2-888-566 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Great Exhibition Building - Paying the Workmen, 1850. '...the exterior of the pay-office is seen on the right, with a workman in the act of taking from the box his weekly wages, contained in a small open cylinder of zinc, together with a slip of paper, having his name, his number, and the exact amount due to him written thereon....At the exit gate...is stationed a policeman, whose duty it is to see that each man, as he passes from the pay-box to the exit gate, casts the zinc box into a large basket...Now, with a view to prevent confusion, separate gangs of men...are called up...among so large a number, there may be five Browns, six Joneses, and seven or more Robinsons...By this system of classification and internal office arrangements, fifteen men are paid in one minute; and consequently, as there is only one pay-box, four hours are required to pay the whole of the eighteen hundred men'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.