|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 28
The second cause which leads a certain number of elderly men to adopt
a life of vagrancy is to be attributed to the action of Trades-Unions.
After a workman reaches a certain period of life he is no longer able
to do a full day's work. As soon as this period of life arrives, and
sometimes even before it does arrive, the artisan finds it becoming
increasingly difficult to obtain employment. The rate of wages in his
trade is fixed by Trades-Union rules; every man, no matter what his
qualifications may be, has to receive so much an hour, or the full
Trade-Union wage for the district; no one is allowed to take a job at
a lower figure. No doubt Trades-Unionists find that this regulation
works well an far as it relates to the young and the able-bodied, and
as these always compose the great majority in every trade society, it
is a regulation which is not likely to be rescinded or modified.
Nevertheless, it is a rule which often operates very unjustly in the
case of men who are getting old. These men may have been steady and
industrious workmen all their lives, they may still be able to do a
fair amount of honest work; but, as soon as that amount of work falls
below the daily average of the trade, such men have to go; they are
henceforth practically debarred from earning an honest livelihood at
what has hitherto been the occupation of their working life. Work may
be abundant in the district, but it is useless for grey-haired men to
apply; they cannot do the amount required, and as they are not
permitted to work at a lower rate of wages than their fellows, the
means of getting a living are arbitrarily taken out of their hands. As
a consequence of these Trades-Union enactments, cases are not
infrequent in which workmen who have just passed middle life, or have
sustained injuries, drift insensibly into vagrant habits. These habits
are acquired almost without their knowing it. In the vague hope of
perhaps finding something to do a man will wander from town to town
existing as best he can; after the hope of employment has died away he
still continues to wander, and thus forms an additional unit in the
permanent army of beggars and vagrants. Trade-Unionists would
undoubtedly remedy a great wrong if some effective means were devised
by them to meet cases of this character. It should be remembered by
those most opposed to any modifications of the present system that
they may one day be its victims. The hindrances in the way of putting
an end to the injustice inherent in the present arrangements are not
incapable of being overcome. It is surely possible to devise a rule
which, while leaving intact the essential features of the present
system, will render it more flexible--a rule to enable the maimed and
the aged who cannot do a full day's work to make, through the Union if
need be, some special arrangement with the employers. Such a rule, if
properly safe-guarded to prevent abuse, would be of inestimable
benefit to many a working man.
If the step here suggested were adopted by the Trade Societies, it
would, according to calculations which I have made, reduce the begging
population by about two per cent. This percentage, in my opinion,
represents the number of vagrants who are able and willing to do a
certain amount of work, but cannot get it to do. It is a percentage
which at any rate does not err on the side of being too low; when
trade is at its ordinary level it is perhaps a little too high. In any
case this proportion may be taken as a tolerably accurate estimate of
the numbers of the vagrant class which will not enter the Unions when
out of employment, and are consequently forced by the pressure of want
to resort to a life of beggary.
The proportion here indicated of the number of vagrants who are
willing to work coincides in a remarkable manner with certain
statistics recently collected by H. Monod of the Ministry of the
Interior in France.[19] According to M. Monod a benevolently disposed
French citizen wished to know the amount of truth contained in the
complaints of sturdy beggars, that they were willing to work if they
could get anything to do or anyone to employ them. This gentleman
entered into negotiations with some merchants and manufacturers, and
induced them to offer work at the rate of four francs a day to every
person presenting himself furnished with a letter of recommendation
from him. In eight months 727 sturdy beggars came under his notice,
all complaining that they had no work. Each of them was asked to come
the following day to receive a letter which would enable him to get
employment at four francs a day in an industrial establishment. More
than one half (415) never came for the letter; a good many others
(138) returned for the letter but never presented it. Others who did
present their letter worked half a day, demanded two francs and were
seen no more. A few worked a whole day and then disappeared. In short,
out of the whole 727 only 18 were found at work at the end of the
third day. As a result of this experiment M. Monod concludes that not
more than one able-bodied beggar in 40 is inclined to work even if he
is offered a fair remuneration for his services.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|