Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1885-03-06
Wages I'm Free Trade England

Wages Free Trade England
Extracts from the address of
Hon. Thomas II. Dudley, delivered
at Astoria, New York, Oct. %
1891.
We pay in this country IN
wages to our people, on an average,
about double what is paid to the
laboring people of Europe, and in
some instances three times as much
as is paid to the labOring people
there for the same labor or work.
| know what | am speaking about.
/ lived eleven years in England, as
consul for my Government, and l
know that it is true.
In 1867 the Government sent
David 4. Wells to Europe for the
purpose of investigating the Ques-
ton of production aud labor in
England, in France, in Belgium,
and in Germany. One morning
when | went to my Office found a
dispatch from Mr.. Seward, stating
that at the instance of the Secre-
tary of the Treasury ! had been
detailed to accompany Mr.. Wells ;
and when Mr.. Wells arrived in
Liverpool he called on me and we
started on our trip. | therefore
have been in many of the manufac-
tories of Europe, and had an OPP
portunity to study them, and learn
the wages and the condition OF
their working people, and | know
of what ! speak.
On the journey we were at tho
town of Wednesday,, in what is
known there as the Black Country,
and as we were going along | saw
a girl, apparently about twenty
one years of age, with a good face.
She was unloading coal from a
canal boat into a wheel. barrow and
then wheeling it up an inclined
plane and shooting it into a furnace
/ ] said to Mr.. Williams, the proprl-
etor of the works, 'Will you per-
nit me to ask that girl question
or twoY lie at first hesitated, but
seeing | was in earnest, said, Ger
tainly, if you desire it, | said to
her: MY good girl, how much do
you earn here! She looked up
and said, when | have full work
can earn five shillings a week.
! Hess than dollar aud quarter
! Y
of our money! but do not always
have full work, and then | cant
earn so much 'Well,' | said, show
much do you call full work, and
how long have you to labor for
that five shillingsT Her reply
was, six days in week, and twelve
hours in a day. 'Well, | answered ,
Il suppose yOu live with your
/ father, and are not entirely de-
pendent on your wages?' Her reply
WAS, 'Sir, | have nofather, but | live
with my mother, who is an invalid.
'OhrI SAID. Then probably you
have somebody else who helps youf'
She said, no, but my mother gets
eighteen pence per week from the
parish remarked that this
made but six shillings and six
pence, and said, Il supposed they
had a room 2 Her reply was, yes,
and that they paid two and SIX
pence per week for it. remarked,
This leaves you bnt four shilllngs
tabout ninety-seven cents of our
money! She said, THAT was ALL
Ircplicd, do you tell me that you
and your mother warm yourselves
and cloihe yourselves out of that
four shilllngs ? Her reply was, Ser
tainly ; we have to do it, | then
asked her to tell me how they did
it, Her answer was, we get bread
every day, and potatoes generally
every other day ; a few potatoes
and we get a piece Of meat once
month
That night at the banquet giver
to Mr.. Wells and myself by Mr.
Williams the table was loaded
with every luxury that England
could afford. took to the tab.'
on my arm his wife, one of tht
most accomplished women in Eng
land but say to you that | did
not take one single mOuthful OF
food without thinking Of that poo
girl who had bread every day
potatoes every other day, and
piece of meat once a month.
Now do not mean to say tina
, every laboring man or every labor
, ing woman in England is reduced
! to the straits that this woman was
but | will say that | have seer
. thousands that were receiving NJ
better wages; and further say t
You that the laboring people 0
5 England and the laboring peopl
of Europe are not receiving hal
! the wages that we pay to our pee
D pie.
PoIiteness and Its Place.
Sir Arthur Helps had the happ
o faculty of puttitg expressions c
IL -. .nLo n fom .rnrla IL XaA II