These earnings, I am assured, were five years ago at least 25 per cent. higher; some said they made half as much again: “I can’t make it out how it is,” said one man, “but I remember that I could go out and sell twelve bushel of fruit in a day, when sugar was dear, and now, when sugar’s cheap, I can’t sell three bushel on the same round. Perhaps we want thinning.”
Such is the state of the working-classes; say all the costers, they have little or no money to spend. “Why, I can assure you,” declared one of the parties from whom I obtained much important information, “there’s my missis—she sits at the corner of the street with fruit. Eight years ago she would have taken 8s. out of that street on a Saturday, and last Saturday week she had one bushel of apples, which cost 1s. 6d. She was out from ten in the morning till ten at night, and all she took that day was 1s. 7½d. Go to whoever you will, you will hear much upon the same thing.” Another told me, “The costers are often obliged to sell the things for what they gave for them. The people haven’t got money to lay out with them—they tell us so; and if they are poor we must be poor too. If we can’t get a profit upon what goods we buy with our stock-money, let it be our own or anybody’s else, we are compelled to live upon it, and when that’s broken into, we must either go to the workhouse or starve. If we go to the workhouse, they’ll give us a piece of dry bread, and abuse us worse than dogs.” Indeed, the whole course of my narratives shows how the costers generally—though far from universally—complain of the depressed state of their trade. The following statement was given to me by a man who, for twelve years, had been a stall-keeper in a street-market. It shows to what causes he (and I found others express similar opinions) attributes the depression:—
“I never knew things so bad as at present—never! I had six prime cod-fish, weighing 15lbs. to 20lbs. each, yesterday and the day before, and had to take two home with me last night, and lost money on the others—besides all my time, and trouble, and expense. I had 100 herrings, too, that cost 3s.—prime quality, and I only sold ten out of them in a whole day. I had two pads of soles, sir, and lost 4s.—that is one pad—by them. I took only 4s. the first day I laid in this stock, and only 2s. 6d. the next; I then had to sell for anything I could get, and throw some away. Yet, people say mine’s a lazy, easy life. I think the fall off is owing to meat being so cheap, ’cause people buy that rather than my goods, as they think there’s more stay in it. I’m afeard things will get worse too.” (He then added by way of sequitur, though it is difficult to follow the reasoning,) “If this here is free-trade, then to h— with it, I say!”
Of the Capital and Income of the Costermongers.
I shall now pass, from the consideration of the individual earnings, to the income and capital of the entire body. Great pains have been taken to ensure exactitude on these points, and the following calculations are certainly below the mark. In order to be within due bounds, I will take the costermongers, exclusive of their wives and families, at 10,000, whereas it would appear that their numbers are upwards of 11,000.
| 1,000 carts, at 3l. 3s. each | £3,150 |
| [Donkeys, and occasionally ponies, are harnessed to barrows.] | |
| 5,000 barrows, at 2l. each | 10,000 |
| 1,500 donkeys, at 1l. 5s. each | 1,875 |
| [One intelligent man thought there were 2,000 donkeys, but I account that in excess.] | |
| 200 ponies, at 5l. each | 1,000 |
| [Some of these ponies, among the very first-class men, are worth 20l.: one was sold by a coster for 30l.] | |
| 1,700 sets of harness, at 5s. each | 425 |
| [All calculated as worn and second-hand.] | |
| 4,000 baskets (or shallows), at 1s. each | 200 |
| 3,500 stalls or standings, at 5s. each | 875 |
| [The stall and barrow men have generally baskets to be used when required.] | |
| 10,000 weights, scales, and measures, at 2s. 6d. each | 1,250 |
| [It is difficult to estimate this item with exactitude. Many averaged the value at 3s. 4d.] | |
| Stock-money for 10,000 costers, at 10s. each | 5,000 |
| Total capital | £23,775 |
Very nearly 24,000l., then, at the most moderate computation, represents the value of the animals, vehicles, and stock, belonging to the costermongers in the streets of London.
The keep of the donkeys is not here mixed up with their value, and I have elsewhere spoken of it.
The whole course of my narrative shows that the bulk of the property in the street goods, and in the appliances for their sale, is in the hands of usurers as well as of the costers. The following account shows the sum paid yearly by the London costermongers for the hire, rent, or interest (I have heard each word applied) of their barrows, weights, baskets, and stock:
| Hire of 3,000 barrows, at 1s. 3d. a week | £9,750 |
| Hire of 600 weights, scales, &c., at 1s. 6d. a week for 2, and 6d. a week for 10 months | 1,020 |
| Hire of 100 baskets, &c., at 6d. a week | 130 |
| Interest on 2,500l. stock-money, at 125l. per week | 6,500 |
| [Calculating at 1s. interest weekly for 20s.] | |
| Total paid for hire and interest | £17,400 |