Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-10-29
sTEADFAsr In HIsDOCTRINEs
w. ID. KelIey's study of English
Induslries-The Evil 81.
feets Of Free Trade.
Ner York Herald, 8.

Judge w. ID. Kelley, OF Pennsylvas
MIA, was a passenger on the steamer
Wyoming, OF the Guion Line, which
reached this port yesterday. He has
been spending several months abroad,
in company with his wife and son, and
although be undertook the trip for
the purpose Of recuperation he was
able during bis sojourn in England to
study some Of the phases Of those
questions Of political economy in
which he is so deeply interested.
jude Kelley returns to this country
much improved in health, aud, he
afirms, more strongly imbued with
the doctrines Of protection than ever:
ut was only regard for my health"
he said to a reporter, that led me to
70 abroad. But l Init Il ct once the
opportunity presented itself of study
ing the question Of labor and living
| in England ! took much pleasure
in making it Of avail. l left this
country on june 2, and on reaching
Great Britain [ abided for about .
month in London. My enfeebled
health made me repair to the seaside,
and for a while | stopped at Broad
stairs, where Dickens wrote his novel
Bleak House. | stopped ten days at
Manchester and a week at Birming,
ham, and while at both l was able to
20 about and visit some OF the indus
trial oenters in the neighborhood. Ir
this way,in the company of my daughs
ter Florence, | was able to see what
was going on in Sheffield, Bradford
and places where iron working pre-
vailed. | also went to South Wales TO
study the iron industries there, but
found the great iron works Of Pendar~
row, near Merthyr Tydvil, abandoned
and in ruins and the men who had
been employed in them living in idle.
ness and want.
"Did you visit the Welsh mines2'
"Yes, | did, said Judge Kelley,
land a sad picture they presented
Many Of the people who had once
been engaged in the iron works were
reduced to the necessity Of toiling in
them. | saw women and girls work
ing the coal at the mouths Of the pits.
Some were loading coal, others were
hauling it about; some were hand.
ling large plates, and all
we're engaged in forms Of labor which
7 quires no special skill, and therefore
were the most poorly remunerated.
The wages of the men are larger, as
they are skilled, but it is hardly sufi,
cient to enable them to live"
WOMEN ToILERs.
"What was the state OF affairs in the
English iron working townsi"
From Birmingham | drove to Lye,
Lye waste and Halesowen. These are
nail and chain making towns. A
woman in them can earn five shillings
a week making nails. From this, il
she be single, is to be deducted the
rent Of forge, cost Of fuel and cost Of
carrying the material, out of which
nails are made, TO the forge, and the
nails when made to the shops. If she
be married and have children, sht
must pay two shillings and sixpencl
for the care Of them and the house, anC
then she must live out Of the re.
naming two shillings and sixpence
The female brickmakers, the mould
ers and carriers are much envied By
the nail and chain makers, because
they earn as much as six shillings
week. At Cradley, however, tn
chAinmakers have the advantage, Al
they net six shillings. But one OF tn
! saddest things is that the envy OF tn
whole country side are the girls in tn
galvanizing establishments. They re
f csive seven shilling q week, but on &C
count Of the acids used and IN
affections Of the throat, the poor crea
! lures cannot work more than 81
! months continuously, and they ar
very soon broken down altogether"
From all this, what opinions hav
you formed Of industries at home an,
abroad2"
ut was not difficult to make up m
mind" said Judge Kelley. "In vie,
. Of all these facts, yeu may well believ
that have come home a more mites
protectionist than when l went away
| am sure that the people | saw wer
! ruined by free trade. They know 9
i much themselves, and they freely ca
press il. | remember well the word
Of an English workman to metre
trade and American inventions haI
: ruined us, said he. 1t would hay
0 been q good thing Tor the poor man
Q America had never been discovered.
g Judge Kelley aud his party left fc
I home on the Pennsylvania rajlroa
: yesterday afternoon.