ABSTRACT
The most serious disadvantage that has been alleged against division of labour is that it has been one of the big causes which have killed the apprenticeship system. The real wages of labour were very much diminished in many instances, and the Truck Acts had a most healthy influence all round. In some cases it used to be the custom to pay wages in a public house, and a great part of the wages would be consumed before the recipients left the premises. One of the great modern instances of what that type of legislation has effected is in connection with our Mercantile Marine. No class of labour has suffered so much as our sailors, owing to the very extraordinary way in which their wages used to be paid. Crews used to be engaged in all sorts of curious places. There was a class of people called Crimps who kept houses in which sailors lodged.
