He would know quite five hundred by name.It was a regular fight to get work,I have known nine hundred to be taken on,but there's always hundreds turned away.You see they get to know when ships come in,and when they're consequently likely to be wanted,and turn up then in greater numbers.I would earn 30s.a week sometimes and then perhaps nothing for a fortnight.That's what makes it so hard.You get nothing to eat for a week scarcely,and then when you get taken on,you are so weak that you can't do it properly.I've stood in the crowd at the gate and had to go away without work,hundreds of times.Still Ishould go at it again if I could.I got tired of the little work and went away into the country to get work on a farm,but couldn't get it,so I'm without the 10s.that it costs to join the Dockers'Union.I'm going to the country again in a day or two to try again.Expect to get 3s.a day perhaps.Shall come back to the docks again.Then is a chance of getting regular dock work,and that is,to lounge about the pubs where the foremen go,and treat them.Then they will very likely take you on next day."R.P.was a non-Unionist.Henry F.is a Unionist.His history is much the same.
"I worked at St.Katherine's Docks five months ago.You have to get to the gates at 6o'clock for the first call.There's generally about 400waiting.They will take on one to two hundred.Then at 7o'clock there's a second call.Another 400will have gathered by then,and another hundred or so will be taken on.Also there will probably be calls at nine and one o'clock.About the same number turn up but there's no work for many hundreds of them.I was a Union man.That means 10s.a week sick pay,or 8s.a week for slight accidents;also some other advantages.The Docks won't take men on now unless they are Unionists.The point is that there's too many men.I would often be out of work a fortnight to three weeks at a time.Once earned #3in a week,working day and night,but then had a fortnight out directly after.Especially when then don't happen to be any ships in for a few days,which means,of course,nothing to unload.That's the time;there's plenty of men almost starving then.They have no trade to go to,or can get no work at it,and they swoop down to the docks for work,when they had much better stay away."But it is not only at the dock-gates that you come upon these unfortunates who spend their lives in the vain hunt for work.Here is the story of another man whose case has only too many parallels.
C.is a fine built man,standing nearly six feet.He has been in the Royal Artillery for eight years and held very good situations whilst in it.It seems that he was thrifty and consequently steady.He bought his discharge,and being an excellent cook opened a refreshment house,but at the end of five months he was compelled to close his shop on account of slackness in trade,which was brought about by the closing of a large factory in the locality.
After having worked in Scotland and Newcastle-on-Tyne for a few years,and through ill health having to give up his situation,he came to London with he hope that he might get something to do in his native town.He has had no regular employment for the past eight months.
His wife and family are in a state of destitution,and he remarked,"We only had 1lb.of bread between us yesterday."He is six weeks in arrears of rent,and is afraid that he will be ejected.The furniture which is in his home is not worth 3s.and the clothes of each member of his family are in a tattered state and hardly fit for the rag bag.
He assured us he had tried every where to get employment and would be willing to take anything.His characters are very good indeed.
Now,it may seem a preposterous dream that any arrangement can be devised by which it may be possible,under all circumstances,to provide food,clothes,and shelter for all these Out-of-Works without any loss of self respect;but I am convinced that it can be done,providing only that they are willing to Work,and,God helping me,if the means are forthcoming,I mean to try to do it;how,and where,and when,I will explain in subsequent chapters.
All that I need say here is,that so long as a man or woman is willing to submit to the discipline indispensable in every campaign against any formidable foe,there appears to me nothing impossible about this ideal;and the great element of hope before us is that the majority are,beyond all gainsaying,eager for work.Most of them now do more exhausting work in seeking for employment than the regular toilers do in their workshops,and do it,too,under the darkness of hope deferred which maketh the heart sick.
