Footnote 47: 1, 2, and 4, together lead London employers to conclude
that an extension of women's employment is impossible, because it would
mean larger workshops in proportion to the numbers employed, and
consequently ruinous rents.]
One interesting point must be noted in connection with these
conclusions. In London, where women mainly work on the more unskilled
and irregular processes, it is often difficult to see what industrial
influence they are exerting. In Edinburgh or Aberdeen that is not so
much the case. And one thing which is observable in these places is that
the employment of women of itself leads to those minute subdivisions of
labour characteristic of machine industry. "There are more subdivisions
of labour amongst women than amongst men in the printing trade. For
example, one girl will set-up the type, another will "brass-out" (put in
heads and finish it), or two may sometimes be employed in finishing
it."[48]
[Footnote 48: So in bookbinding. A Dundee manager of a general binding
establishment, says: "The subdivision of labour system has certainly
favoured the increased employment of women in the trade."]
Cheap, mechanical and light work consequently tends to be done by women,
whilst the men enjoy almost undisputed possession of the rest. The woman
worker, for instance, competes with the man in binding the cheap light
note-book, whilst she rarely interferes with him in binding heavy
ledgers.[49] On the other hand, in some of the more mechanical
departments, such as examining sheets of paper by touch, she attains a
wonderful dexterity.
[Footnote 49: The following report from Aberdeen gives an interesting
account of the subdivision of labour in a firm which has introduced
women for cloth-case making:
"The department where girls are beginning to encroach on men is in
cloth-case work, that is, making the cases and putting them on. In the
higher reaches of the trade the women do not show themselves to be so
skilful. As yet the men's Unions have not shown much active opposition
to women's work in this branch, provided always that one man is set to
work with every five girls employed on it. The making of a 'case' is
divided into five sections and illustrates the modern development of the
division of labour system.
1st girl glues.
2nd girl lays on boards.
Man cuts corners.
3rd girl turns in ends.
4th girl turns in fore-edge.
5th girl (young) puts it through rolling machine."]
We have also to note how very effectively conservative notions about
women's sphere and chivalrous prejudices about protecting them,
influence certain employers in determining what work they _ought_ to do.
[Sidenote: Technical training.]
We have endeavoured to ascertain how far technical training would
increase the pressure of competition between men and women, but in the
present rudimentary state of such training there are few data to guide
us to any very positive conclusion.
It is difficult, however, to see how in these trades the technical
training of women would threaten men, except perhaps in the artistic
branches. The use of the various mechanical type-setting machines has
already led to some displacement of labour, and though the _technique_
of setting and spacing might be taught to women in trade classes, the
greater regularity of the male worker, and his remaining longer at the
trade must always, in so skilled an industry as this, give him
advantages over his female competitor. Nor would classes for women in
bookbinding injure men bookbinders. For in this as in other trades women
are not handicapped only by a want of skill, and if they attended
classes, presumably they would be taught chiefly the arts and crafts
side of bookbinding, and thus be led into branches of the trade at
present undeveloped.
[Sidenote: "Use and wont."]
Moreover, a curious fact has to be kept in mind. Women workers are so
lethargic that they are largely governed by use and wont. No remark is
more frequent in the investigators' reports, than one to this effect,
"That is men's work. Why? We do not know, but it _is_ men's work, and we
do not think about it." In some instances this use and wont is based on
experience; in others, as in the backwardness of London employers in
putting women to feed lithographic machines, its rational explanation
is not obvious.[50] In this respect the women themselves are very
"loyal." "Once the employer wanted her," writes an investigator, "to
varnish books, and offered her 5_s._ a book: she has a steady hand and
could have done it quite well. It meant following a delicate zig-zag
pattern with a paint brush. She refused indignantly, and said, 'I know
my place and I'm not going to take men's work from them.'" And, again, a
rigid sense of propriety, based on a certain amount of good reason,
seems to determine many employers to separate male from female
departments without further question.[51]
[Footnote 50: Except perhaps, as has been suggested, that the premises
where lithographic work is done are generally so unsuitable for the
employment of women.]
[Footnote 51: A similar division exists in women's work; certain kinds
are done by women of an inferior social grade, _e.g._, machine-feeding,
and these are strictly kept at arm's length by women working in
different departments in the same factory.]
[Sidenote: Girls _v._ Women.]
So much is heard of women as rivals of men that we forget that women
themselves are often preyed upon by still cheaper rivals, and the real
value of technical training for women seems to lie in the fact that such
training might protect them against these. Owing to the unskilled nature
of their work, however, even technical education can afford to them only
an unsatisfactory security against younger and cheaper persons. One of
the investigators, for instance, reports:--
"It is the regular custom in A.'s now to have little girls at 3_s._ and
4_s._ a week doing work which women at 11_s._ and 12_s._ ought to do.
They put a little girl beside a regular hand, and as soon as the little
one masters the work [show-card mounting is being reported upon], they
discharge the big one. When the little one asks for a rise, they give
her 6_d._ or 1_s._ more, and when she wants still more, she goes."
Figures follow showing that just under one-ninth of the women employed
in this department at A.'s are "old hands." Then the report proceeds:
"A. discharged about forty hands on the plea of slackness a little while
ago, and then put up bills for learners." The investigators found that
amongst the employées there was a very widespread opinion that "the
learners always get all the best work," and that one of the regular
features of the trade is, that it employs a large fluctuating number of
learners, whilst a smaller number of skilled hands are kept in tolerably
regular work.[52]
[Footnote 52: This, however, is not a problem special to women's work,
but is one of general industrial conditions, although it is marked with
special distinctness in the case of women.]
The old hands occasionally object to teach the young ones, but nothing
comes of their opposition to a system by which they are compelled to
train their own executioners.
CHAPTER V.
_INDUSTRIAL TRAINING._
1. THE TRAINING.
[Sidenote: How girls are taught.]
At the present moment such training as is given generally begins in the
workshops so soon as the girl has left school.[53] Girls are, in the
best houses, employed on the recommendation of workers already there.
Much of the work, such as folding, is merely a matter of mechanical
quickness and accuracy, and after a few weeks' practice the girl is as
useful as she is ever likely to have an opportunity to be. A great deal
of the work women do in stationery factories (such as stamping, black
bordering, numbering pages) is of a routine nature, and this work is
generally paid by the piece. For such departments, no premium is asked
as a rule.[54] Sometimes the beginner is paid a small wage--2_s._ 6_d._
or thereabouts--to encourage her at first. Sometimes she works a few
weeks for nothing.[55] Sometimes she has to pay a tuition fee to the
woman under whose charge she is put. Sometimes this woman gives her a
small sum as a gift in respect of the help she renders. Some firms make
the training period fairly long, in order that it may be impossible for
the lower class of girls to accept the conditions of employment.
By-and-by the learner is paid half of what she earns, and finally she is
put on regular piecework, her advancement depending on her nimbleness.
If she is in a large house she is only taught one process, but if quick,
and employed in a smaller house, she may be taught several. In almost
every instance she is put upon piecework as soon as possible after she
begins. In an overwhelming number of cases the beginners are simply
placed beside a regular hand, and pick up their skill by watching the
old hand and then turning and doing it themselves. The girl who "picked
up vellum-sewing and wire-stitching" whilst engaged as a folder, and
she who was transferred from tie-making to stitching and folding, are
types. The phrase "serving her time" survives, but the apprenticeship
which is indicated hardly now exists.
[Footnote 53: "A boy learns nothing after fifteen, a girl after
fourteen," is the way one employer puts it.]
[Footnote 54: Very few premiums are reported upon. In one case it was
said that £10 were asked as a premium in relief stamping, but the
informant admitted that the sum varied; in another well-known stationery
firm a premium of £2 is asked for, but is returned with 5 per cent.
interest at the end of three years. The premiums of £50 or £100 charged
by certain bookbinding teachers are of course quite special.]
[Footnote 55: LEADING LONDON HIGH-CLASS STATIONERY FIRM:--_Paging
Department._--Girls come for a few months for nothing, _i.e._ six
months, no premium. They go on getting quicker.
_Lithographic Department._
Girls come in and pick it up: show one another how to do it.
_Vellum-binding Department._
Girls come for three years and are paid 5_s._ per week.
LEADING EDUCATIONAL SUPPLY FIRM:
_Copybook and similar Work._
"Has several little girls running about on errands for a few shillings a
week, and if any of them seem promising they are helped on. Training
nothing like what it used to be; girls learn only one branch."
LARGE LONDON PRINTING FIRM:--_Vellum-sewing Department._
"Regular apprenticeship still the system here." Three years given as the
period for training and during this time no wages are paid. Girls come
straight from school.
_Folding, etc., Department._
"No regular apprenticeship. Girls come in and pick it up; if quick they
are taught other branches, like numbering, relief stamping, etc."
LONDON STATIONERY FIRM:
_Envelope Folding and Hand-cementing Department._
"Girls are put under an experienced party to whom they pay 10_s._ For
six weeks, they receive nothing. For next six weeks they receive half
earnings, then they are put on piecework."
_Black Bordering._
"A regular hand teaches and gets any benefit of the work during six
months in return for the time she wastes in teaching." This practice is
also adopted in some firms in envelope folding by hand.
LONDON PUBLISHING FIRM:
_Bookbinding Department._
"System of indenture has just been revived because it was found that
otherwise the firm had no hold over the girls, so that the quick ones as
soon as they had learnt went off elsewhere as full earners." Indenture
for two years.
An ex-forewoman in bookbinding, who knew the London trade well, stated
that much less trouble is taken with learners now than formerly. In her
own case she was apprenticed without indentures for two years, and
learned "all the branches right through," old work included.
Another forewoman in work stated she was in training for four years: two
years at bookbinding, one year at vellum work, and one year at
stationery.]
Of the firms about which we have information for bookwork and printers'
folding, seven require a three years' training; twenty, two years;
thirty-three, one and a half years; nineteen, one year; two, fifteen
months; and seven, periods under a year. Eleven firms have no settled
apprenticeship time, advancement depending entirely on the quickness of
the learner. In places where gold laying-on is done the same time is
usually served as for the other branches, _i.e._, from a few weeks to
three years. In the case of vellum work, seven firms require three
years; eight, two years; three, one and a half years; one, one and a
half to two years; two, six months; and eight, no settled time.
In some of these firms, however, a genuine attempt to teach apprentices
is made;[56] and in at least one large and well-known London house the
system of indenture has been revived, owing to the difficulty which was
experienced in retaining girls after they became competent. On the other
hand, several well-known firms have ceased to employ learners because
they are too troublesome, and depend upon women trained elsewhere. But
we have found that in only a very few cases is the beginner, whether an
apprentice or not, thoroughly taught every process of her trade. She is
generally put to one process and kept at it, so that the mechanical
dexterity she may acquire is in no sense genuine trade skill.[57] This
distinction between trade skill and mechanical dexterity in one process
must be kept in mind as a fundamental consideration in every problem
concerning the woman wage-earner.
[Footnote 56: Apprenticeship is still common in vellum-sewing where
skill and intelligence are required, and in places where women are doing
more than supplementary work, _e.g._ Edinburgh, a regular period of
training varying from two to four years is agreed upon. Apprenticeship
seems to be most common in Scotland. In London our investigation into
vellum work, printers' folding, and bookwork only discovered seven
indentured women apprentices, two of these being engaged in vellum work.
Curiously enough in paper-staining firms, although the processes are
practically unskilled, indentures are signed for two years; the girl
receives 4_s._ a week for the first year and a portion of her piece
earnings for the second year. At the end of two years she is a full
wage-earner and is paid by piece rates. What her earnings are it is
difficult to discover; 12_s._ 6_d._ was given as an average, but this is
probably too high. It is reported that she may make 6_d._ in less than
an hour when the colours are mixed and she is finishing a job, whereas
next day she will spend the whole morning before she earns her 6_d._]
[Footnote 57: _E.g._, one of the large stationery firms in London
reports regarding machine ruling: "Girls come in and feed the machinery,
and afterwards rise to wet the flannel. They never mind the machines,
_e.g._, arrange pens and so on." Another interesting note is, "Men
nearly always do illuminating, _e.g._, stamping crests, etc., in more
than one colour, on notepaper, as the process requires more skill than
women possess. If the women did it, the ladies would not like their
notepaper." An employer defended the employment of women on the grounds
of his own experience of one woman who "had been working at a secret
process for years, and there is no fear of the secret being betrayed as
she is without understanding or interest for the machine."]
The question of how much a girl learns during her time is a vital one.
Much depends on the forewoman. As one of the workers put it, "How much
you learn depends on the forelady, and whether she takes a fancy to you;
some girls will have a turn at everything, others only learn sewing or
folding. Dress makes a great difference; the poorer you are, the less
chance you have of getting on."
The obverse of this from the forewoman's point of view is that "girls if
quick are taught all branches, but with some girls it is all you can do
to teach them one." It seems the general opinion amongst all the older
hands that the "training is not what it used to be;" and, certainly, the
few instances we have come across of women who can do bookwork, vellum
work, and also stationery work, are amongst the older hands. The
complaint, however, that the trade was not properly taught, occurs in
the evidence given to the Commission of 1843, when it seemed to be one
of the principal grievances complained of. Masters, it was said by one
worker, often took girls, pretended to teach them, and discharged them
at the end of their time, when they had to go elsewhere to learn. Three
girls gave evidence that they were tricked into serving from three to
eight months for nothing, and came away no wiser. At another shop the
employer expatiated on the thoroughness of the training offered by him;
but seven of his journeywomen, aged nineteen, eighteen, seventeen, and
sixteen, declared indignantly that they had not learnt their business
thoroughly, and would never have gone to him if they had known his
methods. The truth apparently is that in 1843, as to-day, some firms
are better for apprentices than others, and that a generation ago a good
firm doing general work offered better opportunities for training than
good firms conducted under up-to-date conditions can now give.
The following table shows the changes that have been made in the
conditions of apprenticeship by certain leading London firms.
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| TABLE SHOWING CHANGES IN PERIOD, ETC., OF TRAINING |
| IN PARTICULAR FIRMS IN LONDON.[58] |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| | Period | Premium | Wages (per week) |
| | | and | during |
| | | Indentures. | Apprenticeship. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 1. STATIONER'S. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 1867 Commission | 2 years | -- | -- |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 25 years ago | 2 years | No premium | 12 months no pay. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 15 years ago | 1½ | No premium, | 6 months no pay, |
| | years | no | 12 months half |
| | | indentures | pay. |
+-------------------+---------+ +--------------------+
| At present | 1½ | | 6 months 2_s._, 12 |
| time[58] | years | | months half pay. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 2. STATIONER'S. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 20 years ago | 2 years | No premium, | 1 year no pay, 1 |
| | | no | year half pay. |
+-------------------+---------+ indentures +--------------------+
| Till recently | 1 year | | 6 months no pay, |
| | | | 6 months half pay. |
+-------------------+---------+ +--------------------+
| At present time | 15 | | 6 months 2_s._, 9 |
| | months | | months half pay. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 3. PUBLISHER'S. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| Till recently | 2 years | No premium, | 6 months 1_s._, |
| | | no | 6 months 2_s._ |
| | | indentures | 6_d._, |
| | | | 6 months 4_s._, |
| | | | 6 months half pay. |
+-------------------+---------+ +--------------------+
| At present time | 1½ | | 6 months 2_s._ |
| | years | | 6_d._, |
| | | | 6 months 4_s._, 6 |
| | | | months half pay. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 4. BOOKBINDER'S. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 21 years ago | 3 years | No premium, | 6 months 1_s._, 12 |
| | | no | months 3_s._, 18 |
| | | indentures | months 6_s._ |
+-------------------+---------+ +--------------------+
| At present time | 1½ | | 6 months 1_s._, 12 |
| | years | | months 3_s._ |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 5. PRINTER'S. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 25 years ago | 3 years | No premium, | 18 months 2_s._, |
| | | no | 18 months half |
| | | indentures | pay. |
+-------------------+---------+ +--------------------+
| At present time | 1½ | | 1 month no pay, |
| | years | | 5 month 2_s._, |
| | | | 12 months half |
| | | | pay. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 6. STATIONER'S. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 40 years ago | 2 years | No premium, | 12 months half |
| | | no | pay, 12 months |
| | | indentures | three-quarter |
| | | | pay. |
+-------------------+---------+ +--------------------+
| At present time | 1½ | | 12 months half |
| | years | | pay, 6 months |
| | | | three-quarter |
| | | | pay. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 7. PUBLISHER'S. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 30 years ago | 2 years | No premium, | No pay part, |
| | | no | 2_s._ 6_d._ |
| | | indentures | remainder. |
+-------------------+---------+ +--------------------+
| At present time | 2 years | | Half pay. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 8. BOOKBINDER'S. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 20 years ago | 1½ | No | 1 year 1_s._, |
| | years | information | 6 months half pay. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| At present time | 2 years | No premium; | 12 months 3_s._, |
| | | no | 12 months 4_s._ |
| | | indentures | |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 9. PUBLISHER'S. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 22 years ago | 1 year | No premium; | 3 months no pay, |
| | | no | 9 months 1_s._ |
+-------------------+---------+ indentures +--------------------+
| At present time | 2 years | | 6 months 2_s._, |
| | | | 18 months half |
| | | | pay. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 10. PRINTER'S. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 25 years ago | 1 year | No premium; | 1 year |
| | | no | no pay. |
+-------------------+---------+ indentures +--------------------+
| At present time | 1 year | | 6 months 1_s._, |
| | | | 6 months 2_s._ |
| | | | or 3_s._ |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 11. BOOKBINDER'S. |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
| 10 years ago | 1½ | No premium; | 6 months |
| | years | no | no pay, |
| | | indentures | 1 year half pay. |
+-------------------+---------+ +--------------------+
| At present time | 1½ | | 9 months 2_s._ |
| | years | | 6_d._, |
| | | | 9 months 5_s._ |
+-------------------+---------+-------------+--------------------+
[Footnote 58: This information was procured in 1901.]
The important point, however, is not so much the nominal length of
apprenticeship, but the fact that the work which an "apprentice" now
does is less educative than it was, and that wage-earning considerations
now enter at an earlier stage into the apprentice's thoughts.
[Sidenote: The learner as workwoman.]
The low wages paid to learners offer great temptations to employers to
set these extra cheap workgirls upon certain "fat" kinds of work. Some
kinds of work, _e.g._, gathering, have thus come to be regarded as
learners' perquisites, and in one extreme instance a worker made as much
money when a learner on half pay as she did subsequently on whole
pay.[59]
[Footnote 59: These figures from typical houses showing proportions of
learners and journeywomen are interesting:--
Workers. Learners.
A. 75 14
B. 87 19
C. 7 3
D. 8 3
E. 12 11
F. 26 20
These houses are engaged in various kinds of bookbinding and printing.]
In several cases we have been able to trace the exact amount gained by
the employer:--
1. A. in the last sixteen weeks of her half-pay period made £3 18_s._
6_d._, an average of 4_s._ 10¾ _d._ per week. For the next sixteen
weeks, when a full hand, her average was 9_s._ 8_d._
2. B. in twenty-three weeks before she became a full hand made £4 9_s._
10_d._, or an average of 3_s._ 10¾ _d._ per week. During the next
twenty-three weeks her average was 7_s._ 0½_d._, a few pence less than
double.
3. C. in fifty-one weeks made £15 5_s._ 4½_d._, practically 6_s._ per
week; if on full wage, her average would have been 11_s._ 11½_d._
4. D. in thirty-seven weeks made £10 19_s._ 5½_d._, practically 6_s._
per week; if on full wage her average would have been 11_s._ 10½_d._
5. E. in forty-seven weeks made £14 9_s._ 4½_d._, or 6_s._ 2_d._ per
week; if on full pay her average would have been 12_s._ 3¾ _d._
6. F. in forty-three weeks made £12 12_s._ 3_d._, 5_s._ 1½_d._ per week;
if on full pay her earnings would have been 11_s._ 8¾ _d._
It is obvious that when a worker is sufficiently expert to make an
average of 11_s._ or 12_s._ on full pay, it is a great temptation to
save on the bills by giving her as much work as possible at half-price.
The employer looks upon this profit as the return made to him for
teaching the girl, or, to speak more correctly, for allowing her to
pick up the trade in his shop. It really means that a heavy premium is
being paid in instalments. Possibly, when small fixed wages are paid,
the employer's profits are even higher, but in that case the learner has
not that temptation to sacrifice quality to quantity, and to be content
with "slapdash" work which is the inevitable consequence of a piecework
system worked under such conditions, and which is specially injurious to
the young hands.
[Sidenote: Compositors.]
The training given to women compositors varies very much. As is well
known, boys are apprenticed to this trade for seven years at wages which
usually begin at 8_s._ a week, and rise 2_s._ a year. In some cases,
however, a proportion of their piece-rate earning is given in addition.
When Miss Faithfull started the Victoria Press, girls were indentured
for four years, and paid a premium of ten guineas. During the first six
months they received nothing; for the remaining three and a half years
they were given two-third piece rates. By 1869, when Mr. Head was
running the business, this system had been changed. In an article in the
_Printers' Register_ for October 6th, 1869, we read that at the Victoria
Press, apprenticeship, "a relic of the ignorance and shortsightedness of
our forefathers, which is maintained in our own day chiefly by the
prejudices of Trades Unions, is entirely abolished. Girls begin to earn
at once," with the consequence that the work is much better. The Women's
Printing Society started with an apprenticeship of three or four years,
the wages rising from 2_s._ 6_d._ to 10_s._
At the present time the training varies in different houses, from one
where the girls are regularly indentured for four years, pay a premium
of £5, and receive 4_s._ for the first year and 5_s._, 6_s._, 7_s._ a
week in the ensuing years, to one where, with a premium of three
guineas, the training lasts for three months only, and the worker is put
on piecework after that period.
Two women compositors who had served for four years gave it as their
opinion that two years were sufficient to learn; during the remaining
years "you are expected to do as much as a full hand and get only half
wages."
It is obvious, however, that much depends on the amount of work taught,
and the complaint is reiterated over and over again that girls will only
learn the easy, plain work: "they want to make money at once."
[Sidenote: Women and technical classes.]
Enquiries were addressed to the Secretaries of Technical Education
Committees in every town in the kingdom where the printing and kindred
trades are of any importance, asking--
"1. Whether, in connection with your technical and other schools,
any provision is made for the training of women in the bookbinding
or in any of the printing or stationery trades;
"2. Whether the classes have been attended by any numbers of
women; and
"3. Whether you have received at any time from employers
statements showing the effect of such classes upon these trades?"
Seventeen replied that no provisions were made, six that the matter was
under consideration, but only in one case was it stated that classes had
been opened, and then the women had not taken advantage of them. The
London County Council Technical Education Board has had only one
application (to which it could not accede [60]) from a woman who desired
to attend bookbinding classes.
[Footnote 60: The woman was an amateur who had no connection with the
trade, and the Board refused admission on that ground. See this Board's
Special Report on Technical Instruction of Women.]
This shows that in these trades the school, so far as women are
concerned, has not yet been brought into contact with the workshop.
Nominally the classes are open to women actually engaged in the trade,
but women do not attend. This seems to be partly owing to the attitude
of the men, and partly owing to the lack of interest on the part of the
woman worker in the few facilities afforded to her by Technical
Education Committees.
The Home Arts and Crafts Association and kindred movements have taught
women amateurs bookbinding and leather work in a good many centres, but
this training has had no general industrial effect. The Association for
the Employment of Women has offered facilities for the training of women
in working the linotype, but it has met with but scanty response. "It is
work which needed more skill," said one employer, "than women
possessed."[61]
[Footnote 61: We have heard since this was written that women are
employed on linotype machines in a prosperous provincial newspaper and
general printing office.]
Here again we have had evidence of the most conclusive nature to show
that the work of women is special in its simplicity, and that the
craftswoman is hardly to be found anywhere. And they seem to have
accepted the position, and make no attempt to move out of it.[62]
[Footnote 62: This note is typical of a good many which occur in the
reports of the investigators. "There are two girls now on the
black-bordering machine whom the forewoman has offered to teach to place
out by hand, but they won't learn it; it is too much trouble."]
2. WHY WOMEN DO NOT TRAIN.
Some explanation is required for the fact that women have so little
ambition to become skilled, especially seeing that their lack of
technical knowledge and their willingness to remain at work which is
merely mechanical, _i.e._, folding, etc., explain their low wages,
casual employment, and careless organisation.
[Sidenote: Marriage as an industrial influence.]
The physiological differences between men and women have sociological
results. These differences have no doubt been exaggerated and emphasised
by traditions of propriety, and the change of opinion indicated
generally by the expression, "the woman movement," has done a great deal
to bring down those differences to their natural proportions and
relations. If certain claims of equality, such as women's suffrage, were
generally accepted, men and women might tend to occupy a much more equal
industrial status. But when all false emphasis and exaggeration have
been removed, a considerable residuum of difference must remain.
The special status of the married woman will no doubt survive all
readjustment of traditional modes of thought, and will tend to withdraw
her mind from the steady pursuit of industrial efficiency, because she
will never consider wage earning to be her special task in the world.
That has tempted her hitherto to steer off from the currents in the
mid-stream of industrial life, and float upon those that flow more
sluggishly by the margin. Hence she has entered industry, not with
expectations of long employment, but with hopes of a speedy release, and
she has therefore been in haste to earn money at once, and unwilling to
sink capital (either in time or money) in making herself efficient. She
is found in the more mechanical and more easily acquired branches of
work, and also in those which provide no future for men,[63] and her
willingness to take low wages has been her great protection against
competing machinery. She has preferred to remain incompetent. "Out of
twenty-six girls," is the report from the manager of a well-known firm
for high-class artistic bookbinding, "not one could he trust as a
forewoman."
[Footnote 63: An interesting illustration of this is afforded by the
recent employment of women in typefounding in London. London has not
been a place where women were much employed in this industry. For twenty
or thirty years girls have been employed in Edinburgh typefoundries, at
certain processes through which the type, when cast, has to go, but they
have been introduced only within the last year or two in London, to take
the place of boys who could not be got because the work offers no very
satisfactory prospects for them, and because the introduction of the
linotype and mono-type threatens the future of the typefounding
industry. _Cf._ Aberdeen, p. 47, Manchester and Birmingham, p. 50.]
[Sidenote: The lack of openings and ambition.]
Moreover, this enquiry has shown that there is but little chance for
women in these trades to improve themselves. Openings for responsible
employment are few, and the ambition of the woman is not stirred by the
possibility of material improvement as the reward of skill and industry.
When responsible places become vacant, it is sometimes difficult to get
women to consent to fill them. They seem to have little of that divine
discontent which is the mainspring of progress. "They never ask for a
rise as a man would, ... though after a time when they are useful, the
firm would be quite willing to give one." "He finds that girls want to
earn a certain wage. As a rule they will not take less, and they don't
trouble to earn more." A Manchester correspondent reports: "There is
very little chance of rising, and no particular desire for it, on the
part of the ordinary girl, whose main aspirations are otherwise
directed."
Reporting generally on her enquiries, an investigator writes: "The
progressive young woman, eager to show that she is man's equal and can
do man's work, seems to be a product of the middle classes. I never met
girls with ambitions of that sort among the employees I talked with. On
the other hand, I have met with cutting reproofs from forewomen and
others in the bookbinding houses when I tried, in my innocence, to find
out why they did not turn their hands to simple and easy processes which
were being done by men. 'Why, that is man's work, and we shouldn't think
of doing it!' is the usual answer given with a toss of the head and a
tone insinuating that there is a certain indelicacy in the question."
Another investigator reports: "In a paper-staining department an attempt
was once made to have a forewoman instead of a foreman over the girls,
but she was not successful in watching the colours and had to be
replaced by a man. The employer in consequence came to the conclusion
that such a feat was beyond a woman's power, and the workers themselves
are of the same opinion and scorn the idea of a forewoman."
[Sidenote: Sex reputation.]
Women in slowly increasing numbers seem to be settling down to a
thorough industrial training, but except when they start businesses of
their own, the general reputation of woman as workers, especially their
liability to marry and leave, must permanently handicap the most
efficient in search of employment.
Even the woman who has paid a premium of £50 or £100 for thorough
instruction in the art of bookbinding is warned that "a worker cannot be
taken on anywhere, but has to set up on her own account," and even then
she often does not enter the regular open competitive market, but
attaches certain customers to herself, owing to her special work.
The exceptional woman will always have to bear the burden of the average
woman.
The questions put to employers upon this point received very emphatic
replies: "It does not pay us to train women," they said in some form or
another; "We only want them for simple processes such as folding, and if
we tried to make them skilled in more complicated work they would leave
us before we got the same return for our trouble as we get from men."
[Sidenote: Physique, hours, etc.]
The low standard of women's living also diminishes their stamina and
strength, and though in the course of this enquiry we have not
discovered any very serious complaint that women were irregular at their
work owing to ill-health (a common complaint against women in offices),
yet the drawback has been mentioned.
Moreover, it must be noted that when a girl's work in the workshop is
finished she has often to go home to commence a new round of domestic
tasks from which a boy is exempted. This aggravates the seriousness of
her long hours of mechanical work as a wage-earner, and increases the
difficulties placed in her way should she desire to attend evening
technical classes. The directors of several educational institutions
and the teachers of technical classes for women have strongly urged this
point upon us.
We have to face the fact that, for various reasons, in modern industrial
society there is of necessity a tendency to specialise the work of men
and women and centre the one in the workshop and the other in the home,
and to incline women to take a place in industry second to their male
relations. Hence, in the workshop women have hitherto been adjuncts to
machines; they have taken up simple mechanical processes, and have shown
little interest in complete series of industrial operations. They have
picked up the arts, but have shunned the sciences. The factory and the
workshop have been to them the scenes of "meanwhile" employment.
[Sidenote: Gentility in trade.]
In such circumstances one is not surprised to find such considerations
as conventional gentility determining the branches of trade taken up by
the women. The printing trades generally do not attract the most genteel
girls, but there are grades within them. One informant says, "In
Manchester, up to 1870, to be a folder was looked upon as being next
door to being on the streets;" but now folders look down upon feeders.
"Folding and sewing girls look down on the machine girls tremendously,
and would not sit at the same table with them for anything." Perhaps the
manager who said in a shocked tone of voice that "The women never care
to talk of the Sunday's sermon" was hypercritical, but undoubtedly
certain sections of these trades are staffed by rather rough specimens
of women.
Then again, a folder, despised herself by those above her, is reported
to "look down upon the litho and bronzing girls. They are of the very
lowest class (she says), with hardly a shoe on their feet. They are on
quite a different floor and have nothing to do with the folders." Or
again, for reasons of gentility, girls prefer to become book-folders,
where the hours are longer and the pay lower, rather than to become
paper-bag makers. The distinction between these various sections is not
similar to that between skilled and unskilled labour. The simple
explanation is that amongst women engaged in industry convention is
particularly potent in determining what trades are desirable and proper
and what are not, so that when certain employments acquire a reputation
for gentility, the others will be filled by a goodly proportion of
unassorted girls, and will ultimately acquire characteristics which
appear to justify the feminine prejudices against them. It has been
suggested that these notions of gentility have, as a matter of fact, a
deeper significance, and that the favoured trades are the lighter ones.
To some extent this is true. The heavier employments are staffed by a
rougher class of women. But, as in the case of the Manchester folders
cited above, fashions change, and we must recognise that reputation for
gentility is a very important factor in determining the distribution of
character amongst the trades. This appears to be the main reason why
high wages do not always attract the better class of girls to certain
kinds of employment, and also why there is a reluctance on the part of
many self-respecting girls to enter a course of industrial training.
CHAPTER VI.
_LEGISLATION._
1. THE LAW.
The printing and allied trades were not brought within the scope of
legislation until Mr. Walpole's Factory Acts' Extension Act of 1867.
[Sidenote: Conditions of employment, 1866.]
The Commission on Children's Employment in 1866[64] first disclosed the
fact that substantial abuses prevailed throughout the printing and
kindred trades. Long hours, frequent nightwork, Sunday labour,
irregularities regarding meal times, and insanitary conditions--such,
roughly speaking, were the hardships which made it desirable to bring
them under State supervision. Mr. Lord, who took an active part on these
Commissions, said that the general state of printing houses in London
was very bad; not only were the composing rooms generally overcrowded
and ill-ventilated, but even machine rooms were often extremely dirty,
close and unhealthy. He cites the case of a machine room, where the roof
was so low that a hole was cut in the ceiling for the head of the boy
who was "laying-on" to go through. "The heat of steam printing," says
he, "is very deleterious in close cellars, such as many places in this
town are."
[Footnote 64: Children's Employment Commission, 1862-1866 (Report V.).]
Speaking of the factories of wholesale stationers, the same witness
says, "Many of the workrooms are ill-ventilated and overcrowded. The
cubical contents of one large room measured by me were 136 ft. per head;
those of another only 87 ft. per head."
With regard to hours, the Commissioners report: "These ordinary hours
(viz., 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for females, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. for men and boys)
are from time to time exceeded to the extent of one or two hours, and
sometimes more. In the case of those who bind for publishing houses the
four or five winter months are the busy season, and the six weeks
immediately preceding Christmas those of the greatest pressure; at one
such place work often continued from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. in those six
weeks. The 'push' of 'magazine day' also affects this trade as it does
the printer, keeping the workpeople for several days at the end of each
month until 10 or 11 p.m., and on rare occasions till 1 or 2 a.m. The
case of railway guides is even worse than that of magazines, for females
sometimes have to work the whole night through till 6 a.m., returning to
work at 10 on the same morning, and when the first of a month is on a
Monday, work the whole of the preceding Sunday. On Sunday, April 30th
this year, at one place twenty females worked from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.,
and after a rest of two hours went on again through the night. Even
girls of thirteen had worked in the same week once from 4 a.m. to 10
p.m., and twice from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Another rather older (fourteen
and a half) worked on one day from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and on the
preceding day from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. A boy aged fourteen had worked two
or three times in a week from 7 a.m. to 10 or 11 p.m. and three Sundays
through."
"With paper-box makers," the Commissioners say, "it is not uncommon to
make two or even three hours overtime (this after a day of from 9 a.m.
to 8 or 9 p.m.). For two months in spring and six weeks in autumn
fourteen hours is the usual length of a female's working day. At one
place females over fifteen are said to work constantly in the busy time
from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., and in some places till 1 or 2 a.m., especially
with 'little men' working at home with their family and two or three
girls to help. These are instances of London work, but in Manchester the
hours are even longer. One girl worked, at sixteen years old, night
after night in succession, from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m.; the younger ones
there worked from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.; at another place the same witness
had frequently worked from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Another, at nine years old,
worked from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. generally; she said that the older ones
worked a good deal later than that. Some young women had worked on three
or four occasions all the night through."
"Boys of fourteen and fifteen employed at making cardboard, have in some
cases worked from 8 a.m. till 10 or 11 p.m. twice a week for four or
five weeks running, but that is not general in the trade. Girls of that
age have worked at making paper bags nearly every night for a similar
period, till 10 or 11 p.m. from 8 a.m., and were very much tired by it.
As paper-box making is all handwork and paid for by the piece, it is not
uncommon for work to go on in the meal hours--'they please themselves.'"
The following was the experience of one girl which she gave before the
Commissioners. "I am thirteen; I have been here twelve months. Some of
the girls worked all night last month for two nights together. I call
'till 4 in the morning' all night. We generally work one night till 4
a.m., and three or four nights till 12. My mother thought all night hurt
me and so would not let me go on, but I work till 12. Last month I
worked five times in the night till 12. It is only in that week; we get
very tired towards the end of it."
With regard to the moral conditions of the workers the Commissioners
reported: "The indiscriminate mixing of the sexes which still prevails
in many workrooms is generally condemned. The evil of such a practice is
especially conspicuous where they are late and irregular in their hours.
The bad language and conduct of the boys is made the subject of very
strong comment by two witnesses, who go so far as to say that there is a
marked deterioration in this respect during the last ten years."
Again, "The younger children were in many cases unable to read. The evil
of late and irregular work in letting women loose on the streets at all
hours of the night is justly censured by an employer as necessarily
leading to great immorality."
[Sidenote: Legislation, 1867.]
In consequence of the Report of the Commissioners, the Factory Act
Extension Act, 1867, was passed. It applied specifically to any premises
where paper manufacture, letter-press printing and bookbinding were
carried on; and generally to any premises where fifty or more people
were employed in any manufacturing process. The hours allowed for women
and young persons were from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., or from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.,
with intervals amounting to one and a half hours for meals; on Saturday,
work had to cease at 2 p.m. By way of exception, women employed in
bookbinding could work fourteen hours a day, provided that their total
hours did not exceed sixty per week.
To those trades, such as litho-printing, that did not come under the
above Act, was applied the Workshops Regulation Act of the same year,
the provisions of which resembled, though they did not coincide with
those of the foregoing enactment. The same aggregate number of hours
per day and week was established, but more elasticity was permitted in
workshops, women and young persons being allowed to work in them for the
hours specified at any time between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m., and until 4 p.m.
on Saturdays.
[Sidenote: Factory and Workshop Act, 1878.]
The discrepancies in the regulations applying to different classes of
work were productive of a good deal of inconvenience, and after the
Commission of 1876 came the Factory and Workshop Act, 1878, having as
its object the consolidation and amendment of the existing statutes with
a view to rendering their administration more even and secure. The main
provisions of the law as it now affects the printing and kindred trades
were laid down, although since that date there have been various
additions and amendments. By this Act a distinction was drawn between
factories and workshops, the chief difference being that, in the former,
machinery propelled by steam, water, or other mechanical power must be
in use; while in the latter, no such agency must be employed. Certain
classes of works, however, apart from all question of mechanical power,
were defined as factories and not workshops. Under these came
paper-staining works, foundries (including typefoundries), except
premises in which such process was carried on by not more than five
persons, and as subsidiary to the repair or completion of some other
work--paper mills, letter-press printing works, and bookbinding
establishments.
[Sidenote: Factory and Workshop Act, 1901.]
As regards hours of work and overtime, slight modifications have been
effected by legislation subsequent to the year 1878, and the present
state of the law as laid down in the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, is
as follows:--The regular hours for women and young persons except
Saturday, are 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., or 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.,
with an allowance of one and a half hours for meals, one hour of such
meal-time being before 3 p.m. On Saturday the period of employment may
be 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., or 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with not
less than half-an-hour for meals. But where a woman or young person has
not been actually employed for more than eight hours on any day in a
week, and notice of this has been affixed in the factory or workshop and
served on the inspector, she may be at work on Saturday from 6 a.m. to 4
p.m., with an interval of not less than two hours for meals.
There are various special restrictions and exceptions applying to
different classes of work. No protected person may take a meal or remain
during meal-time in any part of a factory or workshop where typefounding
is carried on, or where dry powder or dust is used in litho-printing,
playing-card making, paper-staining, almanac-making, paper-colouring and
enamelling. In certain industries, including printing, bookbinding,
machine ruling and envelope making, women may work three days a week,
and for thirty days during the year, two hours overtime, provided that
such employment ceases at 10 p.m., and that they have two hours for
meals. But this limit of overtime applies to the factory or workshop as
a whole, and not to the overtime of individual workers.
2. ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL EFFECTS OF LEGISLATION.
The foregoing brief summary of the law has naturally preceded the
question as to how far legislation has affected women in these
particular trades. When restrictions are imposed upon the labour of any
class of wage-earners, their economic position must be altered for good
or evil, unless the trade can so adjust itself as to meet exactly the
requirements of these restrictions. If the worker is of great
importance, an effort will be made to adapt the trade to the novel
conditions; if another class of workers or machinery, free from all
restrictions, can be as easily used, it is probable that the labour
affected will be ousted.
[Sidenote: Has legislation displaced women?]
Is there, then, evidence to show that any material displacement of women
or girls in these trades followed the enforcement of factory
legislation? Instances of dismissal must obviously be sought for soon
after the Act of 1867, as the employer then knew on what terms he
engaged his staff, and, except in a few cases where deliberate evasions
of the law might be attempted, the effect of legislation would be to
deter him from employing women, rather than lead him to dismiss them.
Owing to the lapse of time, it is difficult to find out from those in
the trade the immediate consequences of this Act, nor does the
Commission of 1876 give much assistance. Of 103 employers questioned by
us, not half a dozen remembered dismissing women in consequence of the
new enactment.
One employer turned off ten or twelve women "folders" and introduced
machinery, alleging as his reason the want of elasticity in the Factory
Act. His ordinary hours were from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., but on certain days
in the week it was necessary to begin work at 6 a.m. He made
arrangements that the total number of hours should not exceed those
sanctioned by the Act, but the variation was not allowed. If his women
began work at 6 a.m. on any day, his hours had to be regularly 6 a.m. to
6 p.m., except in the case of thirty nights in the year when overtime
was permitted. As this did not suit his business, he dismissed the women
and had recourse to folding machines. Personally he gained, as the
machinery proved an economy, but it told hardly on the women, whom
otherwise he would have kept on as they were old hands.
Another employer told a similar tale regarding the introduction of
folding machinery, but stated that he had been obliged to dispen
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