Overcharging

“ For two plain human beings, unaccustomed to the use of the broad-axe and consumed with an impatient greed of the result, the whole business melts, in the retrospect, into a nightmare of exertion, heat, hurry, and bewilderment; sweat pouring from the face like rain, the scurry of rats, the choking exhalations of the bilge, and the throbs and splinterings of the toiling axes. ”

“ We looked upon it as very much akin to the running of cargoes into blockaded ports—a large profit for a large risk and no ill-feeling, though, indeed, at times, human nature would out, and attempts at the enforcement of laws in the making of which we had no hand, would result in collisions, and occasionally in the shedding of blood. ”

“ Man shall no more earn his living by the sweat of his brow. All labor shall be reduced to “a short turn of some crank,” and “taking the finished article away.” But there is a crank,—oh, how hard to be turned! Could there not be a crank upon a crank,—an infinitely small crank?—we would fain inquire. No,—alas! not. But there is a certain divine energy in every man, but sparingly employed as yet, which may be called the crank within,—the crank after all,—the prime mover in all machinery,—quite indispensable to all work. ”

“ To say nothing of their noble and munificent manner of sweeping away into space all the charges incurred uselessly, and all the immense inconvenience and profitless work thrown upon their establishment, comes a note this morning from the senior partner, to the effect that they feel that my overwork has been 'indirectly caused by them, and by my great and kind exertions to make their venture successful to the extreme.' There is something so delicate and fine in this, that I feel it deeply. ”

“ A star is engaged upon shares, at an enormous screw, and to make this up, all our screws are reduced. That's where it comes hard. I pledge you my dramatic word, my screw isn't so much by seven-and-sixpence a week as it was six months ago. ”

“ What does excite him, cause him to raise his voice and gesticulate freely, and induce him to “yarn” relentlessly for half a watch, is the recital of some thrilling incident connected with the price of cargo or the claims made for damaged stuff by some abandoned villain of a trader. ”

“ Every year a “crank” becomes “crankier.”
It is well that this is so. Everything in the world costs its price. Rigidity is the price we pay for efficiency. In order to be efficient, we must make habitual the necessary movements. ”

“ On each man's emaciated face, a look of agony, and on the canvas-clad back of one man, a great stain of wet blood from a raw wound caused by the cutting and rubbing of the stone-laden knapsack. Each man wore a fatigue-uniform, filthy beyond description. ”

“ I have seen them agonizing for hours, I believe, for days together, under the torture of the thumb-screws; a dreadful engine, which, if the screw be turned by an unrelenting hand, can give intolerable anguish. ”

“ The trickle becomes a rush—the rush a roaring waterfall. The dyke-top trembles—gives. The men make efforts, desperate, dangerous, as of sailors in a wreck, with faggots, hurdles, sedge, turf: but the bank will break; and slowly they draw off ”

“ It is true, of course, that avulsive action ordinarily calls to mind something somewhat sudden or, at least, of short duration, whereas accretion has as its essence the gradual deposit of material over a period by action of water flow. ”

“ Overloading, improper stowage, bad management, under-manning, insufficient repair, besides the numerous inevitable and unforeseen circumstances incidental to sea-voyaging, may be instanced as the causes to which the greatest losses are attributable. ”

“ Controversies respecting the allowance or adjustment of general average more frequently arise in cases where the sacrifice made consisted of a jettison of a portion of the cargo than in respect to any other disaster in navigation. ”

“ Under these conditions the brain gradually loses its healthy tone, and, although quite equal to the daily calls of a routine and uneventful existence, it is unable to withstand the strain of special sudden emergency, and, when a heavy load of work is unexpectedly thrown upon it in its unprepared state, then we see all the worst consequences of what may be called overwork develop themselves. ”

“ If you give one grain of weight too much, so as to increase fatigue without profit, or bulk without value—that added grain is hurtful; if you put one spot or one syllable out of its proper place, that spot or syllable will be destructive—how far destructive it is almost impossible to tell: a misplaced touch may sometimes annihilate the labour of hours. ”

“ He carried out his vow, and from that day his affliction began to leave him, and in a short time he was completely restored to health. Many people complain that they have broken down through over-work. In the majority of such cases the breakdown is more frequently the result of foolishly wasted energy. ”

“ When anything is wanted, then there is a general overhaul of the whole cargo, and away they get shifted forrard, one by one, all handled over and chucked into a heap together till the lost one is found; and the next time, away they get pitched to the starn agin, higglety pigglety, heels over head, like sheep takin' a split for it over a wall; only they increase in number each move, 'cause some on 'em are sure to get broke into more pieces than they was afore. ”

“ When the bank is exhausted, the pillars are attacked, and thus the abandoned portions readily fall in. Accidents at times occur from the pressure of the ground, and these have often caused loss of life ”

“ The crutches answered well. The pat of her feet, and the tap of her sticks upon the highway, were all the sounds that came from the traveller now. She had passed the last milestone by a good long distance, and began to look wistfully towards the bank as if calculating upon another milestone soon. The crutches, though so very useful, had their limits of power. Mechanism only transfers labour, being powerless to supersede it, and the original amount of exertion was not cleared away ”

“ The whir and throb of their pursuers already seemed to come from every point of the compass—from below, from either side and, what was more alarming, from above; but banking sharply to the right he thrashed his course at topmost speed, praying that the cloud-bank might not cease. ”

“ Overcrowding is the cause of physical weakness: physical weakness results in an unsatisfied demand in the labour market: the unsatisfied demand is the cause of an influx from without: again that influx results in overcrowding. ”

“ There are many whose loads are too heavy--for instance, asses. There are a few whose loads are too light--scoffers, like myself. You have had occasion to rebuke me, this night, Father Capel, and were I not a hardened sinner I should be groaning in tribulation. ”

“ Most of the breakdowns that we meet with are put down to work or overwork. It is, therefore, looking at the matter from the personal point of view, a burning question as to how work can be carried out without bringing in its train this much-dreaded climax. ”

“ This screwing, however, is resorted to principally with a view of obtaining more room in the hold; for in a full load of any such commodities as flour or tobacco, there can be no danger of any shifting whatever, at least none from which inconvenience can result. There have been instances, indeed, where this method of screwing has resulted in the most lamentable consequences, arising from a cause altogether distinct from the danger attendant upon a shifting of cargo. ”

“ Another mode of accumulating power arises from lifting a weight and then allowing it to fall. ”

“ We must not have recourse to cupping at the commencement of complaints, nor when the body is in a plethoric state, but when the general system has been evacuated, and when there is no defluxion any longer to the part, and especially when there is a necessity of removing, dislodging, and determining something outwardly. ”

“ It is also decided in these cases, that where a ship has been voluntarily stranded, the circumstance that she is thereby lost strengthens rather than destroys her claim for contribution against the cargo saved by the sacrifice.
3. That though the vessel may have been in the most imminent danger of being stranded by the force of the elements, yet, if the actual stranding is the immediate result of human agency, and is different from the one impending, and effected for the common safety, the case is one for general average. ”

“ If the ‘Racehorse’ and ‘Eclipse’ safely arrive, there will be a little something for you, perhaps, when the cargoes are sold; but if they do not, there will not be a penny to spare. But, worse than all, many of us creditors, Phillip, will have to bite our fingers! ”

“ The agitation is caused by the schools of herring, which are so closely packed that a boat can not pass through them, an oar may be made to stand up among them, and they may be dipped up in buckets or caught with the hand by the thousand. ”

“ Often while loading my horse the thought struck me whether the poor brute ever had a wish to protest, 'Surely this is becoming too bad!' and that reminds me that one must be very careful not to overload. ”

“ The crack may indicate a cracked driver or a crack one, according as it is the passers-by or the driver himself who forms the opinion, and it is an obviously enviable accomplishment which many can manage with their left hand. ”

“ “Flying through an army, sire,” said Athos, “in all countries in the world is called charging.” ”

“ From what I could see in the dim light, he had several of the screws out,—about half of them, perhaps,—but I thought that it would take him at least ten minutes to take out the rest and put them all back again. And that ought to give me plenty of time. ”

“ But judge of our feelings on finding that the trunk, which we had hoped to render so useful in conveying us to some place from which we could obtain a passage to our native land, had, in falling, become so split as to be good for nothing! It seemed to us that a cruel fate had ordained, that no labor of our hands should prosper. ”

“ But now, caught in the tremendous crush of humanity, by the thousands upon thousands of human beings who thronged the streets, carried this way and that by currents and counter-currents, they were likely to be carried anywhere. And should the crush become too great, they might well be rendered unconscious by the vise-like pressure of the throng. ”

“ Ask any actor who’s been stranded and had to count railway sleepers from one town to another! he’ll tell you what sort of an awkward load a portmanteau is, especially if there’s a broken-hearted man underneath it. I’ve tried knapsack fashion—one of the least healthy and most likely to give a man sores; I’ve carried my belongings in a three-bushel sack slung over my shoulder—blankets, tucker, spare boots and poetry all lumped together. I tried carrying a load on my head, and got a crick in my neck and spine for days. ”

“ Such shocks may cause an accumulation of set which finally leads to rupture in a way that is not to be confused with ordinary fatigue of strength. The effects of the accumulation may be removed by annealing. ”

“ You lent him three pounds this morning. We can't afford that."
"Well, well," I said; "I've managed to get some overtime work, to begin next week. That—that'll come out all right. You ought to leave these business matters to me. ”

“ If the first encroachment succeeds, they try another, thus trying it on until, if unchecked, they establish a system very much calculated for their own comfort and convenience, but by no means conducive to their masters' interests. ”

“ Then, in the last minutes of the long-drawn-out agony of death, the Overlords were wont to feed, with a passionate, greedy, ineradicably ingrained lust utterly inexplicable to any civilized mind, upon the life forces which the mangled bodies could no longer contain. ”

“ One turn of that crank’s worth ten of any other household wringer on the market. Can’t jam, can’t squeeze, can’t rust, every nut, screw, and rivet in it galvanized. Even pressure on anything from a lady’s handkerchief to a baby’s bib. Got any idea, friend, what it costs delivered to sufferin’ humanity? ”

“ If we make mistakes in our drawing of the chart by the guidance of which we mean to steer our bark,—if we omit to note down the most dangerous rocks, and imagine obstacles in a course which we might follow with safety,—small wonder that we suffer shipwreck. ”

“ In fine weather they can be easily seen and the culprits, when discovered, can be made to clean up all the lines. When the culprits cannot be discovered, whole companies have to be put to this fatigue work. ”

“ Not only was she overthrown. So fast had she been running that she rolled along, now on her back, now on her side, as she struggled to stop, clawing gravel with her feet and crying shrilly her hurt pride and indignation. ”

“ But the dangerous element in the work is the occasional necessity of altering the weights, which are placed by the overlooker on levers at the back of the loom, to maintain the required tension of the warp. ”