TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 175 



minds of those whose misfortune it may be to be brought within criminal in- 

 fluences, we should, by a judicious system of education, redouble our eflbrts to 

 place the humbler classes in such a position as will enable them to escape or suc- 

 cessfully resist all temptations to the commission of crime." 



On the " Truck System" in some Parts of the West of England. 

 By Edwaed Spender. 

 In the West of England, especially in Devon, Somerset, Gloucestershire, and 

 Herefordshire, the practice prevails of pajang a proportion of the wages of the 

 agricultural labourer in cider. This proportion varies from 20 to 50 per cent, on 

 the whole. The latter large figure is attained in Herefordshire during harvest 

 time, when a mower or a reaper will earn Os. a week in monej' and drink nine 

 gallons of cider a week, cider at the time being worth Is. a gallon. In Devonshire 

 there does not seem to be the same excess, but the system prevails more or less. 

 The question then arises, How far is it desirable as regards the health, and the 

 morals of the labourer ? What is cider ? Is it food or poison ? — Or both, or 

 neither ? Professor Voelcker has analyzed an imperial pint of cider drawn by 

 a^^ricultural labourers in Somersetshii-e, and he finds the following residts : — 



Cider contains parts Bread contains parts 



Water 94-21 36 



Flesh-forming matters -02 8 



Heat-producing „ 5-57 56 



General matters -20 — ■ 



10000 100-00 



Hence a man would require to drink nearly 85 gallons of cider in order to take 

 into the system the same amount of carbon or heat-producing constituents as is 

 contained in a pound of wheaten bread ; and in order to obtain the same amount 

 of nitrogen, or flesh-forming constituent, he would have to swallow 32 gallons of 

 cider. Compared with meat the difference is of course far greater. Cider can 

 therefore scarcely be called food. It would be going too far to call it poison when 

 it is pure ; but the cider drank by the lower classes is rarely pure. Experiments 

 have shown that, whether the cider be pm-e or not, a farm labourer will work 

 better on coffee or cocoa than on cider. 



On politico-economical grounds, the "cider-truck" cannot be too strongly con- 

 dennied. It is even more unscientific than the truck-system which prevailed in 

 the manufacturing and mining districts, and which was forbidden by the Act 1 & 2 

 Wm. IV., cap. 37. Under that system the employer did not sell his own produce 

 at a certain fixed sum not to be altered according to the changes in the money value 

 of that produce. Under the " cider-truck " the farmer gives a fixed quantity of 

 cider regardless of the rise and fall in the value of cider caused by the scarcity or 

 abundance of the apple crop. The result is, that j ust as the farmer is receiving the 

 least return, he is making the greatest outlay. When a poor apple crop reduces 

 his profits, he is paying the highest wages ; while when, on the contraiy, the apples 

 are abundant, and he could afford to pay his labourers highly, he is really paying 

 them less than usual. Supposing tlie cider to be genuine, the farmer in a bad year 

 may be paying wages at the rate of 18.s. per week, while in a good year he will be 

 paying- at the rate of 12.s. ; this fact alone is a strong inducement for the farmer to 

 adulterate the favourite beverage. He cannot afford to give good cider in bad times, 

 and having once formed the habit of adidterating, he cannot lay it aside when 

 there is no need to resort to it. 



Another strong objection is that while the ordinary truck allows a man a choice 

 in the articles he takes, the cider truck does not, but compels him to take an 

 enormous quantity of an article which he can scarcely afford to have at all. A 

 person of the upper classes wlio spent a fifth of his income, still more one-half, on 

 his cellar would run the risk of an inquiry into his sanity by the Lunacy Commis- 

 sioners. Yet not only is nothing said against the extravagance of the labourer, 

 but he is actually forced to commit it. It has been urged in behalf of the system, 

 that it prevents the labourer from resorting to the drink-shop. It is of small ad- 



