198 REPORT — 1871. 



1787 that there issued from the wilds of Russia a voice in defence of Usury, which 

 proved to all thinking- men tlie falsehood and folly of the existing system; but it 

 was still many years before the wise views of Bentham on this subject were carried 

 into practical effect. 



The Truck System. 



Take, on the other hand, the case of what is called the Truck System. There 

 is nothino- in abstract reason to prevent master and servant, employer and work- 

 man, from agreeing-, if they please, that tlie remuneration shall consist partly in 

 the supply of food or fiirui^hiugs. Many contracts for work or service proceed 

 expressly upon that footing, and could scarcely be arranged on any other. But 

 the fraud or unfair proceedings to which the truck system so often leads, the op- 

 pressions and exactions often involved in it, the overwhelming power of the masters 

 or their managers in working- it, and the helpless condition to which it reduces 

 workmen and their families, are such that public opinion seems so powerfully di- 

 rected against it, that the laws for repressing it are more likely to be tightened 

 than relaxed. AVhether the workmen will ever be so free and independent as to 

 dispense with protection, or whether a healthy and high feeling of self-respect and 

 honour will prevail among masters, so as to place under ban those of their number 

 who use or abuse this system, are matters of which I am incompetent to judge ; 

 but I fear that for a long time some restrictions will be maintained. The existing 

 condition of things is most unsatisfactory ; for the Act seems to be constantly 

 evaded, and all evasions of statutory regulations are morality, as well_ as economi- 

 cally, mischievous. The best remedy is, if possible, to diminish the improvidence 

 of workmen;, for, in most cases, if the workman has enough in hand to live with- 

 out advances before pay-day, he is practically independent of his master. Mariners, 

 I may add, seem by common consent to be always treated as children of a larger 

 growth, and protected accordingly. The criterion after all must always be the 

 majus honuin. 



The Truck system is a term commonly used to denote the arrangement by which, 

 directly or indirectly, workmen are compelled to take pajmient of their wages, or 

 of advances made to them on their wages, not in money, but in goods furnished 

 from the employers' stores or shops. J3ut the same name has been given to a sys- 

 tem that has long prevailed in Siietland, by which the dealings of many classes 

 (tenants, fishermen, and workers of different kinds) are carried on byway of barter, 

 with little or no use of money. This is a different sort of system from the ordi- 

 nary method of truck between master and servant ; and one which, in my humble 

 opinion, is still more difficult to deal with. The modus ojicrandi may be generally 

 imderstood by a few illustrations. The Shetland farmer is, in the ordinary case, 

 possessed of no capital, and seldom pays his rent in money. lie is unable pro- 

 bably to support himself bj^ any independent means ruitil his small crop is reaped, 

 or the produce of his farm ready to be realized. lie is consequently obliged to 

 seek assistance in the meantime by obtaining advances from some quarter or other. 

 He is also, as a general rule, a fisherman on his own account, but having no ciipital, 

 he is obliged to run in debt for his boat, or his share of a boat ; and again he is obliged 

 to resort to others to support himself and his family until the profits of his fishing 

 can be realized. The employment of fishing is notoriously a precarious one, and in- 

 troduces into his condition an element of chance and risk that operates powerfully to 

 affect his dealings. It is not easj^ for a party in such circumstances to obtain ad- 

 vances or furaishings where these can only be accorded to him upon doubtful credit 

 and at considerable hazard. The consequence has been tbat, for an immemorial 

 period, the Shetlander has been chronically a debtor to others, as fishermen com- 

 monly are, and not unnaturally the party with whom he has to deal has come to 

 be the proprietor of the land, or his factor or middleman. What might be done 

 by a good or generous creditor in such circumstances, I shall not attempt to con- 

 jecture ;. but generosity is not a mercantile virtue, and if a dealer tries to make his 

 own profit as great as possible, and still more if he is a greedy and unscrupuloiis 

 man, the poor Shetlander is in a bad way. The dealer has him greatly in his 

 power, both as to the quality and as to the nominal price of his goods; and no 

 doubt much injustice may be done in this way. Another feature comes frequently 

 into play. The females of the Shetlander's family occupy themselves in knitting 



