Comments
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.

Here in the land of fustanellas, just yesterday afternoon, I saw the Greek version of this shovel. One guy was digging and (I'm not exaggerating) EIGHT guys were hanging around watching. Some were being so energetically supportive as to shuffle paperwork or have a smoke.

Sounds like what we called the "Cal-Trans Shovel". It also required multiple bodies to operate - one to hold it in a vertical position and five to eight others to make sure that the holder didn't fall over from boredom. The crews were visible along every roadside in California.

From the upper picture, this looks more like a plow than a shovel, w/ the extra guys taking the place of a mule. Depending on how hard the dirt is, this might make sense. And Alex, the caption at the source of the second picture (hover your mouse over it), provided by the Methodist missionary who took it, refers to the process approvingly as being more efficient than the same number of men with individual shovels. Maybe it lets them plow at a high rate of speed. In any case, the snarky, "lazy little brown people" tone of the 1896 text makes me discount that author's analysis. (That attitude gets even more obvious as the source material continues.)

Sounds like the hierarchy of school systems and government. One worker, eight or nine bosses.