Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-02-09
The Mechanics and LabOrers Fam
ishing-Twenty Thousand Dock
LabOrers Not Earning a Shilling
I'm Two Months,
From the London Times, January 29.l

From the London Times, January 22.l
At meeting held at the Mansion House
q number of communications on the sub
iect, which had been forwarded to the Lord
Mayor, were handed In by him, with re-
quest that as they appeared tn contain much
Information in reference to the state of the
population in the distressed districts, and
to be furnished by persons on the spot, our
reporter would give the material parts of
them. At a meeting of the Poplar Board
of Guardians, held on the Sth of January,
it was stated that the number of outdoor
paupers had increased to such an extent
that the relieving officers had found it ut
terly impossible for them to visit all who
had applied for relief. Mr.. Jeffries, the re-
lieving officer for the south district, had
nearly 1000 families on his books, each fam
ily representing at least five persons. He
had been at work night and day, and felt
quite unequal to the strain. On the previ-
Gus day he had given away two tons and
five hundred weight of bread. The total
number of persons relieved out of the
house that week was S,3l9, being an increase
on that Of the corresponding toeek Of last year
of 5,453, and the contractor had supplied
the Union with 16 tons l3 cwt. of bread
in week, or 1924 loaves. That was in
Poplar alone. A gentleman residing in the
West India road, writing on Sunday last,
states that he had visited many OF the
working people at their houses in that
neighborhOod, and that the distress among
the mechanics and labOrers is appalling.
Manyof them, he says, are quite dishedrtened,
sitting toithin bare todlLS, Ioith neither bed nor
clothing and a0ith their children almost naked
and .GdmiSting. Strong young men had burst
into tears on seeing him enter, and pointed TO
their starting l0iUeS and children in silent de-
spdir. Some among them had been very
improvident; but others quite the reverse.
He had that day relieved young man with
four children, who was an iron worker,
and had been out of employment for many
months. He was teetotaller, and had hus-
banded his saved earnings to the last, and
now, with his family, had nothing to lie
upon but the bare floor, and nothing to
cover them but single sheet. The Rector
of Bethnal Green (Mr. Hansard) writes
that there is great deal of distress there;
that the commercial panic, the cholera, and
the frost had severely affected the working
classes; that the rates are now in the pro-
portion of IS. in the pound per year; that
the wOrkhouse is full, every spare place
being occupied by bed; and that
on Tuesday last eight hours were spent
In inquiring into the outdoor cases. The
pittance of %. or 3s. week, he says, might
we'll be supplemented by private benevo-
lence. The Secretary of the Dock and
Wharf Laborers' Association. High street.
Shadwell, writing on Saturday last, thinks
he may safely say 10000 Of those classes are
nOtO quite out of employment, and had not
earned shilling for the last too months;
that probably $1,000 of them are dragging
out q miserable existence by pledging little
things and selling articles of furniture; and
that the rest are receiving scanty relief
from the parishes of Whitechapel, Bethnal
Green. Spitalflelds, Shadwell, Poplar and
Mapping. Another correspondent writes
Sickening and heartIending have been the
scenes Of distress have witnessed during
my four months voluntary employment of
doing what could, in my humble degree,
to assist in alleviating the misery of some
of nv fellOw-creatures. Upwards of
five hundred families during that time
have been brought under my notice, and
l can unhesitatingly affirm such q
season of distress and misery was never be-
fore experienced in this locality. He adds
that during all the summer months, owing
to the scarcity of work and the visitation
of cholera, many families had to part with
articles of clothing, bedding, and every
thing upon which money could be obtained,
so that when the winter set in they had
nothing left to dispose OF, and the pawn
brokers, whose shops are already crammed
with goods, care but to give the merest
trifIe for things which may never be re-
deemed. Now the distress was fearfully
and palpably developed by the continuance
of the cold weather. To particularize cases
of distress, he says, is almost beyond his
power. 1t Is widespread, and almost uni