New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-04-30
INDUSTRIAL ENGLAND.
BY ROBERT p PORTER. MEMBER OF THE LATE
TARIFF COMMISSION.
THE IRON-wORKERs OF DOwLAIs.
ZION 4 srEcIAL conREsroNpENr oF TnE TRIBUNE.l

GFRoM A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRrBUNE.l
| MRRTHYR 'iYDYIL. wales, harch 20
| ! walked from Merthyr Iydvil to Dnwlals, where
are probably the largest iron works in the world.
employing # ia said. o 900 hands-4,000 under and
5000 above ground. In the journey one passes
houses black white and gray, yellow and mouse
| colored pi.bald and notified. In raised gardens
| looking, rs Rowe says like blacksmths small COAL
fenced" from the road with very intermittent
boulders, " a few bony cabbage-stalKs were sham
ming 70 grow" Muddy streamlets were cascadlhg
from the hill side. Rails aud diuey railway bridges
and fiat-topDed sOping piles OF black rubbish ran
and rose on all sides. The bonses on both sides
of the narrow, dirty, winding, steep road
| leading to Dowlas are occupied by the
miners and labOrers. They are about on par WIN
| those at CoatbrIdge, Scotland. The floors of some
are sunkcn lowor than the streets. ana others are
entered by steps The doors were mostly thrown
wide open. and, toilod up the hill, had excel
lent opportunity for observing how men with large
families exist on 2s 3D. or go cents, day Without
| any eyaggeraiIon they are little better than pig
styes-broken- leaky. grimy novels, Win
| everything crowded into one general room DOUBT
if in that walk Of two miles found one comfortable
home, one cheerful. tidy cottage. They were uni
YersaIly diapidated. universally gloomy, win no
outlook in front better than pools of black. shiny
mud and no prospect ut the back but yawning
chasms and dismal mountains of Stag.
As for DowIals, l can only say that it has been
| trutbfully described "a dirty, slovenly big VII
lage" in which "thc clareT the cosier" seems to be
the motto. The following is an accurate description
of the utter bewidermentof stranger first turned
adrift In the Dowlas works:
He hears a siehiDg roar like that of ocean, hiss
of steam, "A clank Of IRON, a whir Of wheels; sui
| phurous smoke and spray OF gIlt cnohe
| lis nOstrls; he sees round keeps and
angular bastions, with fire leapIng from
| their summit ana glowing al their base; toiest
| of chimney stalks-a jumbo OF mysterious Dulld-
iugs of all shapes and sizes, maze oil muddy rais,
mounds of coal and lime pies Oi metal, TIMBER ana
| white brick; an army OF men, women ana chlIdreh
| whose diverse garments are turned INTO uniform
| by unYarYlug CRIME iacIngs The siush on inc
! ground black AZ ink and sticky a. tar, ana men
| and girls shoveling II up by truck Ionds.
Wherever the dazed visitor seeks rest for the sole
Of his foot a tram-horse tTots right at him. 1t is IN,
| deed bewlderlng nightmare YlslOn-that tuflu
| Valley of the Shadow OF Tips"
| Some of the girls one sees in this part of South
Wales are very dirty worry bod-eyed, and yet
squalidly picturesque, with their cheap earrings
and their colored kerchicfs They ply their shovels
like nayvies, and lit immense blocks of stone and
| coal The employment of women in this labor.
thanks t0 the Factory act is growing less in Eng
land and IN 1880 not over 5000 were so employed.
| Dr. Rowe in his little work the laboring classes
| of England, says that an enormous quantity OF
drink is consumed in Merthyr.
What do the miners live onp
| Beer" IL the first answer you get.
| When maddened with drink the miners fight
long and furiously. They turn out into the street,
! strip to the waist, and. not content with binding
| one another with their sedRe-ham blows, they
fasen their teeth in one anothoTs and should
ers and worry the flesh like dogs.
Some Of the mner4 attend chapel on Sunday.
but the English Established Church Judging from
the following description Of the parish church of
this town has no bold on the Welsh miners:
II has a dImly illuminated clock, but that is the
only thing bright about II. II seems 10 be mouder-
| ing away in its green church yard as the Bibles
| painted On some of the tomOstonrs are scaling OF
from the green slabs. The iiags are as damp as the
| bricks of cellar. When the clergyman gOes 10 the
! commemorative he Is quite cNilcd from hIs sparse
| congregation. There wcrt between forty and fifty
| The faded organ seemed TO he shlVerlng
up in the chilly gallery and when the
hin OLD CLERK in wig and spectacies AID ong-sSirtod
! coat took round the pewter plato he looked Ike
| the last of hI4 race IL was worth while gong t.
church. however If only to hear the Lltany read In
| Welsh IL was asni-Ike piece OF music.
Returning down the hill to Merthyr Tydvl
nasscd the old Pen Darran Iron Works. now
closed. and rapidly going into decay. Tho
! cate WAS opened and | entered. Within
| The gray moss-grown walls 1t looked Ike "a
dead city. Twenty years ago 5000 busy men circ!ed
round those ruined workshops. All was then rs
| smoky ~ black, ~ active and as bewIldrring as
| uowlais IA now. | wandered amid the gray stone
blast furnaces. now covered with grass ana weeds,
and through the vast sheds in which lay the pom
dcrous machinery thick with rust Shafing.
wheels. engines, steam-hammcrs, anvi,s. FORCES,
pudding furnaces. rolling machines with rust
accumulated had remained silent ana stationary for
! tveu;y wears The solitude az the place was only
| broken by lhc rushing OF q stream caScnding down
tho hill and the singing oi the bird' In the past
IA la Ia IAN r. ne
flames from melting iron, ana ~ the once
| smnkr.enyelopcd rattcIs, the BIRDS build
their nests. Here. too tho Ky Ky, eii, r
| work which once encascd the boiler has crlhDi"I
| away aud tho rusty iron shells look llke row OF
dead piants bursting from thelr stone collins. Moss
! grown was The mortar, and green vegetation was
nee ming forth inside where twenty years ago hls'ed
he ste lm that propelled tho now notonlcss ma
cnn,rv The outfencc had collapsed and become
uay with moss and hchon the shops had decayed
by degrees; abandonment aud deso'atlon had crept
downward toward IN. Valiry' . ana hh'nIe NnS
slowly asserting herself again. The bell, that Tor
merry called the men 80 work, and Tue clock remain
silcht in the cupola and tie eaihcr-lndcator on
tbe top had lost all ts letters hat The w.
sitting IN the midst ut this huge industrial grave
y,rJ The Thought occurred, that possibly the sig
| 11,fcance of tins was the fact that tho iron III
| dustry had taken deep root in the Tar west. or
that perhaps better paid better fed better housed
men with brighter futures and larger possbhtle',
mill with its cheap Labor located IN the centre oil
the second great coal district of England within a
few IS of three important ports, nad i0pnu IL I'M
profitable to do. ROBERT L. PORTER
In Mr. Porters letter No. XXI. the Merthyr Tyd-
| vii Coal District, a typographical error gave wrong
footing TO the table Ofhe output OF the various British
districts In 1880 The corrected table Is as fol-
lows:
| Tons OF
| DistirI Iron Ore.
| Yorkshire cleveland Dlstrictl......... 63OO,OOO
| - NorInainnt onshiru .................. 100000
| - tv'uhcrI,nd ...... ................. 100000
| a. Ianc,sntre -.. ................... 1900 900
| = iJncolnahire - .......... ............. 100000
| 12I0O00O
Iron ns obtained rom collleres 6,39852s
| Remainder OF Kingdom, Including Ireland. o2TSsl
|