SICKNESS AND ACCIDENTS--THE FACTORY
YEAR--HOLIDAYS--“TRIP”--MOODS AND
FEELINGS--PAY-DAY--LOSING A QUARTER--GETTING MARRIED.
Sickness and accidents are of frequent occurrence in the shed. The
first-named may be attributed to the foul air prevailing--the dense
smoke and fumes from the oil forges, and the thick, sharp dust and ashes
from the coke fires. The tremendous noise of the hammers and machinery
and the priming of the boilers have a most injurious effect upon the
body as well as upon the nervous system; it is all intensely painful and
wearisome to the workmen. The most common forms of sickness among the
men of the shed are complaints of the stomach and head, with
constipation. These are the direct result of the gross impurity of the
air. Colds are exceptionally common, and are another result of the bad
atmospheric conditions; as soon as you enter into the smoke and fume you
are sure to begin sniffing and sneezing. The black dust and filth is
being breathed into the chest and lungs every moment. At the weekend one
is continually spitting off the accretion; it will take several days to
remove it from the body. As a matter of fact, the workmen are never
clean, except at holiday times. However often they may wash and bathe
themselves, an absence from the shed of several consecutive days will be
necessary in order to effect an evacuation of the filth from all parts
of the system. Even the eyes contain it. No matter how carefully you
wash them at night, in the morning they will be surrounded with dark
rings--fine, black dust which has come from them as you lay asleep.
A short while ago I was passing through a village near the town, and,
seeing a canvas tent erected in a cottage garden I made it my business
to inquire into the cause of it and to ask who might be the occupant.
Thereupon I was told that the tent was put up to accommodate a
consumptive lad who slept in it by night and worked in the factory by
day. On asking what were the lad’s duties I was informed that he _worked
on the oil furnaces_. The agonies he must have suffered in that
loathsome, murderous atmosphere may easily be imagined. Strong men curse
the filthy smoke and stench from morning till night, and to a person in
consumption it must be a still more exquisite torture. Reading the
Medical Report for the county of Wilts recently I noticed it was said
that greater supervision is exercised over the workshops now than was
the case formerly. From my own knowledge and point of view I should say
there is no such supervision of the factory shops at all; during the
twenty odd years I have worked there I have never once heard of a
factory inspector coming through the shed, unless it were one of the
company’s own confidential officials.
The percentage of sickness and accidents is higher at the stamping shed
than in any other workshop in the factory. The accidents are of many
kinds, though they are chiefly scalds and burns, broken and crushed
limbs, and injuries to the eyes. It is remarkable how so many accidents
happen; they are usually very simply caused and received. A great number
of them are due, directly and indirectly, to the unhealthy air about the
place. When the workman is not feeling well he is liable to meet with an
accident at any moment. He has not then the keen sense of danger
necessary under such conditions, or, if he has this, he has not the
power in himself to guard against it. He has a vague idea that he is
running risks, but he is too dazed or too ill fully to realise it, and
very often he does not even care to protect himself. He is thus often
guilty of great self-neglect, amounting to madness, though he is
ignorant of it at the time. When he is away from the shed he remembers
the danger he was in, and is amazed at his weakness, and vows
resolutions of taking greater pains in the future, but on coming back to
the work the old conditions prevail, and he is confronted with the same
inability to take sufficient precautions for his safety and well-being.
Where the air is good, or even moderately pure, the workmen will be more
keen and sensible of danger. Both their physical and mental powers will
be active and alert and accidents will consequently be much more rare.
As soon as a serious accident happens to a workman a rush is made to the
spot by young and old alike--they cannot contain their eager curiosity
and excitement. Many are impelled by a strong desire to be of service to
the unfortunate individual who has been hurt, though, in nine cases out
of ten, instead of being a help they are a very great hindrance. If the
workman is injured very severely, or if he happens to be killed, it will
be impossible to keep the crowd back; in spite of commands and
exhortations they use their utmost powers to approach the spot and catch
a glimpse of the victim. The overseer shouts, curses, and waves his
hands frantically, and warns them all of what he will do, but the men
doggedly refuse to disperse until they have satisfied their curiosity
and abated their excitement.
Immediately a man is down one hurries off to the ambulance shed for the
stretcher, another hastens to the cupboard for lint and _sal volatile_;
this one fetches water from the tap, and the “first-aid men” are soon at
work patching up the wound. In a few moments the stretcher arrives and
the injured one is lifted upon it and carried or wheeled off to the
hospital. Some of the men inspect the spot at which the accident
occurred and loiter there for a moment; afterwards they go on with their
work as though nothing had happened.
If the injured man dies word is immediately sent into the shed. A notice
of the funeral is posted upon the wall and a collection is usually made
to buy a wreath, or the money is handed over to the widow or next-of-kin
to help meet the expenses. There are always a few to follow the old
comrade to the grave, and the bearers will usually be the deceased man’s
nearest workmates. Occasionally, if the funeral happens to be that of a
very old hand, and one who was a special favourite with the men, the
whole shed is closed for the event. Within two or three days afterwards,
however, the affair will be almost forgotten; it will be as though the
workman had never existed. Amid the hurry and noise of the shop there is
little time to think of the dead; one’s whole attention has to be
directed towards the living and to the earning of one’s own livelihood.
For a single post rendered vacant by the death of a workman, there are
sure to be several applicants; a new hand is soon brought forward to
fill the position. Though he does not wish to be unnatural towards his
predecessor, he thanks his lucky stars, all the same, that he has got
the appointment; it is nothing to him who or what the other man was. It
is an ill wind that blows nobody good, and that, for the most part, is
the philosophy of the men at the factory.
There is one other point worth remembering in connection with the matter
of pure or impure air in the shed, and that is, that the quality of the
work made will be considerably affected by it. The more fit a workman
feels, the better his work will be. If he is deficient in health it will
be unreasonable to expect that his forging will be of the highest
quality; there is bound to be a depreciation in it. The same may be said
of the workman’s relations with his employers--his satisfaction or
dissatisfaction with existing conditions. If he is treated honestly and
fairly the firm will gain greatly thereby, in many ways unknown to them.
The workman, in return, will be conscientious and will use his tools and
machinery with scrupulous care. But if he is being continually pricked
and goaded, and ground down by the overseer, he will naturally be less
inclined to study the interests of the company beyond what is his most
inevitable duty, and something or other will suffer. In any case it is
as well to remember that in such matters as these the interests of all
are identical; where there is mutual understanding and appreciation gain
is bound to accrue to each party. No general has ever won a battle with
an unhealthy or discontented army, and the conditions in a large
factory, with ten or twelve thousand workmen, are very similar; the
figure is reasonably applicable.
The year at the factory is divided into three general periods; _i.e._,
from Christmas till Easter, Easter till “Trip”--which is held in
July--and Trip till Christmas. There are furthermore the Bank Holidays
of Whitsuntide and August, though more than one day’s leave is seldom
granted in connection with either of them. Sometimes there will be no
cessation of labour at all, which gives satisfaction to many workmen,
for, notwithstanding the painfulness of the confinement within the dark
walls, they are, as a rule, indifferent to holidays. Many hundreds of
them would never have one at all if they were not forced to do so by
the constitution of the calendar and the natural order of things.
Very little travelling is done by the workmen during the Easter
holidays. Most of those who have a couple of square yards of land, a
small back-yard, or a box of earth on the window sill, prepare for the
task of husbandry--the general talk in spare moments now will be of
peas, beans, onions, and potatoes. The longest journeys from home are
made by the small boys of the shed, who set out in squads and troops to
go bird’s-nesting in the hedgerows, or plucking primroses and violets in
the woods and copses. Young Jim was very excited when Easter came with
the warm, sunny weather; it was pleasant to listen to his childish talk
as he told us about the long walks he had taken in search of primroses
and violets, going without his dinner and tea in order to collect a posy
of the precious flowers. Questioned as to the meaning of Good Friday, he
was puzzled for a few moments, and then told us it was because Jesus
Christ was born on that day. Though he was mistaken as to the origin and
signification of the Festival, there are hundreds of others older than
he at the works who would not be able to answer the question correctly.
At Whitsuntide the first outings are generally held. Then many of the
workmen--those who can afford it, who have no large gardens to care for,
and who are exempt from other business and anxieties--begin to make
short week-end trips by the trains. The privilege of a quarter-fare for
travel, granted by the railway companies to their employees, is valued
and appreciated, and widely patronised. By means of this very many have
trips and become acquainted with the world who otherwise would be unable
to do so.
When the men come back to work after the Whitsuntide holidays they
usually find the official noticeboard in the shed covered with posters
containing the preliminary announcements of the annual Trip, and, very
soon, on the plates of the forges and walls, and even outside in the
town, the words “Roll on, Trip,” or “Five weeks to Trip,” may be seen
scrawled in big letters. As the time for the holiday draws near the
spirits of the workmen--especially of the younger ones, who have no
domestic responsibilities--rise considerably. Whichever way one turns he
is greeted with the question--often asked in a jocular sense--“Wher’
gwain Trip?“ the reply to which usually is--”Same old place,“ or ”Up in
the smowk;” _i.e._, to London, or “Swindon by the Sea.” By the
last-named place Weymouth is intended. That is a favourite haunt of the
poorer workmen who have large families, and it is especially popular
with the day trippers. Every year five or six thousand are conveyed to
the Dorsetshire watering-place, the majority of whom return the same
evening. Given fine weather an enjoyable day will be spent about the
sands and upon the water, but if it happens to rain the outing will
prove a wretched fiasco. Sometimes the trippers have left home in fine
weather and found a deluge of rain setting in when they arrived at the
seaside town. Under such circumstances they were obliged to stay in the
trains all day for shelter, or implore the officials to send them home
again before the stipulated time.
“Trip Day” is the most important day in the calendar at the railway
town. For several months preceding it, fathers and mothers of families,
young unmarried men, and juveniles have been saving up for the outing.
Whatever new clothes are bought for the summer are usually worn for the
first time at “Trip”; the trade of the town is at its zenith during the
week before the holiday. Then the men don their new suits of shoddy, and
the pinched or portly dames deck themselves out in all the glory of
cheap, “fashionable” finery. The young girls are radiant with
colour--white, red, pink, and blue--and the children come dressed in
brand-new garments--all stiff from the warehouse--and equipped with
spade and bucket and bags full of thin paper, cut the size of pennies,
to throw out of the carriage windows as the train flies along. A general
exodus from the town takes place that day and quite twenty-five thousand
people will have been hurried off to all parts of the kingdom in the
early hours of the morning, before the ordinary traffic begins to get
thick on the line. About half the total number return the same night;
the others stop away till the expiration of the holiday, which is of
eight days’ duration.
The privilege of travelling free by the Trip trains is not granted to
all workmen, but only to those who are members of the local Railway
Institute and Library, and have contributed about six shillings per
annum to the general fund. Moreover, no part of the holiday is free, but
is counted as lost time. The prompt commencement of work after Trip is,
therefore, highly necessary; the great majority of the workmen are
reduced to a state of absolute penury. If they have been away and spent
all their money--and perhaps incurred debt at home for rent and
provisions beforehand in order to enjoy themselves the better on their
trip--it will take them a considerable time to get square again; they
will scarcely have done this before the Christmas holidays are
announced.
At the end of the first week after the Trip holiday there will be no
money to draw. When Friday comes round, bringing with it the usual hour
for receiving the weekly wages, the men file out of the sheds with long
faces. This is generally known at the works as “The Grand March Past,”
because the toilers march past the pay-table and receive nothing that
day. The living among the poorest of the workmen will be very meagre,
and a great many will not have enough to eat until the next Friday comes
round, bringing with it the first pay. The local tradesmen and
shopkeepers look upon the Trip as a great nuisance because, they say, it
takes money away from the town that ought to be spent in their
warehouses; they do not take into consideration the fact that the men
are confined like prisoners all the rest of the year.
Work in the sheds, for the first day or two after the Trip, goes very
hard and painful; everyone is yearning towards the blue sea or the fresh
open country, and thinking of friends and kindred left behind. This
feeling very soon wears off, however. Long before the week is over the
spirit of work will have taken possession of the men; they fall
naturally into their places and the Trip becomes a thing of the past--a
dream and a memory. Here and there you may see scrawled upon the wall
somewhere or other, with a touch of humour, “51 weeks to Trip”; that is
usually the last word in connection with it for another year.
There are three general moods and phases of feeling among the workmen,
corresponding to the three periods of the year as measured out by the
holidays. The period between Christmas and Easter is one of hope and
rising spirits, of eager looking forward to brighter days, the long
evening and the pleasant week-end. The dark and gloom of winter has
weighed heavily upon the toilers, but this has reached its worst point
by the end of December; after that the barometer begins to rise and a
more cheerful spirit prevails everywhere.
From Easter till Trip and August Bank Holiday--notwithstanding the
terrible trials of the summer weather in the case of those who work at
the furnaces--the feeling is one of comparative ease and satisfaction. A
series of little holidays is included in this period. The men are
encouraged to bear with the heat and fatigue through the knowledge that
it will not be for long; a holiday in sight goes far towards mitigating
the hard punishment of the work in the shed. The summer sunshine and
general bright weather, the occupations of gardening, and the prevalence
of herbs and salads, fresh, sweet vegetables, flowers, and fruits all
have a beneficial effect upon the workman and tend to distract his
attention from the drabness of his employment and make the weeks go by
more easily. The period is one of lightness. It is the time of
realization, the fulfilling of dreams dreamed through the long, dark
winter.
From August till Christmas the feeling is one almost of despair. Five
whole months have to be borne without a break in the monotony of the
labour. The time before the next holiday seems almost infinite; a
tremendous amount of work must be done in the interval. Accordingly, the
men settle down with grim faces and fixed determinations. The pleasures
of the year are thrust behind and forgotten; day by day the battle must
be fought and the ground gained inch by inch. The smoke towers up from
the stacks and chimneys, the hammers pound away on the obstinate metal,
the wheels whirl round and the din is incessant. Day after day the black
army files in and out of the entrances with the regularity of clockwork;
it is indeed the period of stern work--the great effort of the year.
Whatever money the workmen save must be put aside now or never; the
absence of holidays and lack of inducement to travel will provide them
with the opportunity. Now is the time for purchasing new clothing and
boots and for getting out of debt--if there is any desire to do that;
it is in every sense of the word the great productive period.
It is also interesting to note the various moods and feelings common to
the workmen during the passage of the week. Monday is always a flat,
stale day, and especially is this true of the morning, before
dinner-time. It might reasonably be supposed that the workmen, after an
absence of a day, or a day and a half, would return to the shed rested
and vigorous, and fit for new efforts, but this is far from being the
actual case. As a matter of fact, Monday is an extremely dull day in the
shed. Everyone seems surly and out of sorts, as though he had been
routed up from sleep before time and had “got out of bed on the wrong
side.” The foreman comes on the scene with a scowl; the chargeman is
“huffy” and irritable; the stampers and hammermen bend to their work in
stony silence, or snap at each other; even the youngsters are quiet and
mopish. Work seems to go particularly hard and against the grain. It is
as though everything were under a cloud; there is not a bit of life or
soul in it. This feeling is so general on the first day of the week that
the men have invented a term by which to express it; if you ask anyone
how he is on that day he will be sure to tell you that he feels “rough”
and “Monday-fied.” By dinner-time the cloud will have lifted somewhat,
though not till towards the end of the afternoon will there be anything
like real relief, with a degree of brightness. By that time the
tediousness of the first day will have worn off; the men’s faces
brighten up and a spirit of cheerfulness prevails. Now they speak to
each other, laugh, whistle and jest, perhaps; they have won the first
skirmish in the weekly battle.
Tuesday is the strong day, the day of vigorous activity, of tool- and
also of record-breaking. The men come to work like lions. All the
stiffness and sluggishness contracted at the week-end has vanished now.
There is a great change, both in the temper and the physical condition
of the men, visible about the place; they move more quickly, handle
their tools better, and appear to be in perfect trim. The work made on
Tuesdays is always the greatest in amount and usually the best in
quality. Everyone, from the foreman to the office-boy, seems brighter
and better, more fit, well, and energetic--great things are accomplished
on Tuesdays at the works.
Wednesday is very similar to Tuesday, though the men are not quite as
fresh and vigorous. The pace, though still smart and good, will fall a
little below that of the day previous. Three days’ toil begins to tell
on the muscles and reserve of the body, though this is counterbalanced
by the increase of mental satisfaction and expectation, the knowledge of
being in mid-week and of getting within sight of another pay-day and
cessation from work.
Thursday is the humdrum day. As much work will be done as on the day
preceding, but more effort will be required to perform it. An acute
observer will perceive a marked difference in the general behaviour of
the workmen and in the manner in which they manipulate the tools. They
will begin to look tired and haggard. When they leave the shed at
meal-times they do not rush headlong out, pushing and shouting, but file
away soberly and in comparative silence.
By Friday morning the barometer will have risen considerably.
Notwithstanding the tiredness of the individual, he is nerved to fresh
efforts and induced to make a final spurt towards the end of the weekly
race. His manner is altogether more cheerful, and he becomes quite
affable to his mates. If the manager or overseer passes through the shed
more frequently than usual and comes and times him at his work, he takes
but very little notice of him. Those who are by nature gruff and surly
melt a little and show a more genial disposition on the Friday. The
secret of all this lies in the fact that Friday is both the last whole
day to be worked at the shed, and it is pay-day, too. The men’s faces
brighten considerably at the approach of that happy and eagerly-awaited
hour. When they collect together around the pay-table they indulge in
jocular remarks with one another, and the majority bubble over with
good-nature. As they pass the table in single file they grab up the box
containing the money with commendable determination. If the pay is a
full one there will be a broad smile, or a grin, on the faces of most of
the men as they remove the cover and pocket the coin; that is about the
happiest and most triumphant moment of all for them.
To draw the wages each man is furnished with a metal check having a
number, corresponding with his name in the register, stamped upon it.
The check is issued to the men as they enter the shed after dinner, and
is a guarantee that they have wages to receive on that day. Each man’s
wages are put up in a tin box, which is also stamped with his number.
The foreman takes his position at the head, and two clerks stand behind
the table. Of these, one calls out the number upon the box and the other
takes it and claps it sharply on the table. The men are waiting ready
and take it as they walk past; two hundred may be paid in about five
minutes by this method. Extras for piecework are paid fortnightly.
Whatever stoppages and contributions are due for the local Sick and
Medical Fund, coal, wood, and other charges, are deducted on the normal
week, and this is called “stoppage week.” Accordingly, the day of great
good-humour comes fortnightly, and that week is known among the men as
“balance week.”
Saturday is the day of final victory, the closing up of the weekly
battle, though a great part of the eagerness evinced a day or two before
will have vanished now that the time to take the hebdomadal rest is
really at hand. It is strikingly true, even here, that expectation is
better than realization. Notwithstanding the fact that the men are tired
and worn out they do not appear to be as keen for the rest as might be
imagined; they now seem to have recovered their normal powers and work
away quite unconcernedly up to the last moment. The boys and youths,
however, will be restless; they whistle and sing and rush off like shots
from a gun as soon as the hooter sounds.
Sunday is the day of complete inactivity with most of the workmen, and
it is possibly the weakest and the least enjoyed of all. If the weather
is dull and wet a great number stay in bed till dinner-time, and
sometimes they remain there all day and night, till Monday morning
comes. This will not have done them much harm; they will feel all the
more refreshed and the better able to face the toil and battle of the
coming week.
Every day, as well as the year and week, has its divisions and a temper
and feeling on the part of the men corresponding with each of them. In
the morning, before breakfast, nearly everyone is sober and quiet, very
often surly, and even spitefully disposed. During that time the men in
the shed rarely speak to each other, but bend down to the labour in
silence. After breakfast the tone improves a little, and continues to do
so till dinner-time, when the tempers of the men will have become about
normal; they are restored to their natural humour and disposition. When
they return after dinner a still greater improvement is discernible, and
by five o’clock in the afternoon they are not like the same beings. In
the evening, after tea, greater good-fellowship than ever prevails, and
if a man meets his mate in the town he is quite cordial. By the next
morning, however, he is metamorphosed again; the old conditions obtain,
and so on day after day and month after month. The best work of the day
is always made in the morning, between the hours of nine and eleven.
If a workman oversleeps in the morning and is too late for admittance
before breakfast, he may start at nine o’clock. This is called “losing a
quarter.” There are those at the works who are noted for losing
quarters; they are usually absent from the shed before breakfast once or
twice a week. Such as these, by the frequency of their absence, are not
noticed very much, but if one who is habitually a good timekeeper
happens to be out unexpectedly before breakfast, means are taken to
celebrate the event. When he arrives there will be a little surprise
awaiting him. He will find an effigy of himself standing near the forge,
and will receive a salute composed of hammers knocking on steel plates,
and the rattling of any old pot that chances to be at hand. During the
meal-time the workmen obtain several coats, a hat, and a pair of boots,
and fix them on the handles of the mallets and broom, and then chalk out
the features of a man upon the coke shovel. Afterwards they assemble in
a gang and greet their comrade with an overpowering din. If he is wise
he will take it all in good part and join in with the fun, and the din
will soon cease; but if he loses his temper--as is sometimes the
case--he is assailed more loudly than ever, and driven half mad with the
uproar.
A somewhat similar reception is given to a workman who has just been
married. As soon as it is known that the banns are published--and this
is certain to leak out and news of it be brought into the shed--he
becomes the object of very special attention. The men come to him from
all quarters and offer him their congratulations, sincere and otherwise,
very often accompanying them with advice of different kinds, sometimes
of a highly sarcastic nature. Many insist upon shaking hands with him
and, with mock ceremony, compliment him on his decision to join the “Big
Firm,” as they call it, assuring him, at the same time, that they shall
expect him to “stand his footing.” Occasionally, if their mate is poor,
the men of a gang will make a small collection and buy him a present--a
pair of pictures, a piece of furniture, or a set of ornaments. Perhaps
this may be carried out ridiculously, and the whole thing turned into a
joke, whereupon the prospective bridegroom loses his temper and soundly
lashes his mates for their unsolicited patronage.
If the workman divulges the time and place of the wedding there will
certainly be a few to witness it, in order to see how he behaves during
the ceremony. Very often they wait outside the church with missiles of
several kinds, such as old shoes and slippers, rice, barley, Indian
corn, and even potatoes, ready to pelt him. Occasionally, however, it
happens that the wily mate has deceived them with regard either to the
time or the place, and if they turn up at the church they will have to
wait in vain, the laughing-stock of all passers-by. When the newly
married man recommences work he is received with a loud uproar. This is
called “ringing him in.” A crowd of men and boys beat upon any loose
plate of metal that will return a loud clang--such as lids of
tool-chests, steel bars, anvils, and sides of coke bunks--and make as
much noise as possible. This is all over by the time the hooter sounds.
With the starting of the shop engine the men fall in to work, and the
marriage is forgotten by the crowd.