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64 Parish of St. George the Martyr, Southwark.
one-half of the bread supplied to Londoners is sent out from cellar bakeries or, in
other words, is manufactured in underground places which violate the first principles
of sanitation. This estimate, it may be at once acknowledged, is only approximate,
as it is impossible to obtain anything like a comprehensive statement of facts and
figures. In my own district of St. George the Martyr, Southwark, I find that out of
sixty-seven bakeries, twenty-three are situated altogether, and nine partially in basements;
a proportion which is exceeded in other metropolitan districts. In
considering the source of the total output of bread, moreover, the fact must he taken
into consideration that some of the above-ground bakeries carry on business on a
very extensive scale. On the whole, however, I think we may take it as a fairly
correct assumption that about one-half of the Londoners' daily bread is derived from
underground bakeries.
"According to the Census of 1891 there are no fewer than 18,029 bakers in
London, and 84,158 in England and Wales.* These figures do not include the
pastrycooks and confectioners, many of whom work underground, but whom I
exclude as they are not directly concerned in the production of bread. The bakers,
however, constitute a large and important class, and when we take into consideration
the wives and children dependent on their exertions, it will be evident that our
present discussion directly affects the interests of a large section of the industrial
community.
"The lot of the journeyman baker is neither a healthy nor an enviable one.
From the nature of his occupation he is placed in an environment that saps his
strength and too often makes him prematurely aged. His face is thin and pale, his
shoulders are rounded, and his whole look is suggestive of chronic ill-health. Nor is
this to be wondered at when we consider the fatiguing nature of his work, which is
carried on through the night and far into the next day. He is exposed to damp and
to great and sudden changes of temperature, and he habitually breathes an
atmosphere which is charged with dust, with the fumes of coal, with the products of
respiration, and not infrequently with actual sewage contamination. In consequence
of the unhealthiness of the employment the young journeyman changes his occupation
whenever he is able, and thus swells the mortality figure of some other trade.
His place, however, is quickly filled up by a recruit from the country, or by an
apprentice from Scotland or from the West of Englaud.
"Dr. Ogle's tables of comparative mortality of males between twenty-five and
sixty-five years of age, founded upon the Death Registers of 1880-1-2, offer some
suggestive figures. Prom them we learn that in one hundred different occupations
bakers occupy the following relative positions:—In suicide they come third, in
alcoholism seventh, in liver disease eleventh, in diseases of circulatory system
eleventh, and in diseases of the nervous system twelfth. Many of these diseases may
be traced to the abuse of alcohol, an evil habit which is doubtless fostered by the
fatigue consequent upon the overwork, the long hours, the want of sleep, and the
poisonous atmosphere to which the journeyman baker is exposed. It may be
remarked that Dr. Ogle's tables do not confirm the high rate of mortality from
consumption and diseases of the respiratory organs testified to by other authorities.
This apparent anomaly is possibly explained by the fact that a small proportion only
of the total number of bakers included in his tables are exposed to the bad environment
met with in London. In short, his figures deal with the state of the trade
generally, as apart from the metropolis, and in this way they are diluted, so to speak,
with the more favourable results obtained from provincial bakeries.
"Among the diseases to which bakers are specially liable may be mentioned
rheumatism, colds, erysipelas, and a form of eczema, due to the irritation of the
flour, known as "bakers' itch." They are particularly liable to rupture; Malgaigne,
indeed, states that their tendency to that affection is three times that of other trades.
* Since the Census of 1881 the bakers have added 13,126 to their number.