Morning journal and courier., 1884-01-14
News by Telegraph FROM ALL QUARTERS. LABOR IN ENGLAND, A Hard Lot for the Work
 1ngmen. THE LABORS OF CONGRESS. Matters to Come Up in Both
 Houses. FL MAHDPS VICTORIOUS MARCH, The Egyptian Troops Flee
 ing Before Hina.
FL MAHDPS VICTORIOUS MARCH.
The Egyptian Troops Flee
 ing Before Him.
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL.

Labor And Living I'm EnEland-A Report From Our Consul Generas-The Un. happy Lot of English Laborers and The Causes Conducting Thereto.
 WAsH1NaToN, Jan. 13. = Frelinghuysen, Secretary of State has received communica- ton from Mr. Merritt, United States consu
 general at London, bearing date of November 30. 1883, in regard to the cost of labor and living In Great Britain, from which the fol- lowing extracts are made :-''In 8 9eneral sense extreme poverty and distress among the laboring classes is due to the low wages
 which they receive. These wages are in
 most cases such as the employer chooses to pay, the laborer as 8 rule being helpless from the fact of his inability to change his resi- dence and to seek other employment. The existing depression in the iron, steel and coal industries presents discouraging out. look for the future. In many localities la-
 borers are working at starvation wages as matter of necessity, while employers are calculating losses rather than gains. The lsborers in these industries are at the iunc- ture demanding an increase of 15 per cent, which the employers decline to accide, claim ing that they have been losing money for
 the past year even at present prices. It is proper to observe that at and contiguous to many of the manufacturing centers, 8 most distressing state of affairs has for g long period of time existed among the lower or laboring classes, which condition has in fact become chronic. Each succeeding gen. eration inherits this chronic state or condi- ton together with it's unhappy characteristics, traits of thought and life. Born in poverty accustomed to squalor and being amidst iude- cent surroundings, they become inured to them and propagate them as the creatures of the jungle do their species. The better classes in these localities have to same ex- tent become awakened to the necessity of the adoption of philantz ropic measures for i'm proving the moral and social conditions of the lRboring classes to whom I refer. The school act and sanitary laws are we'll armed in these directions and the progress thus far justifes the hope of much amelioration of the condition of these unfortunate people.
 This deplorabIe state of affairs is due to sev- eraI causes such as occasional closing of mills or rulning on half or two thirds time, sickness and drunkenness. These together decreased the average earnings of all trades about seven per cent During the prevalence of high wsges in the coIleiries in 1873 the Northumberland Union association kept a Careful account of the time lost on acco unt of drunkenness among the miners of the Tyne district, which was set down at nine and a half per cent At the present time the news from the manufacturing districts points to renewed ris1ngs among the working men, but during the last few years a more compromising spirit may be noted in the re lstions of labor and capital and arbitration may now, as it has before, prevented the evils sure to follow in the wake of suspended la- bor. Happily the days of the famous long strikes seem to have passed away.
 Mr. Merritt reports that the total value of exports form the various districts of the United States in Great Britain and Ireland amounted to more than S l65. O0O, COG, or $14,- OOO 900 less than the value of exports during the preceding year.