Chapter XLVII: Laundry Workers

Thousands of women and girls are employed every week in the useful office of cleansing and making fresh the garments stained in the daily stress and toil of life, and the impression is probably a correct one--though it is impossible to support it by statistics--that “washing,” in the sense of laundry work, affords occupation to at least as large a number of women as does any other industry in the country.

The industry embraces perhaps as wide a range of methods as any other that could be mentioned. The disparity between that of the woman who “takes in a little washing” and that of the huge “Sanitary Laundry” owned by a Limited Company, and equipped with power-driven machinery which yearly becomes more complicated, is indeed great. But the engine wins, and it seems clear that before long the whole industry will become one of organised factory-labour with some survivals of the other system, just as in the textile trades a few rough wooden hand-looms and picturesque spinning-wheels still linger in the more out-of-way districts.

“To take in washing” has for so long appeared to be an occupation mainly reserved as a resource for the woman bereft of her “breadwinner,” or deprived by circumstances of other means of livelihood, that many people still look on “laundry work” from this point of view. It is perhaps difficult to realise that the radical change which has everywhere transformed industrial conditions has already affected this occupation also, and that for good or for evil the washerwoman is passing under the influences which have so profoundly modified the circumstances of her sister of the spinning-wheel and the sewing needle. When the first washing machine and ironing roller were applied to this occupation, alteration in the conditions became as much a foregone conclusion as it did in the case of the textile or the clothing manufactures, when the spinning frame, the power loom, or the sewing machine appeared.

Meanwhile, few industries afford at the present time a more interesting study. From a simple home occupation it is steadily being transformed by the application of power-driven machinery and by the division of labour into a highly organised factory industry, in which complicated labour-saving contrivances of all kinds play a prominent part. The tremendous impetus in the adoption of machinery, and the consequent modification of the system of employment so striking in the large laundries, is not greater than the less obvious but even more important development in the same direction among small laundries. Indeed the difference is rapidly becoming one of degree only. In the large laundries may be found perhaps more machinery and a greater number of the newest devices, but the fundamental change has affected all alike. “At one time it was only in a few large steam laundries that machinery was to be met with, now it is no uncommon thing to find a row of houses in separate occupation, the back yard of each of which is roofed in and packed with laundry machinery, all driven by an engine installed at one end of the row. The old-fashioned ‘washerwoman’ is fast disappearing, and is superseded by the enterprising young ‘laundry proprietor,’ who, turning the tubs out of the back kitchen, fills their place with ‘washing machines,’ and connecting them with a little gas engine (tightly wedged into the dark broom cupboard under the stairs), blossoms forth as the owner of ‘a factory laundry,’ ready to deal with six times the amount of work that his predecessor could hope to cope with, and to compete feverishly with scores of similarly equipped rivals.”[148]

One result of this haphazard adaptation of old conditions to new circumstances is an undesirable anomaly between the two. The small unsuitable premises, never designed for house machinery, quiver and shake under the unaccustomed strain; and the little rooms, “ventilated” by windows only, are ill suited for operations which produce quantities of steam and an abnormal temperature. Not seldom the ambitious “proprietor” himself is lamentably ignorant of the capacities and possibilities of the machinery of which he is the proud possessor. “Since the guv’nor tied the old box-mangle up to the new engine, she has taken to leapin’ back and forrards that alarmin’ and that sudden-like, that it’s a wonder I’ve not been caught out sooner nor I was.” The remark, which is recorded by the Factory Inspector who investigated the resulting accident, epitomises quaintly the situation in many a small laundry. Everywhere machinery is to be found, even in the smallest hand laundry. The hand-turned washing machine stands among the wash-tubs, and as soon as funds permit will be coupled up to a tiny gas engine, which in time will give place to a larger one.

“Side by side with this development in the smaller laundries is to be found the rapid multiplication of large laundry companies and syndicates, certain of which own as many as a dozen or more fine well-equipped steam laundries fitted up with the latest ingenious inventions in labour-saving machinery, and organised into ‘departments’ in which the division of labour is at least as marked a feature as it is in the majority of non-textile factories. In such places a single shirt will pass through seven or eight different machines in the process of ironing alone. In place of the elderly married woman or widow, we find skilled engineers in charge of a shed full of machinery still called familiarly the ‘wash-house,’ while scores of girls and young women, from thirteen years upwards, tend the various kinds of ironing machines, with exactly the same mechanical precision and routine as in any other factory. Even in those departments where machinery is not required, the labour is organised and regulated as in an ordinary factory, the sorters have their staff of ‘markers,’ and the ‘dryers’ fill and empty with almost automatic regularity the series of drying closets through which hot air is driven by propulsion fans. With this advent of machinery and subdivision of labour, the whole character of the industry has changed. It is becoming more and more evident that, from the smallest to the largest laundry, the industry is passing--has indeed in some respects already passed--out of the peculiar position which it has hitherto occupied, and is taking its place alongside ordinary trades.”[149]

The manufacture of laundry machinery, to which much energy and capital is devoted, is every year increasing. New and ingenious inventions and improvements constantly appear, many of which come from America, whence a considerable amount of this machinery is imported. The adaptation to laundry work of the “hydro-extractor,” a powerful drying machine much used in bleaching and dye-works, has greatly expedited the laundry process. This machine consists of a round perforated metal “cage” or “basket,” which revolves at an enormous speed (500 to over 1500 revolutions a minute) inside an iron or steel case, in shape like a huge round pot standing 2 or 3 feet high; the wet clothes are packed into the “basket,” and during its rapid revolutions the water is driven out of them by centrifugal force through the perforations into the outer casing, on the same principle as water from a mop which is trundled. As may be imagined, the terrific velocity and vibration of such a machine is an element of danger, and in the event of a cast-iron case bursting, the fragments are hurled with a force which will wreck the room or shed in which it stands, and prove fatal to any bystander.

In the same way the “calender machine” has been adapted to laundry work, and is now commonly found in quite small laundries; it consists of huge steam or gas heated cylinders, varying from 4 to 8 or 9 feet long, either revolving singly in a metal bed, as in the case of the “decoudun,” or on each other, as in the case of the multiple-roller calenders. The machine is tended by quite young girls from thirteen years old and upwards, who stand in front to “feed” the edge of the material into the “bite” of the rollers or over the “lip” of the decoudun. The linen is gradually drawn in under the hot, revolving rollers, which thus “iron” it smooth and glossy, a cloud of steam arising as each damp article passes under the roller. Constant care is required to so put the work under the machine that the hands are not also drawn under; want of attention may be followed by an accident, and even where care is exercised the fingers may be entangled in a string or hole in the material and the hand thus drawn in. The heat given off by these machines is sometimes very great; a temperature of over 90° F. may be registered even in winter on the feeding-step in front of this machine, at which little girls stand all day long.

It would be difficult to enumerate in detail all the various machines and appliances now used in laundries; washing machines in endless and bewildering variety, hydro-extractors, mangling and starching machines, calenders, collar and cuff-ironers, shirt-bosom polishers, blouse ironers, skirt ironers, body-linen ironers, curling machines (to give the desired curl to collars), gophering-machines (which give the wave to frills), electric or gas-heated irons and drying closets, through which hot blasts are driven by mechanical “fans,” are some of the contrivances which are in common use.

The change in the nature of the occupation is naturally accompanied by a change in the conditions of work which now assimilate in all but the degree of legislative regulation to those in ordinary factories or workshops. As in other industries, the adoption of machinery has resulted in a large increase in the employment of young and of comparatively unskilled labour, for girls of fourteen or sixteen years can tend machines, the operations of which, if accomplished by hand, could only be undertaken by older or more skilled workers. Where only one girl under eighteen years was employed eight or nine years ago, now dozens are to be found as machine tenders.

In endeavouring to present as saliently as possible the most striking feature of the present position of this trade, namely, its development into a factory industry, and the strides with which it is ranging itself alongside others in this respect, reference has been purposely delayed to that section which, though relatively decreasing, is still of course large, in which only hand labour is employed. Here the interesting feature is the steady decrease in the size of the average hand-laundry. Large hand-laundries are becoming rare, for, unless they do a peculiar class of work, they cannot hope to compete with similar or smaller-sized ones in which mechanical power is employed. On the other hand, the very small hand-laundries, where from one to five or six women are employed, still of course exist in large numbers, and are for the most part carried on in little dwelling-houses. The house-mother who endeavours to support her family by tailoring, shirtmaking, boot-closing, knitting, artificial flower-making, or by handwork of any kind carried on in her own living rooms, may feel assured that, uncomfortable and wretched as her home may in consequence become, it is and must be infinitely less wretched, unhealthy, and disorganised than the home of the woman who in a small town dwelling-house takes in washing as a means of livelihood. The discomforts of the family “wash day” are extended to all the other days in the week, and are increased tenfold. It is impossible to wash without creating steam, which makes the air heavy and condenses on ceilings, walls, and furniture, saturating them with a clammy moisture. It is impossible to “dry” in smoky towns during the greater part of the year except under cover, and the flapping wet material hung all day and all night across the rooms, the passages, or the tiny backyard, excludes air and light, even apart from the other objections. It is impossible to iron without fire or stoves which raise the temperature, until not only the tiny room but the whole house becomes oppressively hot, and the “close” smell, always so noticeable in small town houses, is seriously aggravated when piles of soiled linen are sorted and dealt with.

Sometimes the washing is done in a basement room, to light or ventilate which is practically impossible; and one has only to stand in such a place where, with the best will in the world, proper drainage of the sloppy floor is impossible, where the heat in summer and the damp in winter are alike excessive, to realise vividly that of all industries laundry work is perhaps the least suitable to the home. A common plan in certain crowded parts of London, and one much favoured by foreign immigrants, is to let in lodgings the single rooms on the floors above the ground, and to carry on such a “laundry” below, with the help of one or two other women. The steam, heat, and smell are sometimes overpowering, while the work is continued till far into the night.

The effect of the occupation on the health of those engaged in it is not very easy to gauge, because most of the diseases to which such persons are rendered peculiarly liable by the nature of the occupation are those which might be induced by many other causes. It is much to be hoped that before long the registration of the occupation of women as well as of men, in all hospitals and infirmaries, and in certificates of death, will make the comparison of this with other industries possible in this respect.

It is impossible that the heat and steam, the exhausting manual labour (all of which is done standing), and above all the excessively long hours of work in this ill-regulated industry, can fail to have a marked effect on the health of the workers as a class. In 1893 and 1894, when inquiry as to these conditions preceded the passing of the Act of 1895, the periods of work of women and young girls were found to be excessively long--and they are still not only very long, but extraordinarily irregular. The most immediately obvious effect on health is to be found in the prevalence, among these workers, of ulcers on the legs and varicose veins. It would perhaps be hardly credited by any who are not intimately acquainted with them, to what extent these poor women suffer in this respect. To stand at work all day is the lot of many industrial workers, but in no other woman’s industry is this form of suffering so serious. In certain well-defined laundry districts in West London an inquiry at the Poor Law Infirmaries, to which, and not to the Hospitals, the poor women suffering from this troublesome and painful ailment most naturally resort, demonstrated the peculiar liability of laundry workers in this respect.

The districts to which the following figures (taken from the Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories) relate are those in which industrial workers--although not perhaps _employed_ to the same extent as laundry workers--_reside_ in greater numbers, and to the Poor Law Infirmaries, to which they therefore gravitate to even greater extent.

_TABLE A._[150]

Wandsworth: Clapham Infirmary (including Battersea).

+----------------+----+------------+-----------++------------+-----------+ | | | Suffering | || Pulmonary | | | 1899. | No.| from Ulcers|Proportion.||Consumption.|Proportion.| | | | of Legs. | || | | +----------------+----+------------+-----------++------------+-----------+ |Laundresses | 247| 36 | 1 in 6 || 21 | 1 in 11 | |Women other than| | | || | | | Laundresses |1171| 50 | 1 in 23 || 63 | 1 in 19 | | | | | || | | | 1900. | | | || | | |Laundresses | 199| 27 | 1 in 7 || 18 | 1 in 11 | |Women other than| | | || | | | Laundresses |1127| 41 | 1 in 27 || 59 | 1 in 19 | +----------------+----+------------+-----------++------------+-----------+

_TABLE B._

Isleworth Infirmary (includes Acton, Chiswick, Brentford).

+----------------+----+------------+-----------++------------+-----------+ | | | Suffering | || Pulmonary | | | 1898. | No.| from Ulcers|Proportion.||Consumption.|Proportion.| | | | of Legs. | || | | +----------------+----+------------+-----------++------------+-----------+ |Laundresses | 58| 9 | 1 in 6 || 6 | 1 in 10 | |Women other than| | | || | | | Laundresses | 179| 7 | 1 in 25 || 7 | 1 in 25 | | | | | || | | | 1899. | | | || | | |Laundresses | 79| 13 | 1 in 6 || 9 | 1 in 9 | |Women other than| | | || | | | Laundresses | 218| 7 | 1 in 31 || 11 | 1 in 20 | +----------------+----+------------+-----------++------------+-----------+

The transference of most of the work in laundries from comparatively elderly women to quite young girls, who are thus at an immature age brought under conditions which no thoughtful or educated person will deny are in every respect trying, is an aspect of the subject to which it is important to direct attention; seventy, seventy-two, seventy-six hours a week, exclusive of meal times, are not uncommonly worked by girls of fourteen, fifteen, or sixteen years of age, and although these long hours are nominally illegal, it is practically impossible to give general effect to the law. This work is not the light and often pleasant occupation of sewing or folding. It is not done sitting down. From morning to night these young girls are constantly standing, they are generally tending machines, the majority of which are specially heated, and they work in an atmosphere in which steam, which is nearly always present, makes the high temperature far more oppressive than would be the case if the air were not thus artificially saturated to an excessive degree with moisture. Steam rises from the calenders and various machines. It is given off also by the damp clothes, which in many laundries, even large ones, hang drying or airing overhead or on “horses” in the room. The conditions in this respect are often at least as trying as in any spinning-mill, and the hours, during which the girls are exposed to them, very much longer.

Ironers suffer from headaches and sore eyes, which result from constantly bending over the gas-heated irons in general use. The fumes from the tiny gas-jets--unless these and the air supply to each iron are very carefully regulated--are disagreeably noticeable on entering the room, and sometimes even the laundry, and are of course worst of all just above the iron so heated. It is to be remembered that the material handled is not new or in the first instance clean, and unless sufficient care is taken to keep the “sorting” room in laundries in proper condition, the result is sure to be insanitary.

In small hand and “factory” laundries, a practice is to be found which cannot be too severely deprecated, of employing as a “drying-room” for the washed linen the same little room in which the foul linen is sorted on its arrival. The room has a stove in the middle of it, and the washed linen is hung on lines drawn across it, and, with door and window closely shut, is left all day and often all night till dry.

It may be taken as an axiom that when on entering the premises the peculiar “close” smell is noticeable, there the conditions are bad. Of all the disagreeable smells that are to be found, the heavy odour of an ill-ventilated laundry or wash-house is one of the worst; “it seems to cling to one’s lips till one tastes it,” was the expression used by one who frequently visits laundries. To this discomfort the “sorters” are peculiarly exposed. As Miss Squire says: “It is hardly perhaps realised how great are the demands that this branch of laundry-work makes upon the physical and mental powers of the workers, usually young women of good education, and the constant standing, the unpleasant, if not the insanitary nature of the work for the first part of the week during the “sorting” process, and the great care and attention required during the latter part, when collecting, checking, and packing separately each customer’s linen.” “I visited,” says Miss Anderson, “one hand laundry in London where a packer and sorter had been driven into a hospital with sores on her legs from long standing; every day in the week she had been working from 8 A.M. to 10 P.M. with indefinite meal-times, and on Sundays the whole morning, giving out parcels to customers. This girl eventually left the hospital on crutches, and at that time I found her successor in a fair way to losing her health also.”[151]

The reply of the women themselves, when questioned on the subject, is nearly always the same, and its reiteration is impressive: “I don’t know that it’s anything particular as carries us off; but we are just wore out in no time.” “There’s nothing like this life for wearing you out.” “We’re old women at forty.” “It’s a harder life than any, is a laundry; it wears you out very soon.” “For one strong one that’ll stand it, there’s a many and many fair wore out by it before they’ve lived half a life.”

It would be interesting to test the accuracy of this general impression which is shared by many medical and philanthropic persons who are interested in laundry-workers, if figures were available on which to base a calculation of the “expectation of life” among these women. “Worn out while still young,” is the expression constantly used by those whose professional work brings them into contact with these women when speaking of the effect of the occupation on health.

It is frequently asserted that laundry women as a class are intemperate and rougher than most industrial workers. That they are peculiarly irregular in their habits it is impossible to deny; and that the long hours, the discomfort and exhaustion due to constant standing in wet and heat, discourage the entrance into the trade of a better class of worker is certain. This latter cause, however, will operate less and less strongly as the environment improves. They may at present be characterised as a hard-working, impulsive, short-tempered body of women, the control of whom, under the existing irregular conditions which have been thoughtlessly and unnecessarily encouraged, is not to be lightly undertaken by a man without a fair amount of physical and moral courage. The prevalence of the drink habit among many of them, of which so much is said, is not difficult to account for: the heat of an atmosphere often laden with particles of soda, ammonia, and other chemicals, has a remarkably thirst-inducing effect; the work is for the most part exhausting, even apart from the conditions, and the pernicious habit of quenching the thirst, and stimulating an overtired physical condition, with beer. The ten minutes or quarter-hour “lunch” of “beer” is common, and the “beerman,” who goes his rounds at 10 A.M. and 6 or 7 P.M. to all the laundries, delivering his cans of beer from the nearest public house, is an institution which is, I believe, unknown in any other trade. Imagine the amazement of the master of a mill or weaving factory if his employés were to stop in a body for a quarter of an hour twice a day between meals to drink beer! Yet in many laundries the beer is kept on the premises for the purpose, and it is certain that as long as time thus wasted (to put it on the lowest grounds) can be made up by each separate woman “working it out” at the end of the day, irregular dawdling and intemperate habits will be encouraged. On the other hand, a woman who is expected on Thursdays or Fridays to be in the laundry from 8 or 8.30 in the morning till 9 or 10 or 11 at night, may claim with some show of reason that only by some kind of spur can she keep her overtired body from flagging.

None deplore this discreditable and unsatisfactory practice more than the better and more progressive among the laundry employers, but the abolition of it rests practically with them.

Little has been said about the legal regulation of hours of work. Were the conditions in this trade to be raised by the exercise of modern ingenuity and wise organisation--above all, by whole-hearted adoption of effectual means of counteracting the very trying conditions, which it is best frankly to own are otherwise an essential accompaniment of the work--there is no reason why it should not rank as one of the best of the non-textile industries.

LUCY A. E. DEANE.