The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-03-20 00:00:00

THE RELIEF OF INDUSTRIAL

DISTRESS.

THE distress among the unemployed, so
numerous now in every part of the country,
has been of late so painfully prevalent that
it needs no newspaper demonstration. This
is not the time to discuss in detail the mani-
fold causes of the evil, but it tiaay be accepted,
the long continued depression in trade not-
withstanding, that the exceptionally rigorous
weather is chief among them. Such severe
and prolonged frosts as have this season
visited all parts of the Kingdom, and held
sway for weeks after the periods fixed in
different districts for the commencement of
the artisans' "long time," or full working
day, can scarcely be remembered by the
present generation. Up to a time of the
year when Eastertide might have been
a festival only a day or two ahead, land
with Sunday marked in the calendar as part
of the season of spring, the weather has been
so consistently cold and mid-winterly in
aspect that very little out-door work has
been possible in the building and other
trades in which material affected by frost is
used. .Not only have thousands of labourers
and mechanics inconsequence been for weeks
"stopped for frost," as they phrase their en-
forced idleness, but the commencement of
projected new buildings a-ad other works
has been retarded by the bad weather to
such an alarming extent that instead of the
labour market being comparatively brisk at
the end of March, as it usually is, we this
year find things as slack as December.
Hence it is that the state and extent of the
distress among outdoor operatives and their
dependents is at present grave in the extreme.
Charity has been moved nobly towards the
relief of the suffering in all our large centres,
as it always is when real want forces itself
into sight. In London, the Lord Mayor's
Mansion House Fund has reached between
70 and 80 thousand pounds, and his lord-
ship is appealing for more alms to help him
in his relief schemes. Similarly the muni-
cipal or other local authorities in provincial
centres have set themselves to collect and
distribute, in the way which has seemed to
them wisest, the subscriptions of the well-
to-do. But all this, though it has doubtless
given food and warmth to many who have
lately seen starvation staring them in the
face, has been but as a drop of water in a
large vessel. :The funds have not always
reached the poor toile most needing their
assistance, and in some cases loud complaint
has been heard concerning the action of
relief committees. We may expect that
wherever suffering and discontent are largely
/ prevalent that a good deal of grumbling will,
/ in any case, make itself heard; but doubt-
less abuses have, notwithstanding general
carefulness and good intent, occurred. Of
course no real and permanent relief can come
until the Ice King relaxes his grip from the
land ; but meantime thought and benevolence,
both private and on the part of the public
officials, ought to do their best to stem the
tide of misery. The circular isseed to the
Clerks to Guardians of the Poor by the
President of the Local Government Board
contains some most admirable and practical
suggestions as to means which may with
advantage be adopted in the desired direction,
and one almost wishes that the central
Board had power, not only to advise, but
compel, in every necessary case, the adoption
of the remedies it recommends. Many Boards
of Guardians need no compulsion to use
every effort to relieve the suffering by any
1 allowable method, ordinary or extraordinary;
but others there are., unfortunately, not in-
clined to stretch a point and endeavour to
deal with the unusual calls for outdoor re-
lief in a way likely at all to lessen the dis-
tress of the applicants. Some authorities
again are deterred from enlarging their
relief machinery by reason of the want of
means, and the restriction placed upon their
powers of raising money by law. For such
Boards of Guardians as these it will be wel-
come intelligence that Mr. Chamberlain, in
pointing out the desirability of commencing
relief works, also assures the local authori-
ties that wherever the incident expenses may
properly be defrayed out of borrowed money,
there will be every desire on the part of the
Local Government Board to deal promptly
with applications for sanction to the raising
of loans. The most satisfactory and prac-
tical aspect of the circular is that, while
fully recognising the present general distress /
in a stratum of society not usually to be
found at the workhouse gates, and that, too,
after adequate inquiry, it shows that the
Local Government Board has come to the
conclusion that work, not charity, is the
most fitting relief to the able-bodied and
moneyless unemployed. This is just what
the genuine working man, who is "hard up"
by reason of having been a long spell with-
out a "job," feels and wishes for. The Local
Government Board, having got so far with
the serious examination of the subject, then
recognises that oakum-picking and stone.
breaking are to the mechanic, and others
not of the habitual pauper class, degrading
as well as detestable tasks, and advises
the employment of labour tasks of more use-
ful and less unsavoury character—such as
spade husbandry and road-making. Of course
these occupations will not be so easy to carry
on as employments wl-1 ich can be workod in
small and confined ri ; but surely that
difficulty can be overcome. Then the
general scheme of the Board is good. For
Guardians to start and manage works of
real public utility, and employ men who are
doing nothing because they cannot obtain
"a job," will be a boon which will be gladly
accepted by the suffering who are worthy
of any respect. Though the wages would
necessarily not be liberal enough to tempt
men from legitimate employment, they
would be such as to enable tne poor to keep
the wolf from their doors until the dawn of
better times—when the sun has chased
winter away, or a welcome commercial re-
vival occurs. This is just as far as it is
desirable to go. We want no inducement
in relief for the poor to rely on relief rather
than themselves; and at the same time:we
would not have them suffering hunger. The
work should not be such as to involve the
stigma of pauperism, as Mr. Chamberlain's
circular indicates, but its remuneratio*
allould him such a result to the recipiort