I may assume that it has been proved that the labouring classes do
possess the means comforts of superior dwellings,
and also that they are not benefited by exemptions from the immediate
charges wherever requisite to defray the expense of those superior comforts.
I shall now show how little it is in the power of these classes voluntarily
to obtain these improvements - setting aside entirely the consideration
of the obstacles arising from depraved habits already formed.
The workman's "location," as it is termed, is generally governed by
his work, near which he must reside The sort of house,
and often the particular house, may be said to be, and usually is, a
monopoly. On arriving at manhood in a crowded neighbourhood, if he wishes
to have a house, he must avail himself of the first vacancy that present
itself; if there happen to be more houses vacant than one, the houses
being usually of the same class, little range of choice is thereby presented
to him. In particular neighbourhoods near Manchester,
and in other parts of the county of Lancaster, in some other manufacturing
and in some rural districts, instances occur of the erection of improved
ranges of larger and better constructed houses for the labouring classes;
and, making deduction for the occasional misuse of the increased space
by sub-dividing them and overcrowding them with lodgers, the extent
to which these improved tenements are sought, and the manner in which
an improved rent is paid, afford gratifying evidence of an increasing
disposition prevalent amongst artisans to avail themselves of such improvements
These opportunities, however, are comparatively few, and occur in districts
where multitudes continue in the most depressed condition, apparently
without any power of emerging from it.
The individual labourer has little or no power over the internal structure
and economy of the dwelling which has fallen to his lot. If the water
be not laid on in the other houses in the street, or if it be unprovided
with proper receptacles for refuse, it is not in the power of any individual
workman who may perceive the advantages of such accommodations to procure
them. He has as little control over the external economy of his residence
as of the structure of the street before it, whether it shall be paved
or unpaved, drained, or undrained. It may be
said that he might cleanse the street before his own door, By some local
acts the obligation to do so is imposed on the individual inhabitants.
By those inhabitant who have servants this duty may be and is performed,
but the labourer has no servant; all of his family who are capable of
Labour are out a-field, or in the manufactory or the workshop, at daybreak,
and return only at nightfall, and this regulation therefore is unavoidably
neglected.
Under the slavery of the existing habits of labourers, it is found
that the faculty of perceiving the advantage of a change is so obliterated
as to render them incapable of using, or indifferent to the use of,
the means of improvement which may happen to come within their reach.
The sense of smell, for instance, which generally gives certain warning
of the presence of malaria or gases noxious to the health, appears often
to be obliterated in the labourer by his employment He appears to be
insensible to anything but changes of temperature, and there is scarcely
any stench which is not endured to avoid slight cold
It would have been matter of sincere congratulation to have met with
more extensive evidence of spontaneous improvement amongst the classes
in receipt of high wages, but nearly all the beneficial changes found
in progress throughout the country are changes that have arisen from
the efforts of persons of the superior classes. Inquiries have been
made for plans of improved tenements, but none have been found which
can be presented as improvement, originating with the class intended
to be accommodated. In the rural districts, the worst of the new cottages
are those erected on the borders of commons by the labourers themselves.
In the manufacturing districts, the tenement erected by building clubs
and by speculating builders of the class of the workmen, are frequently
the subject of complaint, as being the least substantial and the most
destitute of proper accommodation. The only conspicuous instances of
improved residences of the labouring classes found in the rural districts
are those which have been erected by opulent and benevolent landlords
for the accommodation of the labourers on their own estates; and in
the manufacturing districts, those erected by wealthy manufacturers
for the accommodation of their own workpeople.
