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223
[1906
Although there has not been a very great reduction in the number of Workplaces
during the year, yet in the case of many of those on the register, only occasional workers
are employed, or a small permanent staff. In many of the workshops only about half the
former number of employees are now at work. This is very satisfactory from a sanitary
point of view as regards possible overcrowding, but appears to suggest some radical fault in the
economic system. This depression in trade has been noticeable for some time, but latterly
has seemed more marked. Most of the industries visited in Islington appear to have been
affected, some to a very great extent, others in a lesser degree. The occupiers of workshops
attribute this state of affairs partly to foreign competition, which, they say, interferes
with their means of livelihood. Many things are made abroad at a very cheap rate, and
are sent here and sold for a price for which it would be impossible to produce them in
England; thus underselling English goods and ruining English industry. This foreign
competition appears operative both in the case of articles of inferior quality as well as in
those of a better class. Thus cheap ties, mantles and boxes are sent in from abroad, while
at the same time the best artificial flowers from the Continent are taking the place of our
home products of the same class. Even when the goods are exactly the same price and
quality, there is said to be a preference given to the foreign article in the English market.
In the case of box-making, it is interesting to note that boxes can be made in Japan, carried
all the way here, and sold at a cheaper rate than those manufactured in England. The
alien also in England enters in open competition with the native worker, and manages to
absorb a goodly share of work by offering to do it at a sum which would mean slow starvation
for the English worker. In some industries the export trade seems to have largely
declined; thus, in the case of tie making, where formerly large shipping orders were received,
Germans, Americans, and Australians now make their own goods, and English work
is principally done for the home market. The general impression that one gets from visiting
workplaces and hearing the opinion of those who, through personal interest are conversant
with the subject, is that England is being injured materially by foreign competition
and also by the influx of foreign paupers, who, by sweating themselves and others, are
enabled to undersell English labour.
This depression in trade also to a certain extent affects the employment of Outworkers,
as it has caused some of those workshops which remain as Domestic workshops to dispense
with their indoor workers. Workrooms could not be kept open owing to the uncertainty
of work, so when a busy time comes the system of employing Outworkers is adopted instead
—if system it can be called. Employers are thus relieved from the burden of rent, gas, fuel,
etc., which falls on the Outworkers, who, in spite of the fact that they are out of pocket for
tram fares, and lose much time in fetching and carrying the work as well as in waiting
for it to be given out, do not receive any better payment for the same work than an indoor
hand. One striking feature of the system of employing Outworkers is the varying rate of
pay given by different firms for the same work. This matter of low pay is infinitely the
worst evil to which homework is liable. The homeworkers themselves can do nothing to
remedy this state of affairs, for homeworkers isolated and oppressed are incapable of organization.
The whole system of the employment of Outworkers requires to be regulated by legislation,
determining the hours and conditions under which such work is done, and securing,
if possible, a minimum wage, thus protecting the workers against themselves as well as
against the employer. This has been tried in the Colonies, notably in Victoria and New
Zealand with great success. Thus, instead of leaving the matter as here to the will of the
individual employer, wages boards have been established there, and fair prices fixed by a
committee of representatives of employer and employed. Consequently wages have been