The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1867-08-03
European l'nupcri>m
with

Is populate countries Of the old world. labor i
necczSarily cheap. and the cost f. ing Is high,
consequently capital. instead Of being e~qualizc:
l. centralized in ccrtain circles or classes, AMI the
prpr man, once poor. a. 4 general 5A.ns, remains
always poor. p. y-;N from motives Of mere
charity. the rich man finds i, t. IL 70 his interest
10 devise means for taking care OF the poor. a. a
dangerous element in the social super>tructure
y hungry mob i not TO be despisel. for men will
fight more fercely for bread than for anything
else: far more - than for a political idea.
Swift. in one of his most sarcastic moods. Is
reported 10 have said. We zee what God thinks
of riches By the people he gives them to-"
Whatever NAV be said of the noble and wealthy
classes of England. in respect to extravaganza in
living,-and it must be acknowledged that, con-
sidering the long centuries during which they
have ruled that country. owned its lands, con-
trollel its revenues and dictated It's governmental
policy, luxurious and expensive habits were ma
tual results-yet while perhaps ~loathing and
d~espi-ing rs a class. the lower oriers of the
population, they have always recognized the
necessity. political rs well n moral, of taking
care Of the poor. But it is a hcrculcan task, and
the philanthropists find ample work TO do.
For instance,-in the month of january last,
we read in the Pail Nal Gazette, of -Apri! IL,
there were more than a million persons in Eng
land and Wales on the poor rates, and in the
fourth week of that month the whole number of
paurcrs reached l,0oi ,000-a terrible army of
distress, Il number almost beyond anything 10 be
found in recent years. But the increase of pau
perism in London appears 10 be still more remark
able. At the opening of the present year, there
were 32,i9l more paupcrs in the metropolis than
ut the corresponding period in 1866, and in the
fourth week of January last, the number increas-
ed to 1854, or seventy-two per cent. beyond
1866. During the same week, the increase of
TauIerism throughout England and Wales, less
that of the metropolis, was ten per cent. in excess
of that reported for the corresponding season of
lSGG. In the northwestern division, the seat OF
the cotton manufacture, the augmentation was,
after the metropolis, the most notable.
y London correspondent of the Chicago Journal.
writing during the period mentioned above. thus
describes a hcart-rending spectacle of which he
was n witness:
An extraordinary sight was witnessed in the prin-
cipal London streets recently. Rather more than Il
thousand of the most miserable wreiohes that ever
wore the gIrb Of humanity formed a procession and
marched in silence from the neiglborhoOi of Wap-
ping and Whitechapel to the aristocratic quarters of
-. James and BelgrIyia. There was no disturbance
or excess of any kind. Every man was in rags, and
every form and face bore he unmistakable marks of
Priyation and distress. \ banner or two contained
inscriptions indicative Of their character and their
wants, and "A few carried money boxes TO receive any
donations that might be bestowed upon them.
Why, | know not, but it was not deemed worth
while To prevent this demonstration ON the part of
the authorities; but the sight was one that did not
tend to add greatly 10 an Englishman's pride. These
men, II i well known, We're only the representatives
Of a body forty times their number, for il has been
ascertaincl that there are no less in the eastern sub
URLS of London not only out of employment, but
reduced to the extreme Of restitution, and dependent
on daily charity for their morsel of bread, or cup OF
soup that keeps the flame of life alight within their
eInaciated bodies. Ii i a irightful thing to ccntem-
plate, and what is TO he the end of this state Of things
Heaven only knows.
Cooperative Societies and Trades Union do a
vast deal of good in England in alternating suffer-
ing in times of scarcity, among the workingmen,
but there are thousands whom these influences
cannot reach, and who are dependant upon the
,canty supplies derived from public aud private
How the system of cooperative labor works
IN England is shown by the testimony of the
of the Amalgamated Society of En-
sinccrs before the Royal Commission on Trades
MONS. This evidence applies to all trades, and
What has succeeded in the case of the Engineers
will be equally successful elsewhere.
The plan is that each member pays into the
general fund. ono shilling Il week. besides the
entrance fee of from fifteen shillings to 81. 10.
The expenditures are weekly allowances to mem
out of employment to sick members; to
uIcrannuatcd members, who are too old to gain
he ordinary rate of wages Oh the death of mem
and members wives and to members who
nave met with accidents and are unable to follow
he trade. For these objects the Society of En-
.inccrs expended in 1865, no less than .E45 .l12.
he Association Of London Tailors have recently
ent a contribution to their brethren of the
goose - in Paris, who have been on a strike, to
he handsome amount of $40, 900. Even the
aress-makers of London have formed cooperative
Establishments.
Turning to France, we find that strikes of
have taken Place in various parts of the
ountry, and more particularly in Paris, where ,
he speakers ut the ~workmen's meetings have
cen particularly bold and violent in their Ian
uagc. \ good deal of this may unquestionably
e set down to the account of the well-known
reliability of the French character, but lie
Monde newspaper secs i'll the movement nothing ,
lsc than socialism in n modified form. In an g.
ddrcss delivered lately to n meeting of workmen a
a the capital, calling for an increase of wages,
he speaker declared that the masters and men
al ut last met face to face ON the battlefield of t
strike, and that they, the latter, must either t
Dnquer or die These words, addressed To a d
artisan mob in bloUses, sound rather Ominous, II
nd the Monde, in commenting on them and the l
rikcs which were the occasion of their utter =.
nee. says they are :. the result of the doctrines :
+ rs, vanquished on the barricades of june and :.
V the coup d'etat, from which the Empire arose. :,
me object is the same. but the means differ. In L
- III, ,,;yl.1 ., J;.,D.S-o-= ~ Fro. N,