APPRENTICESHIP OF TO-DAY
A true apprenticeship system, as already explained, must satisfy three
conditions: It must guarantee the adequate supervision of the youth of the
country as regards physical and moral development until the age of
eighteen at least is reached; it must supply means of effective training,
both general and specialized; and, finally, it must provide to those about
to cross the threshold of manhood an opening in some form of occupation
for which definite preparation has been given. The efficiency of the
industrial organization of to-day must be judged by the extent to which
these three conditions are satisfied.
To what extent does the apprenticeship of to-day satisfy the conditions of
a true apprenticeship system? To answer this question we must look far
beyond the narrow limits of indentured apprenticeship as it still exists.
It touches only a fringe, and a vanishing fringe, of the problem. Life for
the youth has grown more complex since the passing of the old organization
of the gilds; its success or failure is the outcome of the interplay of
numerous forces. Four factors contribute, in a more or less degree, to the
result. There is the contribution of the State--the last chapter was
concerned with the description of the machinery which has slowly been set
up during the age of reconstruction--we have yet to test its influence in
the actual working; there is the contribution of philanthropic enterprise,
as represented in the religious bodies, the clubs, the apprenticeship
associations, and skilled employment committees; there is the contribution
of the home, with its discipline and training; and, finally, there is the
contribution of the workshop, using this term to include all forms of
occupation, with the methods of entry and the organization for securing a
supply of labour. Only when we have taken into account the effects of
these four factors can we pass judgment on the apprenticeship of to-day.
I.
THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE STATE.
In estimating the contribution of the State towards apprenticeship of
to-day, it will be convenient, as in the last chapter, to trace the effect
of this influence in two sections, the one devoted to a survey of the
results of State regulation, and the other to an examination of the
achievements of State enterprise.
Sec. 1. STATE REGULATION.
In its scheme of regulation the State has aimed, broadly speaking, at
securing three results. It has endeavoured to prevent boys from being
overworked or wrongly worked; it has sought to guard them from being
engaged in demoralizing forms of employment; and it has striven to secure
satisfactory conditions within the walls of the workshop.
The third task presents the fewest difficulties. Medical science is
sufficiently advanced to prescribe the conditions as to ventilation,
heating, sanitation, and cubic contents essential to the health of the
boys. The sad catalogue of accidents is sufficiently long to show where
danger, through inadequately guarded machinery, is probable. To enforce
the necessary regulations is comparatively easy. There must be a suitable
number of inspectors, and these inspectors must be specially trained for
their work. Neither condition is at present fulfilled. The staff of
inspectors is much too small, and the inspectors themselves frequently
lack the requisite technical qualifications.
In the work of guarding boys from being engaged in occupations
demoralizing to character, the State has only recently taken the first
steps. The Employment of Children Act prohibits street trading under
certain conditions. As will appear later in this chapter, there are a
large number of occupations where regulation is much required. Indeed, it
is a comparatively new idea that the nature of the employment of the boy
may have a profound influence on the well-being of the man.
In the department of regulation the most elaborate machinery has grown up
around the attempts of the State to prevent boys from being overworked or
wrongly worked. The difficulties in the way of success have been two.
There has been the difficulty in getting the necessary law passed. In this
respect it is enough to mention that the "half-time" system, in spite of
practically universal condemnation, is still permitted, to show the almost
insurmountable obstacles presented by vested interests. There is next the
difficulty of enforcing the law. It is often urged that it is idle to
place on the statute-book laws which can easily be evaded. Too much weight
must not, however, be given to this argument. There is a moral effect in
the passing of every law. The fact that the State has condemned certain
modes of action is an important factor in the formation of public opinion.
Many people realize for the first time that the evils which are the result
of conduct hitherto regarded as harmless, because not regarded at all, are
sufficiently serious to call for State interference. The law may not have
its full effect; it will without doubt have some effect.
The question of enforcement is, however, of vital importance, and it is
well to consider the limits of the power of enforcement.
The best method of restricting the hours of employment is to see that the
boy is somewhere else during part of the working day. The half-time
system, which insured that the boy should spend half his time in school,
was established, not primarily with a view to his education, but to
prevent him from being overworked. It has, moreover, from its point of
view, been completely successful, and has in practice been enforced
without difficulty. The various laws relating to compulsory attendance at
school have exercised an influence more potent in the work of limiting
the hours of employment than all the other elaborate regulations on the
subject. If we see to it that a boy is in school, he cannot at the same
time be found in the factory. The machinery for enforcing attendance now
runs without difficulty, and its action is uniform and comprehensive.
The next method of restricting employment is the method of prohibition.
Here, again, enforcement presents no serious difficulty. If we forbid
children under a certain age to work for wages or to take part in certain
forms of occupation, it is enough to find them so engaged at any one
moment to secure a conviction.
The third method, which seeks to prevent boys from being overworked by
setting a limit on the number of hours during which they may be employed,
is almost impossible to carry out. The Shop Hours Act is frequently
infringed, and only the most rigid system of inspection can get evidence
of cases of infringement. Yet even here detection is comparatively easy. A
watch can be kept on the number of hours during which a shop is open, and
if this exceed the legal limit we have a fair presumption that the shop
assistants are over-employed. But in the case of children we cannot draw
this conclusion. We are supposing their hours are more limited than in the
case of the adults, and the mere fact that the shop is open during a
longer period affords no proof that the child is there all the day on all
days of the week. To enforce regulations of this kind we must set a watch
on the individual child, and on a large scale this is impracticable.
In judging of the results of State regulation, as described in the
preceding chapter, we may assume that the regulations are enforced--or at
any rate are enforceable--where employment is prohibited, or where
attendance at school is required, but that regulations which entail the
counting of hours have little effect in preventing overwork except by the
indirect method of forming public opinion. Further, when we are seeking a
path of reform, we must take the road of prohibition or alternative
attendance at school.
Leaving general considerations, and coming to details, it may be said
that, so far as children under the age of fourteen are concerned, the
system of State regulation, though a little cumbersome, covers a
considerable part of the field, provided always that local education
authorities make full use of the powers conferred by the Education Acts,
the School Attendance Acts, the Children Act, and the Employment of
Children Act, and provided also that the Board of Education and the Home
Office render full and cordial support. Unfortunately, these provisos are
very far from being fulfilled. More than 58 per cent. of the population,
for example, live in districts where the attendance by-laws allow of
conditional exemption at the age of twelve.
It is true that in nearly half the cases a fairly high standard of
attainment is required from the children, but with the remainder no higher
standard is required than that reached by the normal child at the age of
twelve.[91] Or, again, in connection with the Employment of Children Act,
out of seventy-four county boroughs, fifty have made by-laws in reference
to street trading, but large towns, like Leeds, Nottingham, or Salford,
have made none. Out of 191 smaller boroughs and urban districts, only
forty-one have made by-laws; and out of the sixty-two administrative
counties, other than London and Middlesex, only one.[92] It may fairly be
assumed that, where no by-laws relating to street trading exist, little is
done to enforce the other provisions of the Act.
As regards young persons, if we exclude the Acts relating to mines, which
affect a comparatively small number of lads, the Shop Hours Act, with its
mild provisions of seats for assistants and a maximum week of seventy-four
hours, the only Act which can be said to exert a large measure of
supervision is the Factory and Workshop Act. Assuming that the system of
regulation there found is adequate, and adequately enforced--both
assumptions far from being fulfilled in practice--there remain the young
persons who do not come within its provisions. The number of these is very
large. In the next chapter figures are given relating to the occupations
of London children on leaving school and between the ages of fifteen and
twenty. A study of these tables will show that not more than at most a
third of the young persons are brought within the scope of the Factory
and Workshop Act. A large proportion of the lads engaged in the building
trades, and practically the whole of those employed in shops, in
transport, in commerce, and in general labour, are excluded. In their case
there is no State supervision to regulate the conditions of their work.
Coming to concrete examples, the van-boy may in all kinds of weather spend
a dozen hours a day lolling on the tail of a cart, idle for much of his
time, and for the remainder holding the horses outside a public-house, or
lifting weights too heavy for his strength. The errand-boy, none too well
clad or shod, may, delivering parcels and messages, trudge through the
cold and rain over long leagues of streets during long stretches of the
week. The office-boy may be cooped up in a dark and ill-ventilated office
during most of the hours of daylight. The shop-boy may stand ten, twelve,
or on Saturdays fifteen hours of the twenty-four in the street or in the
shop, with one eye on the goods and the other on a penny novelette. And
there is no public authority to say whether the conditions of his
employment are satisfactory, no power to have him medically inspected, no
possible guarantee to insure that when he passes the threshold of early
manhood the vigour and the brightness of youth shall not have given way to
the feeble health and the torpor of old age. Unquestionably, we owe much
to sentiment for the evils it has denounced and remedied, but we owe also
to the regime of sentiment the fact that some two-thirds of the young
persons in the country are engaged in occupations carried on without
regulation and unvisited by any inspector of the State.
Sec. 2. STATE ENTERPRISE.
The most signal example of State enterprise in the realm of boy labour is
to be found in that huge organization of schools, elementary and
continuation, which now cover the country, and whose efficiency is rapidly
increasing. The organization has already been described; it remains to
summarize briefly its principal effects. First, the boys attend school
with astonishing regularity. An average percentage of attendances during
the year of ninety-five, and even more, is become common. Truancy is rare,
and growing rarer. The truant schools are being gradually emptied, and
several have been closed. This result is no doubt in part due to the
increased fine for non-attendance, and the pressure thus placed on the
parent. But excellent attendance implies much more than the elimination of
the truant; it means that, after making allowance for absences due to
illness and other sufficient causes, the boy attends school with perfect
regularity and punctuality at all times when the schools are opened. Now,
this ideal is in the case of the vast majority of boys attained. The
result must be attributed to the influence of the teachers over the boy.
Prosecution of the parent may cure gross irregularity, but perfect
attendance can only be secured by enlisting the co-operation of the boy.
The first effect of the school, then, is seen in the almost unqualified
regularity and punctuality of the attendance. If we reflect on the home
conditions of many of the boys, we shall be compelled to pay a high
tribute of praise to the work of the teacher. The second achievement lies
in the admirable order maintained within the walls of the school. Ready
obedience is the rule, and not the exception. This is in general not the
result of a system of harsh discipline--corporal punishment is decreasing
at once in severity and in frequency--it is due to the personal influence
of the teacher. In the third place, a spirit of industry and active
attention pervades the work of the school. In discussing with the
authorities of secondary schools the career of the children who have won
scholarships from the elementary schools, I have more than once been told
that the chief characteristic of these scholars lies in their patient and
strenuous diligence. In this respect they serve as an admirable example to
the fee-paying pupils. It is true that the scholars are picked children,
but ability and diligence are, as experience shows, by no means
inseparable companions. Here, again, we see the effect of the school.
Finally, the schools are institutions which make for character in the best
sense of the word. The moral training is gradually freeing itself from the
"do and don't" of the home, and is beginning to reach the higher level of
morality where the command is "to be this, not that." A standard of school
honour is being sought for, and sometimes attained. To take a single
example. In what is perhaps the poorest school in all London, set in the
most squalid and vice-haunted region, it has been made a matter of honour
with the boys who are receiving school dinners to come to the headmaster
as soon as the home circumstances temporarily improve and say: "I don't
want a dinner this morning, because father has got a day's work."
Habits of regularity, obedience, and industry, and the cultivation of a
sense of honour--these are the chief results of State supervision carried
out by means of the schools. Two questions require an answer: Do these
qualities, found within the precincts of the school, overflow and affect
the conduct of the boys outside the school? Do they last when school-days
are over, and the boys gone out to work? With regard to the first, there
is good reason to believe that they do overflow. The school training does
influence the conduct of the boys outside. No one who has watched a
zealous headmaster replace an ancient and inefficient teacher of the old
type can fail to have observed a striking change in the behaviour of the
boys as seen in the street and in the home. With regard to the second
question, we must reply that undoubtedly in many cases the qualities
gradually disappear. When we come, as we shall do shortly, to the survey
of the conditions of boy labour, we shall not be surprised at this
unfortunate truth. It would be difficult to imagine any form of training
that would be permanent when all discipline is relaxed or entirely
discontinued at the most critical period of the development of the boy.
The elementary school is now made responsible for the supervision of the
health of the children. Medical inspection of all children is now
compulsory, while medical treatment is made legal. The education authority
may also draw on the rates to provide meals for necessitous children. It
is too soon to estimate the effect of these new powers, but if they are
used with wise generosity they should exercise a profound influence on the
health of the rising generation.
But however beneficent may be the influence of the elementary school, it
comes to an end abruptly at the age of fourteen, and often a year or two
earlier. Up to the age of leaving school, the boy is carefully guarded by
the State, and then, with no transitional stage, he becomes a man, and, so
far as the State is concerned, all control is withdrawn. Two or three per
cent., with the help of scholarships, may pass annually to the secondary
school, where State supervision is continued. Not more than 30 per cent.
of those who leave the elementary school attend an evening school,[93] and
even if they do there is no medical inspection in such places, and little
effective discipline is possible for boys attending evening school on two
or three nights a week. The remaining two-thirds disappear from the sight
of the State, which henceforth renounces all responsibility for their
supervision.
We have next to regard the schools as training-grounds for the workmen of
the future. We ought not to look to the elementary schools to provide any
definite preparation for a trade. Unfortunately, through no fault of
their own, and because of the industrial development of the day, the
schools are turning out in thousands lads completely equipped for a
certain class of occupation. We have already seen that the most signal
triumph of the schools is to be found in the habits of regularity,
intelligence, and obedience, which they impress on the boys. Now, these
qualities are essential to success in all walks of life; but for one form
of employment alone are they all that is required. This form of employment
includes those occupations in which boys and boys only are engaged, and
where the boys are discharged as soon as they become men. The
messenger-boy, the shop-boy, the van-boy, and even the boy who attends to
some machine which monotonously performs a single operation--the boy who
comes into one of these classes need take with him nothing but the three
recommendations of regularity, obedience, and intelligence. We shall trace
later the disastrous effects of these forms of employment. It is not
without significance that the rapid increase in the number of boys so
engaged has synchronized with the rapid improvement in the system of
elementary education. It is something of a tragedy that the most signal
triumph of the schools should be, perhaps, the cause of their most signal
failure.
Definite training must be looked for in the continuation school. It is
unnecessary to add much to what has been said in the last chapter; the
State offers opportunity, but with its existing powers can do little more.
Speaking generally, for the child of comparatively well-to-do parents,
for the clever child, for the child of unusual energy and physical vigour,
these opportunities can be enjoyed; but for the remainder--and that the
great majority--they are useless, because beyond the reach of ordinary
endeavour.
Of State enterprise in the provision of an opening it is too early to
speak; the juvenile branch of the Labour Exchange is only creeping into
existence. In the next chapter an attempt will be made to explain how best
can be realized the possibilities which lie latent in these institutions.
Sec. 3. SUMMARY.
We are now in a position to summarize the achievements and the defects of
the contribution of the State towards the creation of a true
apprenticeship system. Its machinery of regulation has removed the worst
abuses of child labour, and in certain departments of industry protects,
with some degree of success, the health of the young persons engaged. Its
enterprise in the field of education is providing supervision over the
health and conduct of the boy till he reaches the age of fourteen, while
for the young person it offers opportunities of longer supervision and
technical training.
If much has been done, much more remains undone. Regulation still leaves
rampant many of the evils of child labour. Some two-thirds of the boys as
they leave school enter occupations where regulation hardly exists. State
enterprise for all practical purposes exerts no supervision over lads
between the ages of fourteen and eighteen--the most important epoch of
their lives. Technical training, and even the continuance of general
education, are possible only for a favoured few, and for the present there
is no State provision of an opening.
These are grave defects, and apprenticeship of to-day stands condemned
unless it can be shown that one or other of the remaining factors supply
what the State has failed to give.
II.
THE CONTRIBUTION OF PHILANTHROPY.
The second of the general forces, as distinguished from the individual and
special influences of the home and the workshop, which may make some
contribution towards the apprenticeship of to-day must be sought among the
varied religious and philanthropic associations. While we could not expect
from these bodies any assistance in the work of technical training, we
might hope to find in their midst conditions which make for the better
supervision and control of the lads who have left school.
Beginning with the more distinctly religious associations, we find among
them practical unanimity of opinion. One and all confess sadly that they
are unable to keep in touch with the boys after they have gone out to
work. For the tens of thousands of schoolboys who attend Sunday-school
there are only hundreds of lads on the roll of Bible-classes. The sudden
change from the status of schoolboy to the status of wage-earner, which
for the majority severed all connection with the education authority, has
even more decisively brought to an end the supervision of church and
chapel.
The miscellaneous associations represented by clubs, lads' brigades, boy
scouts, and the like, have all been called into existence for the express
purpose of exerting some measure of control over that transition period of
life which separates the boy from the man. How many lads between the ages
of fourteen and eighteen come within the sphere of influence it is not
possible to say with any exactness. The Twentieth Century League estimated
in 1903 that in London about 27,780 boys were connected with institutions
of this character, and we shall see later that there are in London about
120,000 boys between the ages of fourteen and eighteen.
It would be no less difficult to weigh the value of the work done.
Existing as they do on a voluntary basis, and free from all element of
compulsion, such supervision as they exert must take the form of tactful
guidance. Their success or failure depends less on the machinery and more
on the personal qualities of the manager. The wide and admirable influence
of the best clubs is the triumph, not of the system, but of the
exceptional individual. Exceptional individuals are, it must be
remembered, exceptional, and an organization which depends on their
presence is necessarily limited in the extent of its operations. We cannot
therefore look to these associations to meet adequately the call for
supervision.
Of recent years numerous associations have been formed with the object of
providing suitable openings for boys. There are two sides to their work.
On the one hand, situations are found, terms made with employers as to
wages and training, and steps taken to see that these terms are carried
out. On the other hand, periodic visits are paid to the boy in his home,
advice given as to attendance at evening schools, and friendly relations
established between boy and visitor. In general, these bodies are
concerned with placing out lads in skilled trades, though here and there
some attempts have been made to attack the better parts of the unskilled
labour market. Work of this character entails the expenditure of much time
and money, and requires for the negotiation with employers considerable
technical qualifications. Experience has shown that a staff of volunteers
cannot alone perform the necessary duties, and paid officers have been
appointed. The cost necessarily limits the expansion of the organization.
Out of the 30,000 boys who annually leave the elementary schools of
London, it is probable that not more than 2 per cent. come under the
influence of these associations. On the other hand, if the sphere of their
operations is limited, within that sphere it has achieved very
considerable success. They have been pioneers in a new movement, have
fully justified their existence, and must now look to the State to
continue on a larger scale, but on the same general lines, the work that
they have begun. Unlike most volunteers, these employment committees
welcome this transfer, and are now readily placing their services at the
disposal of the Board of Trade through its juvenile Labour Exchange.
This brief survey of the contribution of philanthropic enterprise to the
apprenticeship of to-day reveals one obvious conclusion: the associations
only touch a fringe of the problem, and in no way exert any comprehensive
measure of control over the lads between the ages of fourteen and
eighteen. Their number, their variety, and their enthusiasm, indicate the
urgent need of supervision rather than supervision successfully achieved.
We cannot look to them to supplement in any large degree the defects in
the scheme of State guardianship, or the more grave defects which will
appear when the conditions of home and workshop have been passed in
review.
III.
THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE HOME.
What contribution does the home make to the solution of the apprenticeship
question? We cannot, indeed, expect to find within the walls of the home
provision made for the general education of the boy, or the specialized
training of the youth; but it is not unnatural to look to the parent to
exercise supervision over his children till manhood is reached, and
likewise to offer to the boy leaving school advice and material assistance
in the selection of a trade. We are still inclined to regard the family as
the one relic of the patriarchal system that has retained a vigorous
vitality through all the ages; we are still apt to see in the home a
small world, edged off from the large world outside, self-centred,
self-ruled, and enjoying all the advantages of a benevolent despotism.
To what extent is this general assumption justified by the results of
actual experience? The question is of profound importance, and has not
received the attention it deserves from those who have written on boy
labour. If we can take it for granted that in the normal home we have the
means of controlling the boy and the growing lad up till the age of
eighteen, we have a solid foundation on which to rest the new
apprenticeship. Abnormal homes may need attention; but if the problem of
supervision is solved for the majority, if there is an authority to which
the boy submits himself as a matter of course, to add training and to
organize openings are tasks which should present no serious difficulty.
Can we look to the home to provide this fundamental basis of a true
apprenticeship system? To answer this question we must study the homes
themselves. A few years ago I devoted a large amount of time to the
collection of material touching the character of family life in towns. The
results were published in an essay entitled "The Boy and the Family." [94]
I may perhaps be allowed to summarize the conclusions there established.
Home varies from home; each may be said to have its own individuality, but
each has much in common. To give definiteness to the problem, I
endeavoured to class the homes under three types. In the main, type
number one referred to the inhabitants of one and two room tenements; type
number two embraced the families possessing three rooms; while the third
type included those persons fortunate enough to rent more than three
rooms. The size of the home proved a rough, though the best attainable,
method of classifying the characteristics of the inmates.
Supervision has been interpreted to mean two things--supervision of health
and supervision of conduct.
So far as the supervision of health is concerned, it is probable that very
few of the parents belonging to the three types possess the necessary
knowledge to carry out this duty. Among all classes of the community
ignorance on matters affecting the hygiene of the home is almost
universal. But even if knowledge were present, the resources at the
disposal of large numbers would prove inadequate to make that knowledge
effective. With type number one overcrowding is the rule; with type number
two it is common; and only in the third type do we reach conditions of
housing favourable to health.
The experience derived from medical inspection of school-children and the
administration of the Provision of Meals Act has revealed the deplorable
condition of large numbers of children when left to the unaided care of
their parents. The returns of necessitous children fed, which are
published weekly in the minutes of the London County Council, showed that
during the winter of 1909-10 at the time of most acute distress, about 9
per cent. of the children in the schools were receiving meals. A careful
inquiry, the most elaborate of its kind, made into the home circumstances
of the necessitous children in certain schools showed that the number of
children actually fed was probably below, and certainly not above, the
number who required meals. The same inquiry, with its lurid pictures of
squalor and distress, proved how small was the prospect of health for many
of those children, even though they were fed at school. It may be regarded
as a conclusive demonstration of the call for more searching regulation on
the part of the State.[95] It is probable, however, that the need for food
is far larger than that represented by the number of children actually
fed. Several inquiries, such as those carried out by Mr. Charles Booth in
London, and Mr. Rowntree in York, indicate that the effective income of
nearly a third of the population is too small to supply in adequate
quantity even the bare necessities of existence.
Medical inspection is now revealing the number of children suffering from
definite ailments, and urgently requiring medical treatment, which they
have hitherto been unable, in a large proportion of cases, to obtain. It
would appear that some 10 per cent. suffer from defective vision, about 1
per cent. from discharging ears, about the same number from ringworm,
while at least a third are suffering in health from the result of
decaying teeth.[96]
Everywhere we have abundant evidence to show that, from want of
supervision, or of the effective means of supervision in the home, large
numbers of children are growing up ill-clad, ill-nourished, and suffering
from definite diseases, all alike leading to inefficient manhood.
The second department of supervision is concerned with the supervision of
character. Can we rest satisfied that the parents exercise over the
growing lads that salutary control all growing lads require? The question
is of profound importance, if, as all agree, character is the condition of
success when the first steps are taken in the industrial world. It is
necessary to distinguish between the boy attending school and the boy
exempt from compulsory attendance. In what follows I shall draw largely on
my essay in "Studies of Boy Life." The conclusions are derived from the
experience of many years' residence in a poor part of London, and have
been tested by a careful inquiry among ministers of religion,
school-teachers, rent-collectors, and others with special knowledge of the
subject.
Sec. 1. THE BOY OF SCHOOL AGE.
If the parents are to control the boys, the boys must come much under the
personal influence of the parents; in other words, rulers and ruled must
meet frequently. Now, in all three types of family the father exercises
little direct control over the children. If of good character, he is
either out at work or out looking for work during five days of the week,
and sees the children only in the evening. On Saturday afternoons and on
Sundays he is at home; but a week-end visitor cannot be the dominant
factor in domestic affairs. If control is exercised, it must be exercised
by the mother. To trace her influence, it is necessary to picture the kind
of life led by each type. I quote from my essay:
"So far as the first type is considered, it is not easy to say when the
children and parents meet.... The general order of events is something as
follows: If it is one of the days on which he elects to work, the father
rises about five o'clock, finds his own breakfast, and then quits the
house. Some two or three hours later the school-children get out of bed,
wash their faces, take a slice of bread and dripping, and go out.
Sometimes the mother rises at that time and gets the breakfast, but in
most cases remains in bed. At nine the boys go to school. At noon school
is over, and the boys, after amusing themselves in the playground or
street for an hour, go home to get some food. The mother meanwhile has
risen, dressed the smaller children, performed the irreducible minimum of
domestic work, and then left the house to gossip with a neighbour, or earn
a few pence by charing. On rare occasions she may cook the children some
dinner, but as a rule they get what food they can find, and eat it in the
streets. Sometimes they receive a halfpenny to buy their own meal at a
fried-fish shop. The boys then return to school, escape at half-past four,
possibly go home to tea, and then once more turn for amusement to the
streets. There they remain until it is dark, and often in summer till dawn
begins to break, when at length they seek their dwelling and go to bed. In
many cases the boys do not find their way back to their own houses, but
take up their quarters for the night in the house of some friend.
Sometimes they do not sleep in a house at all. In one case of which I have
heard three boys spent a fortnight in a wash-house on the top of some
blocks. There they lived an independent existence, getting their food and
attending school regularly all the while. Later on, being discovered by a
policeman, they were sent to their respective families.... Week follows
week with little variation to mark the march of time. As brief a fragment
of the boy's life as is possible is spent within the common dwelling,
which offers him no occupation, and is entirely devoid of interest or
attraction. The mother does not demand his presence indoors, while he
himself has no wish to be there. The street, and not the house, ought
probably to be regarded as the home or meeting-place of the family." [97]
Supervision under circumstances of this kind must be an almost negligible
factor in the life of the home. Let us now come to the second type. I
quote again:
"In the second type, as already mentioned, the family usually occupies
three rooms. At first sight the conditions found in the former type seem
to prevail here also. Indeed, as a matter of fact, the boys spend hardly
more time at home than those just considered. Out of school hours they are
either in the street or employed in some form of paid work.... School,
street, meals, and bed alternate with one another here in much the same
way as they did in the first type. But while the facts remain for the most
part unchanged, their setting and colouring are very different. Another
atmosphere seems to pervade the whole life; some sense of order and
regularity begins to manifest itself; meals are at fixed hours; and the
boys are expected home and sent to bed at more or less definite times.
They return to their own tenements, and do not spend the night with some
of their neighbours. As will appear later, home interests begin to
develop; and if the boys spend their leisure in the streets, this is due
more to their own choice than to the wish of their parents.... The mother
does not display the utter indifference to the state of the dwelling or
the habits of the children conspicuous in the first type. Some sort of
ideal of home she seems to possess, but to obtain this ideal is beyond her
power. She has the look of one who feels that things are wrong, and yet
can see no remedy. She notes, for example, the evil influence the street
exerts on the characters of her boys, but does not know how to preserve
them from its overwhelming attractions." [98]
"The chief difference, then, between the first and second type lies not so
much in a different kind of life as in a certain change of atmosphere that
pervades and transforms the common existence. In the third type this
change of atmosphere becomes more conspicuous. A great part of the boy's
time is, indeed, still spent outside the dwelling-place, but the life at
home begins to assume larger proportions. There is more order and quiet in
the house--a condition which reacts favourably on the boys. They are no
longer seen hanging about the streets, loafing at the corners, or shouting
noisily in the gutters. Though much out of doors, they go farther afield,
and visit parks or museums; while, if they stay near home, they will
usually be discovered in the school playground. In the evening many of
them are indoors, and have various occupations, of which, perhaps, reading
is the chief." [99]
In type number one, then, there is, for all practical purposes, a complete
absence of supervision. In the second type there is a desire for
supervision, but the narrowness of the house accommodation thrusts the
boys into the streets. In the third type alone are the conditions
favourable to supervision.
Sec. 2. THE BOY AFTER SCHOOL DAYS.
If the boy while at school is under little parental control, it is not to
be expected that this control will be tightened when school days are over.
With the first type of family there was no supervision before, and there
is no more afterwards. The boy is self-supporting, and troubles little
about the home, and the home troubles little about him. There is a partial
exception in the case of the coster. Here the boy may become one of the
regular working members of the establishment, and remains with his father;
but the discipline is of a rude and ready sort.
With the second type of family the boy's earnings are of great importance
to the family, and the mother does her best to keep him at home. Any
exercise of discipline is avoided, lest the lad should take his earnings
and go elsewhere. He is rather in the position of a favoured lodger, whose
presence is valuable to the home, and who must be treated well for fear he
should give notice.
In the third type of family, the boy, with growing years, passes out of
the control of the mother, and is resentful of any restraint exerted by a
woman. What supervision he enjoys comes from the father. The two do not
meet often; father and son are seldom employed together, and the long
distance that frequently separates home and work places the boy beyond the
reach of parental control during the greater portion of the week.
Such in broad outline, rendered jagged, no doubt, by numerous exceptions,
is the quantity and the quality of the supervision exercised by the town
parent over the town boy. Even with the highest type no high standard is
reached, while with the lower we cannot contemplate the picture with any
degree of satisfaction. Speaking generally, the city-bred youth is
growing up in a state of unrestrained liberty; and what makes the problem
more serious is the fact that all evidence goes to show that this
disquieting phenomenon is not an accident, but the direct product of the
social and industrial conditions of the times. Towns are growing larger,
and with the growth of towns the whole conditions of family life are being
transformed. The old patriarchal system is gone; the father is no longer
an autocratic ruler in his small world. The family, so to say, has become
democratized; we have in it an association of equals in authority. Now,
the most ardent advocates of the extension of the suffrage have always
limited their demands to an appeal for adult suffrage; they have never
clamoured for children to be given a vote. Yet this, for all effective
purposes, is what happens in the home in the case of the boy as soon as he
has left school. The status of wage-earner has brought with it the status
of manhood, and his earnings have conferred on him immunity from control
and the right to be consulted in the politics of the home. Another fact,
not sufficiently recognized, tends to break down the patriarchal system.
With the steady improvement in the State schools, the boy is usually
better educated than the father; the father knows this, and the boy knows
it too.
It is idle, therefore, to look for any large amount of parental control
over the boy who has left school. We must face realities, however
unpleasant these realities may happen to be; and one of the realities of
the time is the independence of the lad. What is equally significant is
the suddenness with which this independence comes. Until the age of
fourteen he has remained under a carefully designed system of State
supervision, exerted by the school authorities; while in a large number of
cases the discipline of the home has been an important factor in his
existence. At the age of fourteen, as a general rule, the control of
school and home end together. The lad goes to bed a boy; he wakes as a
man. There should therefore be little cause for surprise if the habits of
the school and home are rapidly sloughed off in the new life of
irresponsible freedom.
Whether, therefore, we look to the State, to philanthropic enterprise, or
to the home, we find no satisfactory guarantee for the supervision of the
youth of the country. We have yet to search for this supervision in the
workshop; but if it is absent there, we shall be faced with the
disquieting phenomenon of the boy at the age of fourteen enjoying the full
and complete independence of the adult.
IV.
THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE WORKSHOP.
Having examined three out of the four factors which contribute to the
apprenticeship of to-day, and found them all inadequate, we must now turn
to the workshop in the hope that we shall discover there conditions more
favourable to the well-being of the youth of the country. If, however,
this last factor prove defective, the apprenticeship of to-day will stand
condemned, and the case for drastic reform will become unanswerable. It
will therefore be desirable to devote considerable space to this, the
central feature of the problem of boy labour.
In what follows it is proposed first to make a detailed study of
conditions in London, and then to present a general picture of the state
of boy labour in other parts of the country. London has been selected for
a detailed study because in a peculiar degree it represents the extreme
type of urbanization. There is also the advantage that in the case of
London the material required for the examination has to a large extent
been collected. The investigations of Mr. Charles Booth, the publications
and inquiries on the subject carried out by the London County Council, Mr.
Cyril Jackson's report on boy labour presented to the Poor Law Commission,
and numerous other writings, have provided for the study of London a mass
of information which, though not in all respects exhaustive, is more
complete than can be found elsewhere.
Sec. 1. LONDON.
A study of the problem of boy labour in London involves the study of three
questions. First we have to consider the case of the children who, while
still attending school, are employed for wages. Next we must devote
special attention to the boys as they leave school and distribute
themselves among the different occupations. Finally, we must watch the
later career of those lads, and in particular endeavour to ascertain in
what way and with what results is made the difficult passage from the
status of the youth to the status of the man.
_(a) The Employment of School-Children._
In London the half-time system is not permitted. The standard of
attainment for total exemption has been made sufficiently high to prevent
the great majority of boys from leaving school till the age of fourteen is
reached. It is, however, a fact that improved methods of instruction and
more rapid promotion from class to class are tending to lower the age at
which it is possible to obtain a Labour Certificate. How far this
opportunity is used it is not easy to say; but in certain schools,
situated in the poorer districts, it is alleged that there is a growing
tendency for the brighter children to claim exemption in this way. The
regularity of attendance is admirable, the average attendance in boys'
schools exceeding 90 per cent. We may therefore assume that, if the boys
work for wages, they must work at times when the schools are not opened.
To what extent are boys employed while still liable to attend school? In
1899 a return was obtained throughout the elementary schools of England
and Wales of the number of children so employed. In London, in the case of
boys, the figures were 21,755.[100] The tables also give the ages of the
children, but boys and girls are not separated. If, however, we assume
that the number of children of each sex at each age is proportionate to
the total number of children of each sex at all ages, we find that 78 per
cent. of the boys were eleven and upwards, and 22 per cent. under eleven.
The number of boys of eleven and upwards would be about 17,000. There are
in the elementary schools about 70,000 boys eleven years of age and
upwards, so that about 24 per cent. of these boys are employed. In other
words, nearly a quarter of the boys in the elementary schools above the
age of eleven were employed at the time of the return. The actual number
of boys who are employed during the course of their school career would be
considerably larger, as they would not all be employed at the same moment.
The return is more than ten years old, but, with the exception of the
children under eleven, it is improbable that there has been much change.
Similar figures may be deduced from the Report of the Interdepartmental
Committee on the Employment of School-Children, 1901.[101]
With regard to the number of hours worked, Miss Adler's evidence is
selected, and typical schools show that 56 per cent. were employed for
more than twenty hours a week, while 14 per cent. were employed
thirty-five hours or upwards.[102] In individual cases the figures were
much higher. "Thus a boy of eleven years of age, for four shillings a
week, was employed for forty-three and three-quarter hours in carrying
parcels from a chemist's shop, and, except on Sundays, was practically
every moment of his life at school or at work from seven in the morning
till nine o'clock at night. Another boy, aged thirteen, worked fifty-two
hours a week, being employed by a moulding company, and attending a
theatre for five evenings a week and for half a day on Wednesday for a
_matinee_--for the last, however, playing truant from school." [103] The
following graphic account taken from a school composition, and obtained
under circumstances which guarantee its essential accuracy, shows the
amount of work which may be compressed into a single day. It refers to
Saturday:
"I first got up from bed about half-past six, and put my clothes on and
had a wash. Then I went to work at B.'s, and swept out his shop, and then
I did the window out. But after I done the window I had my breakfast and
went in the shop again. I started taking out orders that came in. While I
was taking the orders out, Mr. B. went to the Borough market for some
potatoes, cabbages, and some onions; but when he came home I had to unload
his van. After I unloaded his van, he went for some coal, which he sells
at one and sixpence a hundredweight, but he got two tons of coal in. Then
we had dinner about one o'clock. When we had our dinner, I had a rest till
about four o'clock, when I had tea. When I had my tea I had to go and chop
some wood, when it was time to shut up the shop. I had my supper and went
home, and went to bed, and the time was about twelve o'clock." [104] It
will be seen that, with the exception of a break in the middle of the day,
the boy was on duty for nearly three-quarters of the twenty-four hours,
and for part of the time was engaged in heavy manual labour.
What effect does employment have on the physical condition of children
under the age of fourteen? "That excessive employment is injurious alike
to the education and to the health of the children is hardly in question.
It was testified to by witness after witness, many of them in no way
likely to be influenced by merely theoretical objections to child
labour." [105] On the other hand, most of the witnesses that appeared
before the Interdepartmental Committee were of opinion that "moderate
work" was in many cases not only not injurious, but "positively
beneficial." [106] It is not easy to understand what is meant by the last
statement. If some form of employment is beneficial, then the 76 per cent.
who are not so employed suffer, and steps should be taken to encourage
them to work. It is doubtful whether the witnesses would have accepted
this conclusion, from which, on their own assumptions, there is really no
escape. The difficulty lay in drawing the line. "Most of the witnesses
seemed to suggest that twenty hours might be fixed as the maximum weekly
limit; but, on the other hand, we found some cases where less than twenty
hours a week, if concentrated in one or two days, or if done at night,
must be injurious." [107]
But the evidence of most value on the subject is to be found in a Report
of the Medical Officer of the London County Council.[108] About 400 boys
employed outside school hours were examined. The following table, with
defects in percentages, was obtained as the result:[109]
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | Actual |Fatigue| |Severe| |Severe|
|Hours worked | Number |Signs. |Anaemia.|Nerve |Deformities.|Heart |
| Weekly. |of Boys.| | |Signs.| |Signs.|
|------------------|--------|-------|-------|------|------------|------|
|All schoolboys of | | | | | | |
| district workers| | | | | | |
| and non-workers | 3,700 | -- | 25 | 24 | 8 | 8 |
|Working 20 hours | | | | | | |
| or less | 163 | 50 | 34 | 28 | 15 | 11 |
|Working 20 to 30 | | | | | | |
| hours | 86 | 81 | 47 | 44 | 21 | 15 |
|Working over 30 | | | | | | |
| hours | 95 | 83 | 45 | 50 | 22 | 21 |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
It will be seen that the defects rise rapidly with increase in the hours
of work; while, even in the case of those working less than twenty hours,
there is a serious deviation from the average. The fact that 50 per cent.
of those working less than twenty hours should exhibit signs of fatigue,
even where no permanent physical evil results, must seriously affect the
value of the school instruction. In every case the workers compare
unfavourably with the average for the whole of the workers and
non-workers. We cannot view with satisfaction the truth that, even in
those employed with moderation, deformities and severe heart signs should
be nearly 50 per cent. above the average. The medical officer adds other
conclusions no less disquieting. "Working eight hours on Saturday is as
inimical as thirty hours during the week, and working through the
dinner-hour appears particularly productive of anaemia," [110] "Retardation
in school work was noted in 209 out of these 330 boys, 86 being one
standard, 83 two standards, 37 three standards, and 3 four standards
behind that corresponding to their age." [111] As his final conclusion the
medical officer states: "We must set up as an ideal the suppression of
child labour below twelve years of age, and during school life regulate it
to twenty hours weekly, and a maximum of five hours on any one day." [112]
The figures, however, would seem to go far in justifying the more drastic
remedy of complete prohibition.
It is, however, fair to mention that the Report of the Interdepartmental
Committee, and also the Report of the Medical Officer, refer to a state of
affairs prior to the passing of the Employment of Children Act. Under this
Act, as explained in the last chapter,[113] employment of children under
the age of eleven is forbidden, while the by-laws of the Council place
restrictions on the number of hours children may work, and the times of
day during which such work may be carried on. It is too soon to judge of
the extent to which these restrictions can be enforced. During the first
year of effective operation in London there were, in respect of boys under
the age of sixteen, 13,461 cases of infringement. Prohibition under a
certain age or during certain times of the day is comparatively easy to
enforce; but limitation of hours, as experience of the Shop Act shows, is
extremely difficult to enforce, and peculiarly difficult where, as with
school-children, persons are not employed regularly, but work irregularly
at times when the schools are not open. To get evidence sufficient to
justify convictions is almost impossible, except in a few outrageous
cases.
What, if any, effect does the employment of school-children have on the
general question of the preparation for a trade? Into this general
question the Interdepartmental Committee did not enter. They did indeed
regard certain forms of occupation as injurious, while they pronounced as
beneficial employment in moderation. But this statement has apparently
reference only to matters of health, and not to the relation of employment
during school days to employment afterwards. The question is of great
importance, as habits, in respect of work for wages, formed by the boy
cling persistently to the youth. It is necessary, therefore, to pay some
attention to the characteristics of the work which schoolboys undertake.
In London 90 per cent. of the work would be included in the three
following classes: (1) Shops--errand-running and delivery of parcels,
milk, newspapers, and watching the goods spread on the counters outside
the shops; (2) domestic--knife and boot cleaning, and occasionally
baby-minding; and (3) street employment--hawking of newspapers, matches,
and flowers, organ-grinding, and the like. Now, none of these forms of
occupation provide any trade-training, or offer an opening with
satisfactory prospects, to the boy as he leaves school. On the other hand,
this class of work has distinctly injurious effects. First, it is
employment of a casual character. Affected as it is, on the one hand, by
attendance at school, and on the other by Saturdays and holidays, it is
essentially irregular as regards hours. Secondly, it is easy to obtain,
and consequently lightly undertaken and lightly dropped. Where another
situation can be obtained at will, there is no demand on the worker to
display the qualities that make for permanence of employment. Thirdly, it
is work in which youths as well as boys are engaged; in other words, it
does provide an opening to the boy as he leaves school--an opening which
he is likely to accept, because it is the most obvious, but at the same
time an opening in one of those forms of occupation entrance into which we
should, as will appear later, do our utmost to discourage. It is
singularly unfortunate that a boy's first association with any kind of
paid employment should be of this nature. And, finally, it is at least
open to grave doubt whether that sense of independence of home which comes
with the consciousness of earning wages should begin at as early an age
as twelve or thirteen.
It would not be easy to imagine a more unsatisfactory form of preparation
for a trade than that provided by the kind of work carried out by
wage-earning children. If we add to this demoralizing influence the
injurious effect on health and education, the case for total prohibition
of boy labour during school-days becomes very strong.
_(b) The Entry to a Trade._
The great majority of boys remain at the elementary school till they
attain the age of fourteen; it is no less true that the vast majority
cease attendance as soon as that age is reached. The period of the next
four years--that is, from fourteen to eighteen--forms the most critical
time of their career. It is during these four years that the boy must, if
ever, have taken the first steps towards learning a trade. During this
interval his physical strength must mature, his character take on itself a
more or less permanent set, and the question whether his education shall
represent something more than a faint shadow of early impressions be
finally determined. In short, it is during these four years that the
future citizen is made or marred.
The previous survey, whether of the factors which contribute to the
apprenticeship of to-day, or of the evils which are found among
wage-earning school-children, does not guarantee a favourable start in the
world of whole-time employment. Each year about 30,000 boys leave school
at the age of fourteen to take up some form of work. These figures do not
agree with the Census returns, because the latter include all London boys
in all classes of society, whether at school or at work. Here we are
concerned only with the boys of fourteen who leave the elementary school
with the intention of earning their own living. Between the ages of
fourteen and eighteen there will therefore be 120,000 boys. It is the
careers of these 120,000 boys that we must now try to follow.
What are the first occupations selected by these 120,000 boys? During the
last few years the London County Council has endeavoured to find an answer
to this question. Each head-master of an elementary school is required
annually to fill up a form in respect of each boy who has left the school
during the preceding twelve months. The information asked for is
"occupation of parent," "occupation of boy," "whether skilled or
unskilled," or "whether a place of higher education is attended." Returns
have been received and summarized for the years 1906-07 and 1907-08. The
first return was incomplete, but the second included the vast majority of
those who left. Below is given the summary for the two years:
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| | Skilled.| Unskilled.| Higher |
| | | |Education.|
|-------------------------|---------|-----------|----------|
| Number | 8,662 | 15,910 | 1,524 |
| Percentage | 33.2 | 61.0 | 5.8 |
| Percentage, 1906-07 | 28.5 | 67.9 | 3.6 |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
It will be seen that, including those who went to some higher form of
education, little more than a third of the boys left school to enter a
skilled trade.[114]
TABLE I.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | Number. | Percentage. |
| Class of Occupation. |------------------|------------------|
| | Parent. | Boy. | Parent. | Boy. |
|--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
|Trades and industries | 615 | 347 | 40.87 | 18.74 |
|Domestic offices or services | 23 | 46 | 1.52 | 2.48 |
|Transport (including messengers,| | | | |
| errand-boys, van-boys, etc.) | 191 | 829 | 12.69 | 44.76 |
|Shopkeepers, shop-assistants, | | | | |
| and dealers | 137 | 133 | 9.10 | 7.18 |
|Commercial occupations | 61 | 141 | 4.05 | 7.61 |
|General labour | 436 | 215 | 28.98 | 11.61 |
|Professional occupations and | | | | |
| their subordinate services | 11 | 5 | 0.73 | 0.27 |
|General or local government | 26 | 6 | 1.73 | 0.32 |
|Defence of the country | 5 | 1 | 0.33 | 0.06 |
|Higher education | -- | 27 | -- | 1.45 |
|Unemployed | -- | 102 | -- | 5.52 |
|--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
| Total | 1,505 | 1,852 | 100.00 | 100.00 |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
It is unfortunate that no full analysis has been made of these returns.
The value of the information which would have thus been obtained was not
supposed to justify the labour and expenditure involved in such an
analysis. I have, however, roughly analyzed nearly 4,000 cases, and
endeavoured to classify the occupations, in accordance with the table
founded on the Census return which will be given later.[115] I selected
for this purpose typical districts in London. Table I. includes returns
from all the schools in the electoral areas of Bermondsey, North
Camberwell, and Walworth; it represents a typical miscellaneous
working-class district. Table II. includes the electoral areas of Dulwich
and Lewisham; it may be regarded as typical of suburban villadom so far as
its inhabitants send their children to the elementary schools. Table III.
includes the electoral areas of Whitechapel and St. George's-in-the-East,
districts distinguished by the presence of a large number of small trades
and sweated industries. Table IV. includes the collective results of the
three preceding tables, and may be taken as fairly typical of London as a
whole. It was necessary to exclude the returns of a few schools as
incomplete, indefinite, or obviously inaccurate. Parent stands for
occupation of parent, boy for occupation of boy. The two do not quite
correspond, as in a certain number of instances the occupation of the
parent was unknown. I have included the telegraph-boys under "Transport,"
as for my purpose this classification was the more suitable.
TABLE II.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | Number. | Percentage. |
| Class of Occupation. |------------------|------------------|
| | Parent. | Boy. | Parent. | Boy. |
|--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
|Trades and industries | 347 | 151 | 35.57 | 14.86 |
|Domestic offices or services | 14 | 27 | 1.45 | 2.64 |
|Transport (including messengers,| | | | |
| errand-boys, van-boys, etc.) | 70 | 350 | 7.24 | 34.31 |
|Shopkeepers, shop-assistants, | | | | |
| and dealers | 100 | 126 | 10.34 | 12.35 |
|Commercial occupations | 180 | 157 | 18.61 | 15.38 |
|General labour | 144 | 54 | 14.89 | 5.29 |
|Professional occupations and | | | | |
| their subordinate services | 47 | 2 | 4.86 | 0.19 |
|General or local government | 66 | 9 | 6.83 | 0.88 |
|Defence of the country | 2 | 5 | 0.21 | 0.48 |
|Higher education | -- | 76 | -- | 7.45 |
|Unemployed | -- | 63 | -- | 6.17 |
|--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
| Total | 967 | 1,020 | 100.00 | 100.00 |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
TABLE III.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | Number. | Percentage. |
| Class of Occupation. |------------------|------------------|
| | Parent. | Boy. | Parent. | Boy. |
|--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
|Trades and industries | 349 | 305 | 51.09 | 41.84 |
|Domestic offices or services | 25 | 18 | 3.66 | 2.47 |
|Transport (including messengers,| | | | |
| errand-boys, van-boys, etc.) | 72 | 189 | 10.54 | 25.93 |
|Shopkeepers, shop-assistants, | | | | |
| and dealers | 91 | 48 | 13.33 | 6.58 |
|Commercial occupations | 11 | 39 | 1.61 | 5.35 |
|General labour | 116 | 63 | 16.99 | 8.64 |
|Professional occupations | | | | |
| and their subordinate services| 10 | 3 | 1.46 | 0.41 |
|General or local government | 8 | -- | 1.17 | -- |
|Defence of the country | 1 | -- | 0.15 | -- |
|Higher education | -- | 7 | -- | 0.96 |
|Unemployed | -- | 57 | -- | 7.82 |
|--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
| Total | 683 | 729 | 100.00 | 100.00 |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
TABLE IV.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | Number. | Percentage. |
| Class of Occupation. |------------------|------------------|
| | Parent. | Boy. | Parent. | Boy. |
|--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
|Trades and industries | 1,308 | 803 | 41.46 | 22.31 |
|Domestic offices or services | 62 | 91 | 1.97 | 2.53 |
|Transport (including messengers,| | | | |
| errand-boys, van-boys, etc.) | 333 | 1,368 | 10.55 | 38.00 |
|Shopkeepers, shop-assistants, | | | | |
| and dealers | 328 | 307 | 10.39 | 8.52 |
|Commercial occupations | 252 | 337 | 7.98 | 9.36 |
|General labour | 696 | 332 | 22.06 | 9.22 |
|Professional occupations and | | | | |
| their subordinate services | 68 | 10 | 2.16 | 0.28 |
|General or local government | 100 | 15 | 3.17 | 0.41 |
|Defence of the country | 8 | 6 | 0.26 | 0.16 |
|Higher education | -- | 110 | -- | 3.05 |
|Unemployed | -- | 222 | -- | 6.16 |
|--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
|Total | 3,155 | 3,601 | 100.00 | 100.00 |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
In the interpretation of these tables certain facts must be borne in mind.
None of the parents are returned as unemployed; this is because the trade
of the parent was asked for, and no account was taken as to whether he was
or was not employed. Secondly, the occupations are somewhat vaguely
described; this in particular is true of the term "labourer." More exact
information would no doubt have removed the parent from the class "general
labour," and placed him in the class "transport," and occasionally in the
classes "domestic servant" or "shop-assistant." Thirdly, the
messenger-boys are included partly under "transport" and partly under
"shop-assistants," the boy being termed sometimes an errand-boy and
sometimes a shop-boy. The term "office-boy," which appears frequently in
the returns, is vague. I have classed the office-boy as an errand-boy
unless the school return places him in the column "skilled employment,"
when I have included him under the heading "commercial occupation."
Making allowance for a certain inevitable inaccuracy which belongs to
returns of this kind, we have a general picture, accurate in all
essentials, of the distribution of boys among the various forms of
occupation immediately after leaving the elementary school. The columns
which refer to the trade of the parents, and indicate therefore the
distribution of the parents among the various forms of occupation, are of
considerable value. If we take Table IV., which may be regarded as typical
of London as a whole, and compare the last two columns, we shall at once
notice the striking difference that marks the distribution of boys and of
adults among the several kinds of employment. In "trades and industries,"
41 per cent. of parents are engaged, and only 22 per cent. of boys; 38 per
cent. of the boys are engaged in "transport," and only 10 per cent. of
parents. This fact carries with it a conclusion of great importance--son
and father can seldom work together. If, for example, 10 per cent. of the
parents are included under "transport," and 38 per cent. of the boys, it
is clear that little more than a quarter of such boys can be employed in
company with their parents. The actual facts, as revealed by an
examination of the individual returns, are much stronger, and demonstrate
the extreme rareness of father and son following the same occupation. In
the case of "trades and industries" the trade of father and son is not
infrequently the same; this is in particular true of "tailoring" trades of
the East End, included in Table III., where the proportion of adults to
boys are as fifty-one to forty-two. In suburban villadom, pictured in
Table III., the clerk is often father to the clerk, while the son of a
shopkeeper occasionally assists his parents in the shop. The coster habit
likewise runs in families. But with these exceptions father and son do not
work together. In consequence, in his first situation the boy is cut
adrift from the home and its control, such as it is. He has not his father
by his side to note and guide his conduct; and if he enters a skilled
trade, he lacks the personal interest of the parent to guarantee his
satisfactory training. We have already seen that the school supervision is
at an end; in consequence, the only disciplinary influence left is the
influence of the employer. The character of the employment and the nature
of the supervision of the master become, therefore, of supreme importance
to the well-being of the boy. It is consequently necessary to examine in
some detail the distinguishing features of the various kinds of
occupation. They are usually roughly classed as skilled or unskilled,
according as they do or do not lead to a form of employment which requires
specialized skill or specialized intelligence.
THE UNSKILLED TRADES.--Practically the whole of the unskilled trades are
included under the terms "domestic service," "transport," "shop," and
"general labour," and the great majority of the boys who select these
occupations may be said to select an unskilled trade. In Table I., a
typical working-class district, it will be seen that 66 per cent. of the
boys who leave the elementary schools come within this class. In Table
II., a suburban area, the figures are 55 per cent.; but a considerable
proportion of those included under "shops" appear to be employed in the
shops of their parents, and to be learning the business. In Table III.,
representing the small East End trades, the figures are 44 per cent.; but,
judged by wages and conditions of employment, the majority of the 42 per
cent. included under trades should be transferred to the class of
unskilled work. For all the districts, as a whole typical of London, Table
IV. shows the figures to be 58.27 per cent. The figures quoted above
ignore the boys returned as unemployed and unknown, the number of these
for all London being 6 per cent. They are boys waiting for something to
turn up; what will turn up it is impossible to predict. But it is safe to
say that a considerable portion will drift into unskilled work.
The unskilled trades fall into three classes. The first and smallest is
included under "domestic service." Under this head are found boys in
barbers' shops, page-boys, club-boys, boot and knife boys. Employment in a
barber's shop is notoriously unhealthy;[116] a barber's shop is also
supposed to be not infrequently the resort of the betting fraternity. The
fortunes of the page and club boy await the zeal of an investigator; the
knife and boot boy soon passes to some other occupation. Of the three
classes, domestic service is the least important and the soonest left by
the boy.
The second class, included under "transport" and "shopkeepers," is far the
largest and the most important. In all London some 47 per cent. of the
boys are found here; or, if we add a half of the 6 per cent. returned as
unemployed, we may say that half the boys who leave the elementary schools
belong to this class. It is necessary to take "transport" and
"shopkeepers" together, because it is impossible to tell whether a
"shop-boy" is merely an errand-boy, or a boy on the road to become a
properly trained shop-assistant. It is probable, however, that only a
small number could be regarded as future shop-assistants.
Ignoring these exceptions, we have to follow the fortunes of 50 per cent.
of the boys leaving school--in other words, of 15,000 persons. Their forms
of employment have much in common. In the first place, they are what is
known as "blind-alley" occupations--they lead nowhere. Boys only are
engaged, and when the boys become men they are cast adrift. Sometimes they
are absorbed in the adult service, but more usually, if they have not
already left, are given notice, and must at the age of eighteen seek out
some new way of earning a living. The report of Mr. Cyril Jackson makes
this fact abundantly clear.[117] "The industrial biographies received," he
says, "show clearly that there is generally a time of transition when boys
have to seek new occupations, for which they have little aptitude." [118]
Or again: "There appears to be no doubt that the restlessness of many of
the boys doing more or less unskilled work obscures from some employers
the fact that they are using a greater number of boys than can ever be
employed in connection with their trade as men. The employers who have
filled up forms often state that they 'never discharge a boy who is
willing to stay,' or 'that boys are only discharged for misconduct,' when
it is evident from the figures appearing in the same form that there must
be a considerable proportion of the boys passing out of the trade each
year.... That many employers, on the other hand, do in fact discharge a
considerable proportion of their boys because they have no room for them
as men--or, to express the same thing in the form in which it presents
itself to the masters, because they cannot afford to offer men's wages--is
shown in the short accounts of the trades in the Appendix." [119] It is
needless to labour the point further, as everyone familiar with the
conditions of boy work give evidence to the same effect.
The second characteristic of these trades is that they are mainly
concerned with fetching or carrying something--messages, letters, parcels.
It is characteristic of that stage of civilization at which we have
arrived that we want to save ourselves trouble, or to save ourselves time.
Boys are the instruments we use. "Here we are, all of us," says a modern
writer, "demanding an endless number of tiny jobs to be done on our
behalf. Every year multiplies these demands, increasing the pace at which
the jobs can be done, and the number of them that can be crowded into the
time. We learn to expect more and more conveniences at our elbow by which
communication can be made, business transacted, messages despatched,
parcels transferred, news brought up to date, transit hastened, things of
all kinds put under our hand. We touch buttons, press knobs, ring bells,
whisper down telephones, keep wires throbbing with our desires, bustle and
hustle the world along. And all this in the end means _boys_. Boys are
what we set moving. Boys are the material in which we deal. Boys are our
tools. Every wire has a boy at the end of it." [120]