The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-04-10 00:00:00

toutiribge Obserber.

SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1875.

HOW TO LIVE.

Politics slumber and sleep just now' and there
is no doubt that the nation is passing through a
period of repose which seems all the more re- ,
workable from the previous ten years of political
activity. A decade has very nearly rolled away
since, in the rnooth of October, 1805, Lord
Palmerston WRS laid to his rest in Westminster
Abbey, and it was felt on all sides that the pro-
found calm which had reigned through the
closing scenses of the aged statesman's life was
at an end. That view of the situation turned
out to be correct From that time until the close
of the general election thirteen or fourteen
months ago, a series of great questions came up
for settlement, all of which gave rise to con-
eiderable amonntaaf controversy. First, there
WAS Parliamentrary Reform. We all remember
how it engrossed public attention during the
sessions of 1866, '67, and '6B; the fierce debates
to which it gave rise in the House of Commons;
the angry public demonstrations in London and
and some great provincial towns. No sooner
WAS that got out of way than there must needs
be an appeal to the new constituencies, and then
came 1869, with the disestablishment of the
Irish Church; 1870, with the education contro-
versy; 1872, with the strugglqs over the ballot
and the licensing laws; and 1873,. with the
practical collapse of the Liberal abministration
OM the Irish University Bill. Mr. Gladstone
was so convinced thst he could carry no more
:eat measures through the House of Lords,
that he dissolved the Parliament which had
given him such a majority, and we all know the
result. From the Land's End to the Orkneys,
from the Wash to Arran-more, the Conservative
party were in a majority, and the verdict of the
constituencies was interpreted as signifying a
wish that for the time great questions might be
allowed to rest. It was seen that the nation,
like the human frame, was in want of repose
after a severe and protracted time of activity,
God that impression seems still to rule. At the
Hine time there can be no moral doubt that the
people will score day awaken to the fact that the
time of slumber has lasted long enough, and
that there are abuses to be remedied, and
grievances to be redressed, which will oe attacked
with all the more energy after the sleep which
boa been so thoroughly enjoyed.
If we look at foreign affairs, we snail see that
the ten years which have been so fraught with
changes at home, have been also fruitful of
Mighty convulsions upon the Continent. While
we were engrossed on the subject of Reform, in
July, 1866, the Prussians, by a series of stunning
and rapidly-delivered blows, drove the Austrians
out of Germany; and at the same time Italy, be
combining with Prussia, obtained peaceful p.
melon of Venetia, without shot being fired by
the world-famoes Qendriisiteral. Four year's
later Germans rusLed upon France with the
foreo of irresistible torrent defeated her armies,
led captive her Sovereign, desolated her plains,
invested her fortresses, and entered her capital
in triumph. At the same time Italy obtained
Rome as peacefully as she had acquired Ve,uetia
in 1866, lied from a geograilical expression ead
become an accomplished fact. This very week
we have seen the Emperor of Austria the guest
a the King of Italy in the City of Venice, where,
ten short years t-ince the House of Hapsburg
was regarded with a hostility which seemed to be
utterly implacable.
Political and foreign questions haviag for the
time ceased to claim absorbing attention,. social
problems are forcing their way to the front; and
it must be admitted that it is only fair these
should have a share of the public notice. One
of these, which affects the whole of the lower
and the middle classes is unquestionably "how
to lire." Of the various attempts to solve it,
we must refrain from endeavouring to convey
oven an idea. Their name is legion, for they
are many. All the ingenuity of our social
economists has been elicited in the effort to give
proper advice to those with slender means in
the face of advancing prices in every department
of life. How to dress well upon a very small
atm agnually ; how to get the best possible edu-
Malan for the children at the lowest practicable
price; how to furnish cheaply, and at the same
time nicely and tastefully; how to make the
gsrden a contributor towards the rent instead of
as is too often the case) a drain upon the in.
; and, in short, how to effect great mane
other desirable objects Si) as to keep the house-
hold expenditnre within decent limits—all these
are canvassed at public meetings of sociologists,
and discussed in the correspondeoce columns of
the newspapers. The day as long since fled
when a man could be deemed " passing rich on
forty pounds a year ; " in fact ten times that
ems is now considered a pittance by many whose
receipts scarcely keep peace with their aspira-
tions. ibere is no lack of verity in the assist-
ance which is tendered. Building societies, for
instance, come forward, and propose for a cer-
tain payment per mouth—such payment being
equivalent to ordinary rent—to enable the ten-
ant in a given time to acquire possession of his
bowie, and to become his landlord refuse to sell?
It ie well that a matter of so much impotence
.11, the spending of foor or rive hundred pounds
by a roan of reatricted ineato should be looked
at in all its bearings b fere an irrevocable step
it taken. Sul,l.osilv, k:owever, the house to be
bought. and everride,4 to be satisfatitory, an
is in exist.eoce which wou,d tinisUett
npoti a tdin: ar princi:Ae, viz., le titig the
furniture on Lire, taking wieldy, moutly, or
qoarterly paymeuts, the moveables in the mean-
time gradually passing into the ownership of the
hirer. There is anotiter asaociation whica would
upplv food. drink, and clothing forreatly-ii,oney,
*redline the usual discount fir cash,and placing
It out at cuinconnelimtret, guaranteeing in
time, on the presentation oi a coupon, to repay
the whole of the snni so i xpe:filcd. J his, it is
true, nii.ht not be within tie i
ii:atigou
etp)fu the
bt o
hee,ixistt-
tence of the peraon holding e c
course it might bc redeemable by ins children
We merely refer to these to show with what in-
terest the question at the head of this leader is
discussed, and how many an active brain is en-
gaged iuefforts at the solution of the great social
probleminvolved in its being put.