The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1878-10-02
OUK LONDON LETTER.
Lonnox Sentembs

other. Paris i5 clean, wbltewalled,
ever wearing an air of holiday and
refinement. In Paris the humber
classes are cheerful, happy, healthy
looking, and chesply but neatly at
tired; her dsndies are exquisite and
diabalieally gay. aud her ladies,
what more need said Of them than
that they dictate fashion 10 the fe-
male world, and are az the bottom OF
hard times
London is immense, labyrinthine,
unelean, mephitie. Her lower classes
are numerous, bIear-eyed, filthy, and
mesnly clad-they wear q worried,
wearied appearance, giving the i'm
preston OF a hard, struggling past
and doubtful future Her middle
classes have q SLOPPY air, homely
features, with ungainly physique.
and elaborate bat ungraceful manners
The want of taste in dress of the
English people is proverbial, but |
am disposed to think that the defect
is less in the eye aud esthetie sense
of the subject than in the want Of a
proper figure for the display Of good
clothes. The..sartorial genius has.not
vet been born that can make an
Eng ishmsl look like a gentle
man. The average Englishman ID
neither On Adonis nor Antinous,
Either his arms are too long, his
shoulders too narrow, his stomach
too large, his shins too short, or his
toes are disposed turn in. l know
that many who imagine that they
have seen Englishmen will be dis
posed to criticise my criticism; but
let no one suppose that he has seen
a people until be has seen them in
their own habitat. The only wsy 70
compare the English with the French
or Americans is to see them in the
mass, as they may DO seen in their
respective countries, and think that
those who have remained a few
weeks in England will bear me out
in what | have said. Next to the
French there are perhaps fewer ma
tive English people in the United
States than Of any other great nation,
and the specimens with US do not
furnish sufficiently broad premise
for a general estimation.
Politically the Englishmsn is loyal
in spite of disseminated element
that finds itfal expression here and
there, nineteen Of every twenty Eng
lishmen you meet will speak with
pride snd praise when the Queen, the
Prince OF Wales, or any Of the Royal
family, are referred tU. The tenth
one, however, will.call her Britannia
Majesty an old bag, and has awful
stories to tell about the stupidity Of
the Prince of Wales, his diseased
body and dissolute life. All English
men praise the superiority OF our
railway cara, but there their conees-
sions cease, they think they have the
best government in the world. and
are ready to prove by figures that
our frequent elections by breaking up
industrial routine and habits are in
directly greater strain upon the ex-
chequer than the enormous amounts
expended for the maintenance Of the
Royal family. No Englishmsn can
quarrel without informing his adyer-
sary, at some stage of the alterea-
ton, that be is an EnglishmaD, and
he cannot talk long with an Ameri-
can without denouncing the proiec-
tive tariff of the United States That
is where the shoe pinehes. II we
would but give free ingress to the
numberless cheap and excellent
things they make, they would love
us more. The marvellous cheapness
and superior quality of the thousand
and one articles that are indispeEsa-
bic 70 civilized life, here in London,
cannot but astonish Americans who
cannot see how they can be made for
twice the sum asked for them. A
tooth brush that will cost 40 cents in
the States may be bought in London
for FIVE or ten cents, and thousands Of
other things in proportion. | cannot
Of course make list, but will saw in
a general way that our tsilOrs and
dealers in useful and fancy manu-
faciured articles are perhaps the
most extortionste sinners in the
world, and that one hundred and
even two hundred per cent. 10 not an
unusual price for them.
In England the cooperative sys-
TEN is having q very sppreciable ef-
feet on local trade. The object Of
this system may be described as the
furnishing of members of a trading
association, formed for the purpose.
with genuine and moderately priced
goods, Oh the principle Of ready money
payments, the eheapness being secur-
ed BY economy Of management and
by contentment with small profits
Notwithstanding the opposition Of
retail and even wholesale dealers, il
has of late years made astcnishingly
rapid progress in London, where
there are about thirty cooperative
stores, carrying on an immense trade.
The chief company is the Civil
Service Supply Association" which
consists of share holders Of members
belonging to the Civil Service, who
pay about go cents year, and Of
outsiders (who must be friends Of
members or shareholders) who pay
SI25 annually. All have the same
advantage in the purchase Of goods /;
but while the Civil Service members
NAV have goods seat home carriage
free, the others must take their p0r-
chases away with them, or pay for
their carriage. The association now
engrosses about 500 persons, who
receive salaries amounting in all 10
$3.50. 900 annually. The cost Of the
string, paper and straw, used in
packing goods amounts 10 $50, 900
per snRum. The sales in 1877
amounted to the enormous sum Of
s., 100000 the net profits being
little over two per cent. The articles
sold comprise groceries, wines. spirits.
provisions, tobacco, clothing, books.
stationery, fancy goods. drugs. srd
watches Indeed so complete aod
varied are their stores tha, it is not
necessary to go elsewhere for the
purchase of anything. C.. A S
Reported Massacre.