, 1878-02-16
So Dear and so Cheap.

"Oh, God !, that bread shonld be so
dear and flesh and blood go cheap
The above quotation has been in our
heart and on our lips constantly Of late,
remarks Anne f. Mcdowell i'll the wo-
mems department OF the Philadeiphis
Sunday Republic. We have seen mach OF
distress and poverty amongst the indus
trious working classes for TIE past two or
three years, but none .ike unto this
of the present season Yet, III SplIc
of the widespread poverty that Is
everywhere visible, even to the most care
less and unobservant, men feast and make
merry, and women dance, dress and spend
money as though the world were mere
,leasnre-carclen, and the qualification OF
The SENSES the clief end and aim cf ex-
istcnce.
On the very day on which thousands of
dollars were wasted upon a dinner III
honor of distinguished citizen, there
were. within a stones throw of this ans
tocratic hostelrie, where costly wines ilo~-
ed like water, many cases of dire but self
respecting poverty that could have been
lightened, if not altogether relieved, for
the Winter, by the price paid for single
ticket TO the banquet by men who enjoy
sumptuous feasts every day at their own
homes. OF course people have perfect
,eaaI right to do as they please with their
own-throw it into the depths Of the sea
if they are So pleased have they q
moral rinht to flaunt their abundance In
the face of rags and starvation And IS
il in accordance with good taste and
Christian feelinsto have costly Junketinggs
IN the midst of a widespread national dis
tress like this which prevades our land at
present Such things as this preclpltat9d
| Il they did not inaugurate, the frefch
revolution and the byead riots OF Great
Britain. In seasons OF distress ana en-
forced idleness, the children Of toll, those
who make the wealth and greatness of
nation. will. when they find their wants
urbeeded and their woes ignored, some
times Yields to the promptngs OF unre-
generated nature or the pangS of hunger.
and take forcibly the wherewIthal To keep
themselves and those dear to them from
starving.
ON the day of Minister Welsh banquet
;ntelliqence was disseminated OF three
cases of actual starvation within hall
dozen squares or less of the place where
the feast was going on. The first of these
cases to which attention was drawn was
tba. of a man dying of consumption,
whose disease had been aggravated by
want and privation. His sister, in the
same house. was stricken with paralysis,
and his wife was endeayoring, by the sale
of a few candies contributed by neighbors
as poor as herself, to keep off cold and
hunger from the dear ones dependent up
On her care.
The second case was that of most ex-
cellent woman, the sole support of an In.
Wild husband and four children, who
overcome with long continued hardships
and privations, suddenly broke down ut
terly. the until then unsuspected victim
of starvation.
The third case was that Of the widow
of a manufacturing chemist of Philadel
phia, who, with FIVE little ones, had SOLD
every article of clothing, save the neces
sary outside covering, for food, and whose
only shelter from the cold at night Wa:
two strips OF ag-carpet. Upon some ons
telling this woman, whowasan intelligent
person, of Mrs Corson's plan for proyid
| ing a family of six with meal of fifteeI
cents, she said IN reply, 81 could write I
book, showing how existence might go oil
for two whole days in family of six with
out single meal or morsel of food fol
any one of its members"
| These cases, are. represented not be
cause they are isolated or exceptionally
hard ones, but because in one single da.
they all came under notice as existin:
within short distance of that hotel IL
which a merry and careless crowd wen
stufimg themselves to repletion at cos
} of $40 each.