The Labor enquirer., 1884-11-29
NExllra.ll 100 D Il|
Il . Starving Condition II Bcth this
Country end p Marry
England.
From London tEns., Ju.taos.

From London tEng.) Justice.
At last when works have been shut up
over the country, when from every de-
partment Of trade q cry Of distress arises,
when ships whose burthen aggregates
hundreds Of thousands oftons are lying
idle in our ports and rivers, when short
time is the rule rather than the excep
ton in all our factories, and day after
day more men and women are thrown
out to starye in our streets at last we
say the capitalist press has begun to take
note of the sufferings of our working
people. charitable persons subscribe q
few hundred pounds for soup kitchens,
and discussion is held in the house of
commons as to the necessity for an in
'quiry. Yet everyone who has watched
the course of trade even specifically
knew perfectly well that this great In
dustrial crisis was approaching, and that
it would probably be one of the most
trying of this country. The facts are all
before u.s. Butno steps whatever were
taken, or have been taken yet, to cope
with the misery caused by this frightful
collapee. We go on as if these periods
of crises were inevitable, and no more
under the control of human action than
an eclipse or an earthquake. Onlywhen
starvation and misery on an unprece.
dented scale meet them at everv street
corner, and the danger of some serious
movement on the ruined people is felt
to be too near to be pleasant, only then
do our wise legislators consider and re-
ject motion for inquiry.
Up to this time .,let us remember, poll
ticians of both parties and statists of
the highest repute, economists and Off
cials of every color, have been congratu-
lating us upon the decline of pauper-
ism" Anyone who pointed out, as JUS
tice has never ceased to point out, that
poverty was increasing to an alarming
extent had this decrease of pauperismn
fallacy thrown at them. The time has
gone by, we take it, for any more such
abominable trickery as that. Everyone
knows now that pauperism has decreased
simply becat Sc the parishes won't re-
=lieye the poor. When man Ike Sam
uel Smith, the member for Liverpool,
speaks as he spoke last week in the house
of commons, and-to his honor be it
said-told the truth about the condition
of his own constituents, although his
statements confllcted seriously with his
contentious against the Democratic Fed
Grafton last year, we may be quite sure
that matters are ina terrible mess in
deed. 1t it is true that Mr.. Smith still
thought that drink was great cause of
distress and emigration a great remedy
for it; but the tone of his speech was
very different from that which we are
accustomed.to to hear from capitalist-lib-
erals. Mr.. Mundeila, for instance, the
man who ordered Mr.. Fitch to write that
disgraceful report on oyer-pressure
against his own expert, Dr. Crichton
Browne, was quite cheery over the whole
business. He literally jeered st the
misery of the people. Cheap food
which they can't earn the money to buy
will get the starving workers of Sun
derland, Newcastle, Liverpool Sheffield,
Glasgow, &c, out of their, dificultiesl
1t makes starving man feel no better,
Mr.. Mundella, you will perhaps be sur
prised to learn, to be told that his
brother men are starving by reason of
the action of your class in other coun-
tries just as they are here! If anyone
wishes to rouse the bitter hatred of the
workers against the capitalists during
the coming winter, he cannot do better
than read to them Mr.. Mundella's speech
of last Friday, and add to it some of Mr..
Sidney Buxton's driyel, with the self
seeking common-places of Mr.. Slagg.
Unless we are much mistaken, this sort
of superfne contempt for the misery of
the working classes will not "pay," even
from the party point of view, which is
all people OF this kind think about.
But though the capitallst.iberals
talked in this deplorable way about the
suferings of the producing classes, it
would be absurd to say that the conserv-
atives who raised the discussion took a
wider view of the question. 1t is clear
from the speeches of Mr. Chaplin, Mr..
,McIver and others, that they look to
some form of protection as remedy for
crises in agriculture and commerce.
This, in the sense in which they mean it,
is quite absurd. Leaving France, Ger
many and Austria aside where the 'pro-
tected" branches of agriculture, such as
the beet-root industry, are in vet worse
tease than any of our home business, let
usiturn to the United States. That is a
great protectionist country. and there
Lord Dunraven has learnt the theories
on the subject, which it seems he intends
to parade in Sheffield, and to bring for,
u,ord uikh the S1nnort of II ord Salisbury