Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-12-29
How pnsl,.h wsrK,ng people Lave.


over the ies ws sail
-~~
uew English working People Lave.
Nothing can be more surprising 70 the a mer-
can people thAn the extreme Ind geney and phys-
caI deKtncraeg OF lhe Bfithh working people.
Mr. Rays work on the Social condition aud
Education Of the People In England" published
last year In England aud reprinted In this eoun
try. made some remarkable disclosures, bearing
especially upon the moral condition OF these
people At the close Of his work Mr.. hay says:
sssrhc poor Of England are more depressed, moro
paupeflxrf. more numerous IN comparison 10 The
other classes. more irreligious, and very much
worse educated than the poor OF any other Eu
ropean nation. solely excepting Russia, Turkey
South Italy, Postngal aud spain -. 4
The medical oAser ~ the Ptivy Council IN
England IL required To submit annually report
of the proceeding OF ,t,at body This duty has
deyolved upon Nf John Nmea, whose series Of
reports for the last -four years - a harmoniEed
body of practical information on the causes and
dists,hniion OF disease. His last report. for
1864. IL full OF Interesting and important truth
respecting the amount and kind Of food taken
by the working classes As Mr. Rays book re
lated To the causes leading To moral degeneracy,
this report Il concerned chiefly with those which
conducc TO physical deterioration. For the pur-
poses Of investigation, inquiry was made IN only
few households which seemed to bs fair sam
plies of their class The Inquirer set out with
this theory. namely. that 20 prevent starvation
or the diseases connected with Il, woman must
have in her food. daily. $500 grains of carbon.
and $50 OF nitrogen. or "a much n0urshment as
is contained in n half quarter loaf Of bread
man wants one ninth more
Forty-tvo families OF silk weavets were exam
med. and il was found that these did rot quite
come up 20 this minimum standard; thirty one
families of needle. women fell far short: of farm
LIZ A.. han apa ha
low the mark OF course this sacrifice of appe
lite would be after every other sort OF sacrifice
had been made after necessary clothing ana fuel
had been dispensed with
II found among silk weavcrs and twis,ers,
that, while over twelve pounds OF bread were
Anecessary to each adult, little more than nine
were eaten. By buying food Ia pennyworths a
great deal OF money Was wasted. The children
working away from home, instead of taking
with them dinner prepared by the mother, are
supplied with three half pence or two pence a
day dinner money, which they spend at cook
shop-usually penny upon padding AMI n half
penny upoL potatoes. When they spend two
pence they are allowed To sit down and have a
little gravy or fat added 10 their meal
OF all classes the needle women fare the worst
They take TO their calling when every OTHER re
source fails. and their average income is below
four shillings (less than dollar per week (:
sometimes. too. they are out of employment.
They use a little over ounce daily others a
quarter of pound of cooked meat three times a
week. aud twice that amount 90 Sunday
Glove stftchers.In order TO earn Eve shillings
and sixpence week, are compelled TO work
from six in the morning until eleven at night
and even children. between nine and fourteen
years of age are kept all day at this employ
ment
As a general result of the inquiry among all
these classes it appeared that OF bread the needle
women ate the least; the shoe makers most; that
of the persons Intercepted in all classes, only
four-three Of them being kid-gloyers-9ent
wholly without any sugar, the kid glovers gen
orally using least sugar. the needls women and
stocking makers most; the balance of carbon In
the diet being adjusted in these cases by an
exactly reverse proportion IN the use OF butter.
Oulv In ave of the whole number of cases -ses
there meat at all eaten, and the five were all
found among the silk-weavers of Macclesheld
and Coventry But twenty in every hundred
ate butchers meat in no appreciable quantity,
preferrng 70 use bacon.
Beer of the ordinary strength was found to be
drunk very generally by the silk weayers Of Lon
don, and by the sboemakets. and a very weak
beer by the stocking makers OF all parts of
Derbyshire Ia half the families who were
taken as fair types of-the condition OF the poorer
laboring class. beer fcrmedno psrf of the hose
hold diet
il not much meat used. il is al cooked tor the
SUNDAYS dinner, usually the only one at which
the whole family Is collected and SIT together in
unwonted ease. What IL lett from the Sunday
dinner is on the following week days the hus-
bands. and whether he takes il with him bit by
bit to his daily dinner in the fields, eats II at
home. il Is his as matter of course. an
grudged
The household faith Is chat the husband wins
the bread and must have the best food His
physical well being - the prop o! the house. II
he has eaten up his remainder OF meat or bacon
BY the middle of the week. and there be butter
cheese. he taxes that for his dinner AT the
close Of the week. and the wife and children at
home reduced 70 dry bread. which is ~On--
vsrted into a hot meal by ~ sc OF Tea
Of rourss 49, ,atAte OF Affairs is great hin.
l--.soe TO marriage. man alone can subsst
comfortably and the temptation TO remain sin.
gle is reluctantly overcome. when by marriage
be IL certain TO deprive himself OF food ALSO.
lutely necessary TO health. The farm laborer.
apart from a family i adequately fed, long.
lived. and little troubled With sickness When
he takes his meals at the farm house. his risk in
the NAY of diet Is IRON oyeT-ieeding.
BE has usually four meals day-meat and
bacon once. twice. and even three times a day:
milk twice day: puddings or pies three times a
day IN Devon, and usually daily elsewhere: beer
also or cider la Yorkshire he Is found to get
cheese. cakes. and cu-tards almost daily at break
fast and dinner or even 10 take an hours nap
after dinner he objects 20 mutton. because Il
j. fat, aud throws the fat under the table Living
IN this sumpttuus manner he will put OF as far
possible the evil uay which shall bring power
~ aud starvation. Comment upon this state OF
= = -. - ~. Il. ~