During the whole period there were complaints that the apprenticeship regulations were not enforced and that some of the masters insisted upon taking more than the proper number of apprentices and taking them with less than the proper qualifications. This seems to have been a very real difficulty and one which was never entirely overcome. The temptation to obtain cheap labor, regardless of the welfare of either the apprentice or the industry, was too great, and many printers found it impossible to resist it, especially as during the latter part of this period the conditions in the industry became very bad and it was almost impossible to make any money at it. Throughout this period, especially after 1618, all regulations as to apprenticeship were relaxed in favor of the sons of masters and other persons whom the masters desired particularly to favor. One of the most significant and far-reaching of the regulations of the printing trade was that which admitted the sons of masters directly to membership without any previous training. We shall discuss this a little more fully later. _Laborers_ The class of workmen called laborers constituted a source of one of the greatest difficulties and abuses in the industry, especially during the seventeenth century. At this period there were no restrictions on their employment, or at least none that were successfully enforced. After that period they were less freely employed. They were ignorant or unskilled workmen incapable of becoming journeymen. It was into this class that the apprentices dropped who were employed without sufficient previous education, more especially those who were ignorant in Greek and Latin. The class was further made up of apprentices who had not finished their time, workmen who proved incompetent to hold journeymen’s positions, and men who could do rough work but had never been apprentices. Obviously there was a good deal of work which these men could do. Part of it was work which would otherwise be done by apprentices, part work which would otherwise be done by journeymen. The unrestricted hiring of these men limited the number of journeymen’s positions, reduced wages, lowered standards, and was in every way detrimental to the industry. _Journeymen_ In the printing industry the journeyman was not the same as the master. In other industries after the apprentice had finished his time and qualified by submitting a piece of work of approved standard, he became a master workman. He was made free of the guild and ordinarily set up in business for himself. Theoretically a somewhat similar condition prevailed in the printing trade. Before the reorganization of 1618 and the consequent restriction of mastership the apprentice became a master workman when he had completed his time, and was at liberty to set up for himself if he so desired.