The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-10-31
RRApLAuaHs sKEToHEs.
Condition of tho Agricultural Population
Of England.


Condition of tho Agricultural A Population
OF England.
IN. Y Tribune reports Of Mr. Bradlaughs lectureaJ
There is another matter upon which
wish TO make a special plea. mean
the state of our agricultural laborers.
And am not going 10 do 1t from any
view Of mine. My view would be DIT
ter one indeed. But j will give it TO
you from report made under authority
of the crown and signed by tho present
bishop of Manchester, Mr.. Henly, and
Mr.. Stanhope-a commission which GER
taiDly did not take evidence IN any
spirit OF undue favor toward the laborer.
And here let me say n word for press
ing these things upon your attention,
for there are editors here who DO not
know our griefs or our wrongs, who
| say that these are matters which need
not be here discussed. But when there
are so many pens and tongues 20 paint
everything golden to you, surely at least
one tongue may be permitted to show
the other lining Of the cloud. (Pro-
! lonped applause) Bishop Frazer says
of some of the dwellings in Suffolk that
/ they are detestable of some OF them
| in Northampton that they are dis
| grace 10 civilization; OF some OF them
/ in Sussex that they are disgrace To
any civilized community, and then hu
| gives a case in Norfolk and draws
/ picture of an agricultural laborers
| dwelling. Zone small room, says he,
Gin which father, mother, grandfather,
grandmother. sons and daughters are
born, live, if you call IL life, and die, ia
which every operation Of nature, dress
ing, undressing, birth, death, is per-
formed by each within the sight and
hearing of all, in which children OF as
much as fourteen OF ixtecn years OF
age of both sexes. are driven 10 sleep
in the same bed. that is, il you can call
these things beds in which human ma
ture is degraded below the level OF
the swine" And this, he says, is pic
ture from life. ! believe that, Thilo
that state of things exists, we have tho
right 10 try TO wrest the land out Of the
hands of those who have used It so
badly Take the laborer's wages. If
your newspaper reports are not utterly
incorrect, person not long ago IN
this room spoke of laborer's wages az
from six to eight shillings a day. Why,
/ have been carefully through the re-
turns of every county in England, and
leaving the counties Of Northumberland
and Durham out Of the question, l say
DuGI6 II no NftNe III Wllifi NlNN AAAFhAANNN
wages, taking the year round, has aver
aged more than 14s n week, and ] say
that the bulk Of the wages has averaged
about Ss Cd 20 9s Cd a week, and / stand
with facts and figures TO quote from.
In Hereford Jail, the cost Of n priso-
ner for food alone comes 60 more than
twice as much per week as the Hereford
laborer gets to buy himself food cloth
ing, houseroom, and the luxuries OF life,
If he can get them. Haughter.) Why
the laborer's wage is an awful wn"e.
And am told they waste IL in beer.
daughter / was the other day in
east Sussex. which is entirely owned by
the duke of Richmond, Lord Lecontield,
and Lord Egremont. A relative of minO
has rented n cottage i'm that district. and
much to their disgust they are obliged
occasionally TO put mp with my presence
in that neighborhood. have gone about
fAhong the laborers there and into their
homes. The duke OF Richmond is u
rich duke. You can make fence OF
fourteen miles around his Goodwood
estate, and he is 80 much in favor Of
civilization that he would not allow
telegraph wire to cross his land till last
wear, and then he only consented because
the prince of Wales wanted 20 send
WOr0 ABOUT his deus L llt JUN 'N NAAfH
peoples wages there average from ls Cd
to Is Sd a day. We will call IL Is 9d,
and Won have then something 10 look
at. Here is a man who has To keep his
wife and two or three or four children
and pay rent for his cottage. Where is
he TO get money TO spend in beer2 And
if he did, could YOU wonder nc him find
ing the village ale-house pleasant when
Won see how wretched and miserable "a
dwelling he has? It is cold, and though
there is plenty Of wood living about, II
his wife tried 10 gather n few sticks she
would be dragged before the magistrate
and sent TO Jail for trespass. I am not
overcoloring. II is the truth j am put
ting, and put il as a reason why We
have the right 10 be Rgitating and TO be
discontented in our country. (Applause.)
We are told much Of the ignorance
of the laborers Can you wonder Rt
their ignorance? Their children have
never been 20 school. They have been
forced TO work in the fields from the
time thev have been seven or eight
years old Then we have the Internal
game laws, which are n disgrace 10 any
country. The starving laborer sees
hare running along behind a hedge.
The hare is fat and the laborer ia thin.
But let him touch il, and the police
man will take him, and in our country
You had better commit n BURGLARY than
kill hare or rabbit. Why, they havo
even given the police the right 20 search
on suspicion, and they use this power 80
as to practically deprive the laborer Of
all individual liberty. But there is
now an anti-game league, and Mr.. p.
A. Taylor is trying 10 bring about re-
form We have in Norfolk 1900 acres
in one tract, of which 800 acres are cul-
tivated in corn, and the rest liz wild un-
der preserve for game. One thing We
must and will have. We mean to turn
this land preserved for game into pro-
ductiva land (Apnlauapl