Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-10-18
LABOR IN EUROPE.


How she werk and Wages OF Free Trade
Struck n Methodist Minaster.
l have just setured from Europe,
having visited England, Belgium and
Germany. Ten years ago 1 visited
quite leisurely England, Scotland and
France. l was then deeply and sadly
impressed with the hardships and
poverty of the laboring classes in the
Old World. In my recent visit gave
special attention to the conditions of
the laboring class. l made inquiries
personally from many sources as to
wages in all departments of manual
labor. took pains to know for my
self the condition of the laboring
classes as to their habitations. their
clothing. their food and their education,
and the results of these careful OBJ
servations is feeling of sadness for
the Iaboring classes of Europe which L
never had before, and which no one
can have unless from personal obser-
vations for himself.
At the docks at Glasgow. Scotland, l
saw women with wheelbarrows heavi-
ly laden in line with coarse and hard
looking men. wheeling freight to and
from the steamboats,. In the fields do
ing all kinds of field work. including,
the heavy work of getting hay and
grain, l saw as many women as men
hard at work, and working as late as
eight o'clock in the evening. l saw
this in England all the way from Liv-
erpool to London. l saw it in Belgium
and Germany even TO a greater extent
than in England. In the cities of Ant
werp and Brussels, in Belgium, and in
Cologne, Germany. | saw women do
ing the work of horses. They were
hitched to carts which were heavily
laden. l noticed especially in the city
of Cologne, Germany, much of the
hardships of the laboring classes. [
stood on the bridge of boats crossing
the Rhine and saw many pitiable spec
tacleS. To one cart with nearly two
horse load of truck for the Cologne
markets were hitched by ropes across
the breast and around the waist, a
young man and n young woman
brother and sister, evidently, for there
was a strong family resemblance-and
the load was so heavy that the two
were compelled to stop every twenty
yards, and then it was hard to start
the load. noticed the young girl es-
pecially. She would pull till every
joint and muscle in her body fairly
trembled before the load would start.
In the market-place Of the city of Co
lOgne there was no shelter at all.
Women did all the work there. There
were hundreds of them in these mar
ket-places. The morning was there
it was raining hard, and these poor
creatures were literally drenched with
rain.
For al this hard toll and these long
hours each day the wages paid were
scarcely half of what is paid to our la
boring classes. This is true of all
kinds of la Dor in Europe. 1t is some
times said that while wages in Europe
are low the living is very cheap. They
do live cheaper than we do The poor
creatures can't do otherwise. They
live in the plainest manner. You
rarely find bit of carpet on the floor
OF even what they call their spare
room. Their tables contain very few
dishes of food. Meat and butter are
luxuries rarely enjoyed by the work.
ing-man in Europe.
l turned my back upon Europe with
feelings of sadness for the tOiling
millions of those lands and my face
towards this, my dear old country,
feeling that our land is the earthly
paradise of the laboring man. / do
not wonder that every ship from these
lands is heavily weighted with strange
passengers for these hospitable shores.
| also felt more than ever before that
it is sacred duty of every American
citizen by voice and vote to perpetuate
to the labOring man in this land the
pre-eminent position which he in this
country of all other countries in the
world enjoys. 1t will indeed be a sad
day for the laboring man when, by
the vote of the American people. the
blessings of American protection to la
Dor shall give place to the pauperizing
competition of free trade Thomas
HaaslOB, ia Trenton N j. Stdte ca
zette.