LIFE IN A RAILWAY FACTORY
_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_
THE READERS’ LIBRARY
50 VOLUMES PUBLISHED
_Full list of Titles can be had from
the Publishers_
DUCKWORTH & CO.
COVENT GARDEN, LONDON
LIFE IN
A RAILWAY FACTORY
BY
ALFRED WILLIAMS
AUTHOR OF
‘A WILTSHIRE VILLAGE’
‘VILLAGES OF THE WHITE HORSE’
LONDON
DUCKWORTH & CO.
3 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C.
_First Published 1915
Published in the Readers’ Library 1920_
_Printed in Great Britain
by Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh_
TO MY FRIEND
ALFRED E. ZIMMERN
PREFACE
My object in penning “Life in a Railway Factory” was to take advantage
of the opportunities I have had as a workman, during twenty-three years’
continuous service in the sheds, of setting down what I have seen and
known for the interest and education of others, who might like to be
informed as to what is the actual life of the factory, but who have no
means of ascertaining it from the generality of literature published
upon the matter.
The book opens with a short survey of several causes of labour unrest
and suggestions as to its remedy. Then follows a brief description of
the stamping shed, which is the principal scene and theatre of the drama
of life exhibited in the pages, the central point from which our
observations were made and where the chief of our knowledge and
experience was acquired. After a glance into the interior we explore the
surroundings and pay a visit to the rolling mills, and watch the men
shingling and rolling the iron and forging wheels for the locomotives.
Continuing our perambulation of the yard we encounter the shunters,
watchmen, carriage finishers, painters, washers-down, and
cushion-beaters. The old canal claims a moment’s attention, then we pass
on to the ash-wheelers, bricklayers, road-waggon builders, and the
wheel-turning shed. Leaving them behind we come to the “field,” where
the old broad-gauge vehicles were broken up or converted, and proceed
thence into the din of the frame-building shed and study some portion
of its life. Next follows an exploration of the smithy and a
consideration of the smith at work and at home, his superior skill and
characteristics. From our study of the smiths we pass to that of the
fitters, forgemen, and boilermakers, and complete our tour of the
premises by visiting the foundry and viewing the operations of the
moulders.
The early morning stir in the town and country around the sheds, the
preparations for work, the manner in which the toilers arrive at the
factory, and the composition of the crowd are next described, after
which we enter the stamping shed and witness the initial toils of the
forgemen and stampers, view the oil furnace and admire the prowess of
“Ajax” and his companions. The drop-hammers and their staff receive
proportionate attention; then follows a comparison of forging and
smithing, a study of several personalities, and an inspection of the
plant known as the Yankee Hammers. Chapter XI. is a description of the
first quarter at the forge expressed entirely by means of actual
conversations, ejaculations, commands, and repartees, overheard and
faithfully recorded. Following that is a first-hand account of how the
night shift is worked, giving one entire night at the forge and noting
the various physical phases through which the workman passes and
indicating the effects produced upon the body by the inversion of the
natural order of things. The remainder of the chapters is devoted to
the description and explanation of a variety of matters, including the
manner of putting on and discharging hands, methods of administration,
intimidating and terrorising, the interpretation of moods and feelings
during the passage of the day, week and year, holidays, the effects
of cold and heat, causes of sickness and accidents, the psychology of
fat and lean workmen, comedy, tragedy, short time and overtime, the
advantages--or disadvantages--of education and intelligence, ending up
with a review of the industrial situation as it was before the war and
remarks upon the future outlook. A table of wages paid at the works is
added as an appendix.
The site of the factory is the Wiltshire town of Swindon. This stands
at the extremity of the Upper Thames Valley, in the centre of a vast
agricultural tract, and is seventy-seven miles from London and about
forty from Bristol. Its population numbers approximately fifty thousand,
all largely dependent upon the railway sheds for subsistence. The
inhabitants generally are a heterogenous people. The majority of the
works’ officials, the clerical staff, journeymen, and the highly skilled
workers have been imported from other industrial centres; the labourers
and the less highly trained have been recruited wholesale from the
villages and hamlets surrounding the town. About twelve thousand men,
including clerks, are normally employed at the factory. A knowledge of
the composition of the inhabitants of the town is important, otherwise
one might be at a loss to account for the low rate of wages paid, the
lack of spirited effort and efficient organisation among the workers,
and other conditions peculiar to the place.
The book was never intended to be an expression of patriotism or
unpatriotism, for it was written before the commencement of the
European conflict. It consequently has nothing directly to do with
the war, nor with the manufacture of munitions, any more than it
incidentally discovers the nature of the toils, exertions, and
sacrifices demanded of those who must slave at furnace, mill,
steam-hammer, anvil, and lathe producing supplies for our armies
and for those of our Allies in the field. It is not a treatise on
economics, for I have never studied the science. If I had set out
with the intention of theoretically slaughtering every official
responsible for the administration of the factory I should have
failed signally. I never contemplated such a course. Instead I
wished to write out my own experiences and observations simply,
and from my own point of view, mistaken or otherwise, without fear
or favour to any. I have my failings and prejudices. What they are
is very well known to me, and I have no intention of disavowing
them. Whoever disagrees with me is fully entitled to his opinion.
I shall not question his judgment, though I shall not easily
surrender my own. I am not anxious to quarrel with any man; at
the same time I am not disposed to be fettered, smothered, gagged
or silenced, to cower and tremble, or to shrink from uttering what
I believe to be the truth in deference to the most formidable
despot living.
A. W.
_24th July 1915._
A portion of Chapter XIII. has appeared in the _English Review_. My
thanks are due to the Editor for his courteous permission to reproduce
it in the volume.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
LABOUR UNREST 1
CHAPTER II
THE STAMPING SHOP--GENERAL ENVIRONMENT--THE “COALIES”--THE
ROLLING MILLS--PUDDLING AND SHINGLING--ACCIDENTS AT THE
ROLLS--THE SCRAP WAGGONS--WASTE 9
CHAPTER III
THE SHUNTERS--WATCHMEN--DETECTING A THIEF--FIRES--CARRIAGE
FINISHERS--PAINTERS--WASHERS-DOWN--CUSHION-BEATERS--CHANGES
AND INNOVATIONS--DEPARTMENTAL RELATIONS 25
CHAPTER IV
THE OLD CANAL--THE ASH-WHEELERS--THE BRICKLAYERS--RIVAL
FOREMEN--THE ROAD-WAGGON BUILDERS--THE WHEEL SHED--BOY
TURNERS--THE RUBBISH HEAP 44
CHAPTER V
“THE FIELD”--“CUTTING-DOWN”--THE FLYING DUTCHMAN--THE FRAME
SHED--PROMOTION--RIVET BOYS--THE OVERSEER 63
CHAPTER VI
THE SMITHY--THE SMITH--BUILDING THE FIRE--GALLERYMEN--
APPRENTICES--THE OLDEST HAND--DEATH OF A SMITH--THE
SMITH’S ATTITUDE TO HIS MATES--HIS GREAT GOOD-NATURE
--THE SMITHS’ FOREMAN 82
CHAPTER VII
FITTERS--THE STEAM-HAMMER SHED--FORGEMEN--THEIR
CHARACTERISTICS--BOILERMAKERS--THE FOUNDRY--THE
BLAST FURNACE--MOULDERS 100
CHAPTER VIII
GETTING TO WORK--THE AWAKENING IN THE COUNTRY--STEALING
A RIDE--THE TOWN STIR--THE ARMY OF WORKMEN--“CHECKING”--
EARLY COMERS--CLERKS AND DRAUGHTSMEN--FEATURES OF THE
STAFF 120
CHAPTER IX
FIRST OPERATIONS IN THE SHED--THE EARLY DIN--ITS EFFECT ON
THE WORKMEN--CHARGING THE HEATS--THE OIL FURNACE--THE
“AJAX”--HARRY AND SAMMY--THE “STRAPPIE”--HYDRAULIC
POWER--WHEEL-BURSTING 136
CHAPTER X
STAMPING--THE DROP-HAMMER STAFF--ALGY AND CECIL--PAUL AND
“PUMP”--“SMAMER”--BOILERS--A NEAR SHAVE 153
CHAPTER XI
FORGING AND SMITHING--HYDRAULIC OPERATIONS--“BALTIMORE”--
“BLACK SAM”--“STRAWBERRY” AND GUSTAVUS--THE “FIRE
KING”--“TUBBY”--BOLAND--PINNELL OF THE YANKEE PLANT 169
CHAPTER XII
FIRST QUARTER AT THE FORGE 187
CHAPTER XIII
THE NIGHT SHIFT--ARRIVAL IN THE SHED--“FOLLOWING THE
TOOL”--THE FORGEMAN’S HASTE AND BUSTLE--LIGHT AND
SHADE--SUPPER-TIME--CLATTER AND CLANG--MIDNIGHT--
WEARINESS--THE RELEASE--HOME TO REST 206
CHAPTER XIV
INFERIORITY OF WORK MADE BY THE NIGHT SHIFT--ALTERING
THE GAUGES--THE “BLACK LIST”--“DOUBLE STOPPAGE
CHARLIE“--”JIMMY USELESS”--THE HAUNTED FORGE AND COKE
HEAP--THE OLD VALET--THE CHECKER AND STOREKEEPER 225
CHAPTER XV
SICKNESS AND ACCIDENTS--THE FACTORY YEAR--HOLIDAYS--“TRIP”--
MOODS AND FEELINGS--PAY-DAY--LOSING A QUARTER--GETTING
MARRIED 241
CHAPTER XVI
COLD AND HEAT--MEALS--FAT AND LEAN WORKMEN--WAYS AND
MEANS--PRANKS--ALL FOOLS’ DAY--NEW YEAR’S EVE 258
CHAPTER XVII
GETTING A START--THE NEW HAND--TOWN AND COUNTRY WORKMEN--
PROMOTION--DISCHARGING HANDS--LANGUAGE OF THE SHED--
EDUCATION--THE EDUCATED MAN NOT WANTED--GREASING
THE FORGE 274
CHAPTER XVIII
SHORT TIME AND OVERTIME--“BACK TO THE LAND”--THE TOWN
INFLUENCE--CHANGES AT THE WORKS--GRIEVANCES--THE
POSITION OF LABOUR--ILLS AND REMEDIES--THE FUTURE
OUTLOOK 292
APPENDIX
TABLE OF WAGES PAID AT THE WORKS 309
INDEX 311
LIFE IN A RAILWAY FACTORY
CHAPTER I
LABOUR UNREST
Someone once asked the Greek Thales how he might best bear misfortune
and he replied--“By seeing your enemy in a worse condition than
yourself.” He would have been as near the truth if he had said “friend”
instead of “enemy.” Everyone appears to desire to see every other one
worse off than himself. He is not content with doing well; he must do
better, and if his success happens to be at the expense of one less
fortunate he will be the more highly gratified. This lust of dominion
and possession dates from the very foundation of human society. It is a
feature of barbarism, and one that the wisest teaching and the most
civilising influences at work in the world have failed to remove or even
very materially to modify. The idea behind the _Sic vos non vobis_ of
Virgil has always been uppermost in the minds of the powerful. This it
was that doomed the captives of the Greeks and Romans to a life of
wretchedness and misery in the mines. This was responsible for the
subjugation of the English peasants, and their reduction to the order of
serfs in feudal times. And this is what would enslave the labouring
classes in mine, field, and factory to-day. It must not be permitted.
There is a way to defeat it. That is by law. Not a law made by the
depredators but by the workers themselves. They have the means at their
disposal. If they would summon up the courage to make use of them they
might shatter the power of the capitalist at a stroke and free
themselves from his domination for ever.
A principal cause of trouble everywhere between the employer and the
employed is the lack of recognition of the worker. I mean this in its
broadest sense. I do not mean merely that great and powerful
combinations do not want to recognise Trade Unions. We all know that. It
is a part of their policy and is dictated by pride and the spirit of
intolerance. But they make a much more serious and fatal mistake. They
refuse to recognise a man. All kinds of employers are guilty of this.
The mineowner, the trading syndicate, the railway or steamship company,
municipal authorities, the large and small manufacturer, the farmer and
shopkeeper are equally to blame. If they would recognise the man they
might be led to a consideration of his legitimate needs. They must first
admit him to be equally a member of the human family and then recognise
that, as such, he has claims as righteous and sacred as they. That is
where the representative of capital invariably fails. He will not admit
that the one under his authority has any rights of his own. To him the
worker is as much a slave as ever he was, only he is conscious that his
treatment of him must be subject to the limitations imposed by the
modern laws of the land. And as he flouts the individual so he contemns
the collective organisations of the men. He is determined not to
recognise them. He considers this to be a proof of his strength. In
reality it is a badge of his weakness. Sooner or later it will prove his
undoing.
I will give an illustration. Several years ago, working in the same
shed as myself, was a grey-headed furnaceman. He was not an old man; he
could have been no more than fifty. One day he met with a serious
accident. While attending to his furnace, in a stooping position,
someone in passing accidentally pushed him. This caused him to lose his
balance and he slipped on the plate and fell head-first into a boshful
of boiling water underneath the fire hole. His head and shoulders were
severely scalded, and he was absent on the sick list for two months.
When he came in again he was not allowed to resume work at the furnace
but was put wheeling out ashes from the smiths’ fires. To my
steam-hammer an oil furnace had recently been attached and several
managers came daily to experiment with it. One morning, while they were
present, the ex-furnaceman came to wheel away the debris. Then a manager
turned to me and said--
“Who’s that? What’s he doing here?”
I explained who the man was and what he was doing.
“Pooh! What’s the good of _that thing_! He ought to be shifted outside,”
replied he.
In a short while afterwards the furnaceman was discharged.
There is something even worse than this and much more serious in effect.
That is a result of too great recognition. I am referring to the common
fault of interfering with and penalising men of superior mental and
intellectual powers. There is even a certain advantage in a man’s
ability to escape attention. Especially if he is of a courageous turn of
mind, has views and ideas of his own, and is able to influence others.
He will live the more easy for it. Left to himself he can work away
quietly, informing the minds and leavening the opinions of those round
about him. If he can escape recognition. But he cannot. He is soon
discovered, gagged, smothered, or got rid of. The safest way to
strengthen a flame is to fan it. And if you want to intensify a man’s
dissatisfaction with a thing attempt to prevent him by force from giving
expression to it. That is a sure means of provocation and will bear
fruit a hundredfold.
We hear a great deal about the “discontent” of the workers, and a degree
of censure and reproach is usually conveyed with the expression. It is
not half general enough. The average working man is too content. He is
often lazily apathetic. Is the mineowner, the manufacturer, or the
railway magnate content? Of course he is not. Strength is in action.
When I hear of a man’s being satisfied I know that he is done for. He
might as well be dead. I wish the workers were more discontented, though
I should in every case like to see their discontent rationally expressed
and all their efforts intelligently directed. They waste a fearful
amount of time and energy through irresolution and uncertainty of
objective.
The selfishness, cruelty, and arrogance of the capitalist and his agents
force the workers into rebellion. The swaggering pomposity and fantastic
ceremony of officials fill them with deserving contempt. Their impudence
is amazing. I have known a foreman of the shed to attack a man by reason
of the decent clothes he had on and forbid him to wear a bowler hat. Not
only in the workshop but even at home in his private life and dealings
he is under the eye of his employer. His liberty is tyrannically
restricted. In the town he is not allowed to supplement his earnings by
any activity except such as has the favour of the works’ officials. He
must not keep a coffee-shop or an inn, or be engaged in any trading
whatever. He may not even sell apples or gooseberries. And if he happens
to be the spokesman of a labourers’ union or to be connected with any
other independent organisation, woe betide him! The older established
association--such as that of the engineers--is not interfered with. It
is the unprotected unskilled workman that must chiefly be terrorised and
subjugated.
The worker is everywhere exploited. The speeding-up of late years has
been general and insistent. New machinery is continually being installed
in the sheds. This is driven at a high rate and the workman must keep
pace with it. The toil in many cases is painfully exacting. There may be
a less amount of violent physical exertion required here and there,
though much more concentration of mind and attention will be needed. The
output, in some instances, has been increased tenfold. I am not
exaggerating when I say that the actual exertions of the workman have
often been doubled or trebled, yet he receives scarcely anything more in
wages. In some cases he does not receive as much. He may have obtained a
couple of shillings more in day wages and at the same time have lost
double the amount in piecework balance. Occasionally, when the foreman
of the shed has mercilessly cut a man’s prices, he offers him a sop in
the shape of a rise of one or two shillings. On the hammers under my
charge during the last ten years the day wages of assistants--owing to
their being retained on the job up to a greater age--had doubled, and
the piecework prices had been cut by one half. As a result the gang lost
about £80 in a year. A mate of mine, whose prices had been cut to the
lowest fraction, though offered a rise, steadily refused it on the
ground that he would be worse off than before. Though slaving from
morning till night he could not earn his percentage of profit. In many
cases where the workman was formerly allowed to earn a profit of 33 per
cent. on his day wages he is now restricted to 25 per cent., and the
prices have been correspondingly reduced. Even now the foreman is not
satisfied. He will still contrive to keep the percentage earned below
the official figure in order to ingratiate himself with the managers and
to give them the impression that he is still engaged in paring the
prices.
At the same time, a marvellous lack of real initiative is discovered by
the factory staff. Things that have been so are so, and if any sharp and
enterprising workman sees the possibility of improvement anywhere and
makes a suggestion he is soundly snubbed for his pains. In their
particular anxiety to exact the last ounce from the workman in the
matter of labour the managers overlook multitudes of important details
connected with their own administration, but which the workman sees as
plainly as he does the nose on his face. They often spend pounds to
effect the saving of a few pence. They lavish vast sums on experiments
that the most ordinary man perceives have no possible chance of being
successful, or even useful if they should succeed. Men’s opinions upon a
point are rarely solicited; if offered, they are belittled and rejected.
Where an opinion is asked for it is usually intended as a bait for a
trap, the answer is carefully recorded and afterwards used to prove
something to the other’s disadvantage.
But those ideas which are most valuable, provided they are not complex
and the simple-minded official can readily grasp them--which is not
always the case--he secretly cherishes and stealthily develops and
afterwards parades them to his superior with swaggering pride as his own
inventions. It is thus Mr So-and-so becomes a smart man in the eyes of
the firm, while, as a matter of fact, he is a perfect blockhead and an
ignoramus. Meanwhile, the very workman whose idea has been purloined and
exploited is treated as a danger by the foreman; henceforth he must be
watched and kept well in subjection. The cowardly overseer sees in him a
possible rival, and is fearful for his own credit. This is one of the
worst ills of the manufacturing life, and has crushed many a brave, good
spirit, and smothered many a rising genius. The disadvantage is twofold.
There is a loss to manufacture in not being assisted with new and bright
ideas, and another to the individual, who is not only deprived of the
fruits of his inventive faculty but is systematically punished for the
possession of an original mind. In a word, officialism at the works is
continually straining at the gnat and swallowing the camel.
What means are to be adopted in order to do away with the anomaly? One
of the first things to do would be to recognise the individual. We want
a better understanding and a new feeling altogether. The worker does not
need a profusion of sentiment; he claims justice. He is willing to give
and take. He knows that enormous profits are made out of his efforts and
it is but natural that he should demand to receive a fair amount of
remuneration and equitable conditions. My companion of the next
steam-hammer, by means of a new process, in one week saved the railway
company £20 in the execution of a single order. He had to work doubly
hard to do it but he received not a penny extra himself. The piecework
system as it stands is grossly unfair. All the profits accrue to one
side and when the worker demands what is, after all, an insignificant
participation in them he is described as being unreasonable and
discontented. Where day wages have risen all round on piecework jobs the
prices should be increased in proportion, otherwise the workman is
simply paying himself for his additional efforts out of his own pocket.
Better wages and shorter hours are desired in every sphere of labour
and especially in factories. The worker is not greatly concerned as to
whether he is employed by the State or by a syndicate as long as he
obtains justice. It is no more trouble for Parliament to formulate a law
for a private concern than for a Government department. Forty-eight
hours a week is long enough for any man to work. I would have the
factory week completed in five turns. There is no need of the half-day
Saturdays. It is a waste of time. It is expensive for the employers and
unprofitable for the men. They can neither work nor play. If forty-eight
hours were divided out into five turns the expense of steaming for the
half-turn on Saturday would be saved. The amount of work produced would
not fall very far below that made at present, and the men would be
better satisfied. They would at least be able to have a clear rest and
come to work fresh and fit on the Monday. I would even go further and
suggest forty-five hours--that is, five turns of nine hours each--as a
working week for factories in the future. This is not so impossible nor
yet as unreasonable as it may appear. The proposal will doubtless strike
some as being amazing. Nevertheless, I recommend it to them for their
leisurely consideration. By aiming high we shall hit something. But
there are obstacles to remove and difficulties to overcome.