Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-06-02
In ENGLAND.
H1aTs OF SOCIAL FEATURES IN LIVER
POOL AND LONDON.
Concerning the Virtues and Vices Of
Crowded Humanity. and Operations
Of These contending Forces.


social investigator, to penetrate its inner
life and lift the veil for others to zee, to
show the wide contrasts of vice and virtue,
of misery and mercy which it presents
how mercy is seeking to alleviate misery,
and virtue to overcome vice-such is TIE
object which brought the writer over the
broad Atlantic, and which led him a couple
of days ago into the midst of the vast sea
of humanity which heaves and surges
through the streets of what has been most
aptly called the metropolis of the world
Bat the universe was not made in a day,
and it is scarcely possible to &" do" London
In brief length of time. Ones first feel
ing upon finding himself a part of the
busy life of this city is sense of utter
bewilderment, and you begin to doubt
whether you will be able TO 90 anywhere,
or learn anything, much less go every
where and see everything modest task
marked out for your correspondent. How
ever, we will not drown ourselves in de-
spair, but will float about on the surface OF
this human ocean, waiting, Micawber-hke,
for something to turn up. OF Liverpool, the
GREATEST MARITIME CITY IN THE WORLD,
And the second largest of the cities of Eng
land, will give few facts gathered while
on the wing. Naturally, from the object
of my mission here, Hooked beneath the sur.
face. A casual view shows city well gov.
erned, amply supplied with public institu-
tions, parks, etc, and blessed with some of
the noblest philanthropists in the realm,
but closer inspection reveals a picture
from which the moral sense shrinks in
mingled pity and adherence. Samuel
Smith, member of Parliament for this bor-
ough, says in the current number of the
Nineteentb Century. eve have large tracts
in Liverpool given over to the reign of
squalor, filth and rags we have extensive
areas inhabited by dense population,
where scarcely one well -dressed or respect
able looking person is seen. The women
are filthy in their habits, the children COW
cred with dirt and half clothed, and the
men usually drinking in the public house.
In these dreary regions there is nothing to
delight the eye or refine the taste. The
abject wretchedness that meets one on all
biuGa 10 bO u6ptCsSluS budb nDnc Will WISH
these slums except on errands OF religion OF
philanthropy. We have here 2 500 courts,
as they are called, inhabited, it is sup.
posed, by 10000 people. The sanitary
condition of these confined and unhealthy
culs-de-sac is very bad, and the death rate
excessive, and the want of appliances for
decency so great, that it is scarcely posi-
BILE to conceive of respectable family life
existing among them"
SMITHS REMEDY FOR THIS PLAGUE SPOT
Is in taking the offspring of the degraded
classes, and after few months of care and
training, shipping them for additional and
cheaper nurture to Canada. Fifty dollars
head he says will secure these unfortu-
nate children a respectable bringing up
and fair start in the battle of life. It is
doubtless from this class that the fallen
women who every afternoon and evening
swarm the streets and infest the entrances
to the railway stations, openly assaulting
all male pedestrians, even in broad day
light, are recruited. This feature of the
social life OF Liverpool is the one that first
thrusts itself on the notice Of the observing
American. He cannot help seeing it, and
his constant wonder is that, pending the
slow process of moral reformation, the
strong arm of British law is not used to
hold this evil in restraint. The laws of
this corporation, though 80 lax apparently
in this weightier matter, are stringent
enough in some things. Riding about in
omaibuses and trains for day or so, one
learns that these vehicles are allowed to
carry only stipulated number of passen-
gers, and that an excess of even one person
would lead to the infection of a fine on
both the driver and conductor. Another
and rather amusing regulation in regard to
street cars is, that they must travel at a
stipulated rate, going neither slower nor
faster than six miles an hour, so as to
reach given points on schedule time.
THERE'S slso amunicipallaw which prohibits
these cars from stopping either to take on
or let off passengers, excepting at what are
called "tram stations" located several
squares apart. This is to save the horses
from the strain of too frequently starting
the conveyance and both these rules,
am told, are rigidly enforced, the penalty
for infraction of either being fine i'm
posed on those having the car in charge.
To your correspondent, as he looked at this
picture and then at that presented in the
loDk lluc VI puBhC nOAoCS anu SHafAllS vi
fallen women that infest the thoroughfares,
with almost no restraint upon their powers
for evil, it appearedas though the local law
makers were straining at gnat and swal
lowing camel.
A soJoURN IN LONDON
Impresses a person with the fact that no
country in the world presents stronger con-
trasts in its moral and social life than are
afforded in England. One sees here the
noblest effects of virtue and the foulest
products of vice; the best results of civil.
cation and the worst the highest happi-
ness and the deepest misery. all fourishing
side by side. That the good dependencies
over the evil no one can deny; but how
little the better elements of society sue
coed in their efforts to conquer the forces of
wickedness. how poorly, indeed, they re-
strain, much less subdue them, are facts
which are as obvious and undeniable to
those fighting the battle as to the visitor
from abroad In London, which is always
the best point for observation for the social
reformer, there is presented Just now Pc
calisrly forcible reminder and illustration
of these facts. What are known through.
out the WOiiu aS tue NAY meetings are III
progress here. At these assemblings rep
resentatives of nearly all the religious aud
philanthropic societies in the realm gather
in annual conolave to talk of what has been
done in the past, and to lay plans for the
work of the future. The reports presented
show vast expenditure of time and effort
and enormous outlay of money, all be-
slowed, apparently, with the utmost free
ness, and the whole furnishing an exhibit
ton of Christian benevolence and activity
such as the Christian world at large might
well rejoice in. To visit few of these
meetings on successive days leaves one
with clear convection of the predominant
religious character of the nation, and were
1t not for the surroundings outside, you
could almost persuade yourself that while
visiting in Christian London you were So
journing next door TO Paradise. But how
different the realty for, in the city that is
the center OF these evangelizing influences,
there are over 6,o00 saloons. sc, 900 prosti-
tutes, and
1S0 r00 ENoyyN TUTryrS