The million-peopled city
Garwood, John
1853
Their Temptations to Embezzlement.
Embezzlement is also a great temptation to omnibus men. No effectual check can, in this country, as in , be devised on their receipts. Various plans have been tried, but the result has been found to be, that the manifestation of suspicion only increased the evil, and that the men became honest somewhat in proportion as they were trusted and confided in. At the present time, a conductor may be dis- charged at a day's notice, and the true reason not assigned; and proprietors are supposed occasionally to commission a friend to ride an entire journey and to count the passengers, | |
226 | in order that the report may be compared with the way-bill, which the conductor fills in. Still there is much temptation to fraud. This is supposed by no means to be practised to the same extent as at first, but no doubt there are still many petty delinquencies on the part of some of the men employed. While the men are so over-taxed in work, it is not to be expected that they will be of the first order of servants. Mistrust, and liability any day to be discharged without a reason being assigned, add also materially to the difficulty. " Not many years ago, the horses in omnibuses and carts were a disgrace to civilized humanity, and, as Mr. Youatt justly says, 'there was an atrocious system of over-work;' but proprietors, at length finding that the speed the public more and more required in vehicular accommodation would never be attained by over-worked, ill-fed, worn-out hacks, changed their plan of horsing the metropolitan stages, with a result that is visible in every street, to every eye.... Give but omnibus servants that proportionate rest which civiliza- tion demands for its laborious classes, and proprietors will soon find a respectable class of men demanding service. A relay system would give partial rest on alternate Sabbaths to every man, and enable him three days a week out of every seven, to cherish the domestic affections, and to advance in some degree with the other classes in mental and moral culture. As it is, these men say, 'they have never an instant to read book or paper; most of the circumstances of the day which influence so beneficially the other processes of labour, pass by almost unknown to them; and what little they hear, even when a passenger condescends occasionally to converse with them, usually concerns a fancy spaniel or a horse-race.' Information addressed to them rarely takes a higher flight than this .... |
"Throughout every inquiry made into the state of the labouring classes, from the testimony of every manufacturer, | |
227 | capitalist, and master, both French and English, who has, through his own practical operations, proved the truth, as well as worth, of enlightened views of labour, we have testi- mony, that it is not by mistrusting a low, ill-paid, unedu- cated class of servants, but by trusting, and well paying (even in some cases to the extent of an interest in the con- cern), a body of educated and responsible servants, that capital is best gathered and increased. |
" To show that there exist moral qualities, which might be made equivalent to those needs of honest service, were but these reciprocal duties of masters and men better under- stood, the spirit of fellowship amongst the men themselves bears evidence. According to the Act 6 and 7 Vic., drivers are held responsible for all accidents and damages done to property; and whatever the amount of such damages may be, the proprietor can recover it from his servant, or, as is usually the case, by stopping the amount out of wages. Mostly, in occurrences of this sort, the men assist each other by their contributions, as they also do in cases of sickness or distress amongst themselves. The proprietaries have, in too many instances, sought, rather than rejected, a low class of servants." [1] | |
Footnotes: [1] "Working Man's Friend," August 3,1850. |
