The Sun.
London, England, 1870-04-23 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 1870.

BLUE-1300KS have not yet come to be classed as
popular literature. The information they contain is
nearly always very valuable, and not seldom inte-
resting ; but they are unwieldy, diffuse, they often
present an amount of kernel not at all in
proportion to the amount of shell, and though they
are cheap, considering their bulk, their price
is generally beyond the means of the masses. Blue-
books for the million have yet to become an institu-
tion. There seems no reason why the experiment
should not be made. If it be needful that the State
should provide information for the benefit of legisla-
tors, the same facilities might with advantage
be extended to voters. Intelligible condensa-
tions of Parliamentary text-books might form
an important means of popular instruc-
tion. We can conceive, for instance,
of few works more likely to find general apprecia-
tion than the series of reports just issued on the
" Condition of the Industrial Classes in Foreign
Countries." The title speaks for itself. Many of
the returns have been drawn up in great haste, some
are ill-arranged, and as the work was entrusted to
the members of the Diplomatic Service, the
whole is marked by a certain aristocratic flavour.
Nevertheless, the result of these labours is an ex-
ceedingly valuable collection of facts, not to be
obtained by any other means. The study of
such a book could not fail to prove of great
service to British workmen. One of the most
certain effects of their investigating the condition of
the industrial classes in foreign countries would be to
make them more satisfied with their own condition.
The English hand-worker may have his grievances,
yet there are but two countries in which the working
man enjoys equal comforts and advantages. One of
these two States is peopled by the descendants of
Englishmen, the other is Switzerland. The wages
paid in foreign countries are decidedly below the
rates current in England, nor is the cost of
living so much smaller as to redress the balance.
In Hamburgh 30s. a week seems to be the highest
sum paid to any handicraftsman; it is seldom that
more than 20s. is given; painters earn only Hs. 6d.,
and for carpenters the maximum is 18s. In Hol-
land a skilled artisan—joiner, plumber, or smith—
gets 16s, a week in the large towns ; in the country
his payment is often no more than 10s. In Prussia
few occupations pass the limit of 20s. From 12s. to
las. are very common rates for skilled trades. In
Belgium 2s. a day are good wages for a mason, smith,
or tailor. In Sweden fourpence an hour is the
highest price, and this small sum is rarely
reached, from three halfpence to twopence
halfpenny being common. In Saxony it
is seldom that the maximum price rises above 205.,
and few trades command over 30s. In Wurtemberg
£5O a year is the extreme for the artisan. Overseers
get from £42 to £lOO. And so on, with scarcely any
variations throughout the entire list. In the United
States wages are very high, higher than
in England; and the great Republic, with
the British colonies, is the only labour field
to which the Englishman can safely remove.
The wages of most Continental States would starve
the British artisan. A good many of our country-
men are scattered over Europe ; but they are mainly
employed as instructors to the natives, and generally
their services are dispensed with as soon as the
information they can afford is acquired.
Speaking generally, the low wages of the Conti-
nental workmen are not compensated by other ad-
vantages. There are exceptions, but as a rule the
Englishman has the best of it in all respects.
The hours of daily work on the Continent are
seldom so low as ten ; more frequently they
reach twelve, and in some instances even fourteen
hours' labour a day is exacted. In no country, ex-
capt America, does the workman enjoy such perfect
froedom as in England. Most often is he fettered
by multitudinous and vexatious rules; he rarely
participates in the electoral franchise; and in the
one Continental State where every male of
full age has a vote—France—the system of
Government is more paternal than anywhere else.
To some degree, as we have said, the higher tariff
of British wages is counterbalanced by the lower
prices of food abroad. But this advantage is not
nearly sufficient to make amends. The European
workman subsists upon much plainer and coarser fare
than the Englishman. In many countries he rarely
tastes meat. In many places one meat meal a week
is the rule. Some people, especially the Dutch,
voluntarily undergo privation for the sake of saving ;
bat more frequently is wretched living the effect of
sheer necessity. In numerous districts, the fare is
so miserable that one is tempted to inquire what
is the value of such existence, and whether life is
worth having on such terms. In England the bad
dwellings of the poor are a frequent and just cause
of complaint. Nowhere in Europe, however, are
they any better. Dampness, defective ventilation,
want of room, and disregard for the requirements
of health, prevail everywhere. "The Dane
is lodged in the back part of a several
storied house, generally in the so-called cellar,
or underground apartment; the whole• may open into
a dingy court nine or ten feet square." There is
little light or ventilation, for if the people desire
either, the terrific smells outside forbid all opening of
windows. In Spain;- the fineness of the climate
renders lodging a matter of secondary moment,
but the accommodation is uniformly bad. In Russia
several families live in one great stye, which
serves both as sleeping and living room.
The Turk dwells in a wretched hovel.
In almost every part of Prussia the dwellings of the
poor are wretched in the extreme. In Holland great
efforts have been made to improve t''e homes of the
labouring classes; but the result is not yet so gene-
rally good as might be wished. The United States
are, again, a great exception to the rule; for the most
part the homes of the pcor in America
are excellent; but, speaking generally, the housing of
the labouring classes throughout tile world must be
pronounced one of the great scandals of the human
race.

It is to be feared that the picture of the working
man's condition, as drawn in these reports, is not a
gleasantone. It would appear as if_ all the good