ABSTRACT
The Cabinet Makers, socially as well as commercially considered, consist, like all other operatives, of two distinct classes; that is to say, of "society" and "non-society men," or, in the language of political economy, of those whose wages are regulated by custom, and those whose earnings are determined by competition. The former class numbers between six and seven hundred of the trade, and the latter between four and five thousand. As a general rule, I may remark that I fmd the ''society men'' of every trade comprise about one-tenth of the whole. Hence it follows, that if the nonsociety men are neither so skilful nor so well conducted as the others, at least they are quite as important a body, from the fact that they constitute the main portion of the trade. The transition from the one class to the other is, however, in most cases, of a very disheartening character. The difference between the tailor at the West-end, working for the better shops at the better prices, and the poor wretch slaving at "starvation wages" for the sweaters and slop-shops at the East-end, has already been pointed out. The same marked contrast was also shown to exist between the society and nonsociety boot and shoemakers. The Carpenters and Joiners told the same story. There we found society men renting houses of their own - some paying as much as £70 a year - and the non-society men overworked and underpaid, so that a few weeks' sickness reduced them to absolute pauperism. Nor, I regret to say, can any other tale be told of the Cabinet Makers - except it be that the competitive men in this trade are even in a worse position than in any other. I have already portrayed to the render the difference between the homes of the two classes - the comfort and wellfurnished abodes of the one, and the squalor and bare walls of the other. But those who wish to be impressed with the social advantages of a fairlypaid class of mechanics should attend a meeting of the Wood-carvers' Society. On the frrst floor of a small private house in Tottenham-street, Tottenham-court-road, is, so to speak, the museum of the working men belonging to this branch of the Cabinet Makers. The walls of the back room are hung round with plaster casts of some of the choicest specimens of the arts, and in the front room the table is strewn with volumes of valuable prints and drawings in connection with the craft. Round this table are
masters and men, and that in almost every case I fmd the members as strongly opposed to ''strikes,'' as a means of upholding them, as the public themselves. But at all events the maintenance of the standard rate of wages is not the sole object of such societies - the majority of them being organised as much for the support of the sick and aged as for the regulation of the price of labour; and even in those societies whose efforts are confmed to the latter purpose alone, a considerable sum is subscribed annually for the subsistence of their members when out of work. The General Cabinet Makers, I have already shown, have contributed towards this object as much as £1,000 per annum for many years past. It is not generally known how largely the community is indebted to the Trade and Friendly societies of the working classes dispersed throughout the kingdom, or how much expense the public is saved by such means in the matter of poor-rates alone.
