On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures by Charles Babbage (english books to improve english TXT) 📕

On Combinations Amongst Masters or Workmen against Each Other

353. There exist amongst the workmen of almost all classes,

certain rules or laws which govern their actions towards each

other, and towards their employers. But, besides these general

principles, there are frequently others peculiar to each factory,

which have derived their origin, in many instances, from the

mutual convenience of the parties engaged in them. Such rules are

little known except to those actually pursuing the several

trades; and, as it is of importance that their advantages and

disadvantages should be canvassed, we shall offer a few remarks

upon some of them.

354. The principles by which such laws should be tried are,

First. That they conduce to the general benefit of all the

persons employed.

Secondly. That they prevent fraud.

Thirdly. That they interfere as little as possible with the

free agency of each individual.

355. It is usual in many workshops, that, on the first

entrance of a new journeyman, he shall pay a small fine to the

rest of the men. It is clearly unjust to insist upon this

payment; and when it is spent in drinking, which is,

unfortunately, too often the case, it is injurious. The reason

assigned for the demand is, that the newcomer will require some

instruction in the habits of the shop, and in the places of the

different tools, and will thus waste the time of some of his

companions until he is instructed. If this fine were added to a

fund, managed by the workmen themselves, and either divided at

given periods, or reserved for their relief in sickness, it would

be less objectionable, since its tendency would be to check the

too frequent change of men from one shop to another. But it

ought, at all events, not to be compulsory, and the advantages to

be derived from the fund to which the workman is invited to

subscribe, ought to be his sole inducement to contribute.

356. In many workshops, the workmen, although employed on

totally different parts of the objects manufactured, are yet

dependent, in some measure, upon each other. Thus a single smith

may be able to forge, in one day, work enough to keep four or

five turners employed during the next. If, from idleness or

intemperance, the smith neglects his work, and does not furnish

the usual supply, the turners (supposing them to be paid by the

piece), will have their time partly unoccupied, and their gains

consequently diminished. It is reasonable, in such circumstances,

that a fine should be levied on the delinquent; but it is

desirable that the master should have concurred with his workmen

in establishing such a rule, and that it should be shown to each

individual previously to his engagement; and it is very desirable

that such fine should not be spent in drinking.

357. In some establishments, it is customary for the master

to give a small gratuity whenever any workman has exercised a

remarkable degree of skill, or has economized the material

employed. Thus, in splitting horn into layers for lanterns, one

horn usually furnishes from five to eight layers; but if a

workman split the horn into ten layers or more, he receives a

pint of ale from the master. These premiums should not be too

high, lest the material should be wasted in unsuccessful

attempts: but such regulations, when judiciously made, are

beneficial, as they tend to produce skill amongst the workmen,

profit to the masters, and diminished cost to the consumers.

358. In some few factories, in which the men are paid by the

piece, it is usual, when any portion of work, delivered in by a

workman, is rejected by the master on account of its being badly

executed, to fine the delinquent. Such a practice tends to remedy

one of the evils attendant upon that mode of payment, and greatly

assists the master, since his own judgement is thus supported by

competent and unprejudiced judges.

359. Societies exist amongst some of the larger bodies of

workmen, and others have been formed by the masters engaged in

the same branches of trade. These associations have different

objects in view; but it is very desirable that their effects

should be well understood by the individuals who compose them;

and that the advantages arising from them, which are certainly

great, should be separated as much as possible from the evils

which they have, unfortunately, too frequently introduced.

Associations of workmen and of masters may, with advantage, agree

upon rules to be observed by both parties, in estimating the

proportionate value of different kinds of work executed in their

trade, in order that time may be saved, and disputes be

prevented. They may also be most usefully employed in acquiring

accurate information as to the number of persons working in the

various departments of any manufacture, their rate of wages, the

number of machines in use, and other statistical details.

Information of this nature is highly valuable, both for the

guidance of the parties who are themselves most interested, and

to enable them, upon any application to government for

assistance, or with a view to legislative enactments, to supply

those details, without which the propriety of any proposed

measure cannot be duly estimated. Such details may be collected

by men actually engaged in any branch of trade, at a much smaller

expense of time, than by persons less acquainted with, and less

interested in it.

360. One of the most legitimate and most important objects of

such associations as we have just mentioned, is to agree upon

ready and certain modes of measuring the quantity of work done by

the workmen. For a long time a difficulty upon this point existed

in the lace trade, which was justly complained of by the men as a

serious grievance; but the introduction of the rack, which counts

the number of holes in the length of the piece, has entirely put

an end to the most fertile cause of disputes. This invention was

adverted to by the Committee of 1812, and a hope was expressed,

in their report, that the same contrivance would be applied to

stocking-frames. It would, indeed, be of great mutual advantage

to the industrious workman, and to the master manufacturer in

every trade, if the machines employed in it could register the

quantity of work which they perform, in the same manner as a

steamengine does the number of strokes it makes. The

introduction of such contrivances gives a greater stimulus to

honest industry than can readily be imagined, and removes one of

the sources of disagreement between parties, whose real interests

must always suffer by any estrangement between them.

361. The effects arising from combinations amongst the

workmen, are almost always injurious to the parties themselves.

There are numerous instances, in which the public suffer by

increased price at the moment, but are ultimately gainers from

the permanent reduction which results; whilst, on the other hand,

the improvements which are often made in machinery in consequence

of ‘a strike’ amongst the workmen, most frequently do injury, of

greater or less duration, to that particular class which gave

rise to them. As the injury to the men and to their families is

almost always more serious than that which affects their

employers, it is of the utmost importance to the comfort and

happiness of the former class, that they should themselves

entertain sound views upon this question. For this purpose a few

illustrations of the principle which is here maintained, will

probably have greater weight than any reasoning of a more general

nature, though drawn from admitted principles of political

economy. Such instances will, moreover, present the advantage of

appealing to facts known to many individuals of those classes for

whose benefit these reflections are intended.

362. There is a process in the manufacture of gun barrels for

making what, in the language of the trade, are called skelps. The

skelp is a piece or bar of iron, about three feet long, and four

inches wide, but thicker and broader at one end than at the

other; and the barrel of a musket is formed by forging out such

pieces to the proper dimensions, and then folding or bending them

into a cylindrical form, until the edges overlap, so that they

can be welded together.

About twenty years ago, the workmen, employed at a very

extensive factory in forging these skelps out of bar-iron,

‘struck’ for an advance of wages; and as their demands were very

exorbitant, they were not immediately complied with. In the

meantime, the superintendent of the establishment directed his

attention to the subject; and it occurred to him, that if the

circumference of the rollers, between which the bar-iron was

rolled, were to be made equal to the length of a skelp, or of a

musket barrel, and if also the groove in which the iron was

compressed, instead of being of the same width and depth

throughout, were cut gradually deeper and wider from a point on

the rollers, until it returned to the same point, then the

bar-iron passing between such rollers, instead of being uniform

in width and thickness, would have the form of a skelp. On making

the trial, it was found to succeed perfectly; a great reduction

of human labour was effected by the process, and the workmen