Peter Shorrocks

“ In one house, an emaciated man and woman and consumptive lad were at work late at night. In the intensity of feeling, one of the committee exclaimed, as he was leaving, "Oh! for the genius of a Hood, who could sing the song of a thousand suits, and move the hearts of the wearers to think of the responsibility of patronising firms that resort to such a practice." The system is not only deterrent to the healthiness and progress of those engaged in it, but also to the general position of the operative in shops. The work done at these houses is paid less for than in the workshop ”

“ Edinburgh and Glasgow, in Scotland, all bear testimony to the evils of this system, which can be remedied as follows:—"That it should be a duty upon all manufacturers to find workshop accommodation for those they employ, whether the number be many or few." "That any part or parts of a dwelling-house so occupied should be considered a factory, and should be so registered for the purposes of any Act of Parliament made to apply to their supervision, and that all Rules and Acts made for the inspection and regulation of factories and workshops should be applied equally in all cases." ”

“ The co-operative store, which we thought would be found all right, has lately adopted the 'sweating' system in their tailoring business, thus coming down to the level of all the others of this class, who employ 'sweaters' only. We are strongly of opinion that public attention has only to be drawn to so great an evil to obtain a remedy, and we think the best remedy is to put under the Workshops Act the whole of the places where any sort of manufacturing industry is carried on. ”

“ The curse of man is verily fulfilled by this class of operatives—"By the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread." If there is a scheme of redemption for fallen man in his spiritual state, it is necessary that the condition of his life should be to enable him to appreciate and value the promises of a redeeming Saviour. The system here described in this pamphlet shows man has doubly fallen, and needs the conscientious assistance of the public in giving their orders to tradesmen only who provide proper workshops for their operatives. ”

“ These are facts which have come under my own observation; and though we have informed the sanitary inspectors of the evil, with a view of its remedy, we have failed to obtain their interference. Therefore, our opinion is, that if an employer should please to give his workmen the work to take home, he should be bound to make provision by which that home should be registered; and we have simply to ask if you can see your way to introduce some clause in the bill you contemplate bringing forward by which it may be compulsory upon an employer to register any house or shop in which his work is done. ”

“ The committee know of many cases of neglect of sanitary rules, and disease has been engendered, and whole families have suffered from scarlet fever and other infectious diseases; yet work was pursued in the house during the whole of the time persons were afflicted, and garments were made for customers of the most respectable houses in the trade. The committee further state the system of both sexes working together in such places, and that the conduct and conversation of men, women, and girls is such as to raise a blush on the cheek of the most callous persons ”

“ We think the tailors and their customers should pay this matter more attention than they have hitherto done, from the fact that only one house in the trade has all the work done on the premises. Three first-class tailoring establishments in the town have entirely closed their workrooms during the last eighteen months, and now employ none but out-workers, and the other first-class houses all more or less work by this system. Of the second-class shops your committee find only two where the work is done on the premises. ”

“ The manner in which work is sent entails night and day work, and often Sunday labour, on all. Proper rest, health, and strength are sacrificed to the god Mammon and to the moral degradation of those engaged. ”

“ We are aware that this is both a difficult and delicate matter for any Minister of State to deal with, and we are also well aware that the rights of a citizen are to be considered and respected, but at the same time we think, that where it can be proved that a number of people living in small rooms are engaged in this work, under conditions physically and morally of a deplorable nature, some steps should be taken by which either sanitary inspectors, or inspectors under the Factory and Workshop Act, should be able to inquire into and remedy this state of things. ”

“ Thus the condition of the operative tailor is far worse than that of other workmen. When less price is paid for work done at home, the man is obliged to bring in the assistance of his wife and family—hence it is not to be wondered at that homes become neglected, and epidemic diseases attack such homes as described in our report. The committee, in describing their mission, begin by stating that knowledge is power, and the fact became patent that as workmen they were not able to earn a fair day's wage for a fair day's work, according to the generally recognised notions of experienced tradesmen. ”

“ The arguments against these propositions cannot outweigh the cause of humanity, but it is the duty of the public themselves, in their own interest, to see that they give their orders only to those who provide workshops. The work is one in which all should share and take an interest. ”

“ Your committee are bound to state that in this, as in all other old towns, there are places which are not fit for human habitations, but in which the poor are forced to reside; and many operatives of the tailoring and bootmaking trades may be seen taking home work from the different business places of the town to these miserable 'dens,' which, as residences, only germinate epidemics which undermine the health of all who are forced to reside there. ”

“ One great difficulty that presents itself to your committee is the fact that laws, already in existence and provided long ago for the purpose of improving the bad condition of our workshop system, were for years allowed to remain a dead letter, while if they had been applied must at least have modified in some degree the evils that are inseparable from the present system. ”

“ In visiting these houses we found a man and his wife with male and female helps, all working together in one room, and in some cases there was a bed in the same room. In a place on the other side of Regent Street, in a court that abounds with tailors working in their own homes, I found in a top room, the roof of which was so low that the man had to stoop, a man and his wife both working at this trade in the direst misery. ”

“ If disease were to break out in his house, and it were known, he would be requested by both men and masters to leave the shop until a clean bill of health was received and his place disinfected.
Mr. Cross: That is what I wanted to know. Then the object of your deputation to-day is this—that a workman, wherever he may be employed (whether in a workshop or in his own house) , if he should be living with a wife or child suffering from a contagious disease, he should be prevented from spreading that disease. ”

“ We found somewhere near 1,300 people engaged in this kind of work, so that if any disease existed among them there was the liability if not certainty of its being spread from those homes among the enormous number of people in whose midst these clothes came. Moreover, we think that, in particular, attention should be called to the fact that all the circumstances surrounding the places in which the sweaters work are such as to foster and spread disease, the situation of the places likewise facilitating the spread of disease to a fearful extent. ”

“ God only knows where the limit of this "upas" deleterious influence is felt, unknown to the wearers of the clothing, which brings to them secretions in its folds most poisonous to life, and in its most loathsome forms. ”

“ The places actually visited are where 1,329 men, women, and girls work, the time was the slackest in the year for the tailoring trade, and the work being hurried we could not visit all the places in the same street which were engaged in this class of work. There were certain factories employing from 80 to 100 hands not visited. We estimate that there are about 3,000 people engaged in the trade in Manchester, and that only about 1,000 work in shops provided by their employers. ”

“ REPORT OF THE INVESTIGATION COMMITTEE OF THE MANCHESTER BRANCH AMALGAMATED SOCIETY OF TAILORS. It will be readily seen that the obstacles thrown in the way of a full investigation into such a system as sweating or out-working by workmen, without legal authority to prosecute their labours, are many, and in some cases insurmountable ”

“ It is a matter for deep regret that the corporate authorities of this borough, with their great power and desire for sanitary reformation, should have lost sight of or neglected to bring into use the instruments that were then placed in their hands, and so powerful to produce good results. ”

“ Sir, I do not know that any of the previous speakers have impressed this important consideration upon you, that while the aristocratic and wealthy go to large, showy shops, with plate-glass fronts, and are there measured and try their clothes on, they do not know nor have they the least idea that the garments are actually made in the lowest, filthiest slums of the city, by which means diseases of all kinds are spread. ”

“ We have not a word to say against the steady, honest man who tries to get a business together by setting off a part of his house for a workroom, though we think that even in such a case there should be a regular inspection under the Workshops Regulation Act. ”

“ The knowledge that they were losing the power of providing decently for themselves and families made it incumbent on their society to ascertain the extent to which the system of sending work to the homes of the operatives had extended, and also to gain a knowledge of the aspect of the question so far as it affected the public generally ”

“ In the places we visited there was not, as far as we saw, any cases of contagion, but we heard of such in several neighbourhoods. The general condition of the workers is deplorable; on all sides is seen the result of constant dreary work, with small pay. ”

“ I may mention that the already existing appliances for the prevention of such evils as those we complain of are entirely inoperative as regards our workshops, and I may support that statement by citing a case that came under my personal knowledge, where a man, upon his return from the hospital, far from wholly recovered from smallpox, resumed his occupation of making up garments. ”

“ I have here two cases with reference to nine dwellings in Camden Court, in the city, containing twelve families each, and each family numbers from three to six members. The hours of labour range from 12 to 18 per day, and the places are in a most filthy state. Sir, such facts as these must show that the people need protection from themselves. ”

“ Since, sir, it was known that you had kindly consented to receive a deputation on this subject, I have had letters bearing directly upon the question from Windsor, Ashton, Wrexham, Carlisle, Dublin, Derby, Oxford, Cambridge, and many other towns, all giving illustrations of the deteriorating effects of the existing circumstances as regards our trade; and we think a clause might be inserted in your proposed bill for the consolidation and amendment of the Factory and Workshops Act that would meet the case. ”

“ Hundreds work at home under the same conditions as depicted in other places; the middleman, or master sweater, employing men at his home at from 17s. to £1 per week, women and girls from 1s. per day and upwards ”

“ We are well aware that this is now becoming an important question, and we trust that when the facts and figures are laid before you they will convince you that it is a question which requires the serious consideration of those friends who are so anxious for the sanitary and social condition of this country. ”

“ We think their reproduction as part of the report will make the Council see the need for some steps being taken to lessen the consequences of this thirst for profit, which has tempted employers of labour to let off rooms for the sake of a money benefit, while they drive their workpeople to labour in places already over-crowded by the presence of numerous offspring for which the poor worker cannot find sufficient room. ”