Wichita eagle., 1888-10-11
PAUPER1zING COMPETITION.
How the Work and Wages Of Free Trad
Struck Methodist Minister.

From the Trenton State Gazette
SIR: have just returned from Europe,
having visited England, Belgium and
Germany. Ten years ago 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 I gave special attention
to the condition of the laboring class. /
made inquiries personally from many
sources as to wages in all departments of
manual labor. took pains to know tor
myself the condition of the laboring
classes as to their habitations, their
clothing, their food and their education,
and the result of these careful observa-
tions is a feeling of sadness for the labor
ing classes of Europe which never had
before, and which no one can have IN
less from personal observations for HIM
self.
At the docks at Glasgow, Scotland, l
saw women with wheelbarrows, heavily
laden, in line with coarse and hard look
ing men, wheeling freight to and from
the steamboats,. In the fields, doing all
kinds of field work, including the heavy
work of getting hay and grain. | saw as
many women as men hard at work, and
working as late as O'Clock in the even
ing. l saw this In England, all the way
from Liverpool to London, / saw it in
Belgium and Germany, even TO greater
extent than in England. In the cities of
Antwerp and Brussels. in Belgium, and
in Cologne, Germany, l saw women do
ing the work of horses. They were at
tached to carts which were heavily laden.
l noticed, especially in the city of Co
logne, Germany, much of the hardships
of the laboring classes. / stood on the
bridge of boats crossing the Rhine and
saw many pitiable spectacles. To one
cart with nearly two-horse load of
truck for the Cologne market were hitch
ed, by ropes across the breast and around
the waist, young man and young wo-
man-brother and sister, evidently, for
there was 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. l
noticed the young girl especially She
would pull till every joint and muscle in
her body fairly trembled before the load
would start. In the market place of the
all. Women did all the work there.
lIcIc WcIc HuiiuiCOS VI tuSLI III tHCSC
market places. The morning l was
there it was raining hard, and these
poor creatures were literally drenched
with rain.
For all this hard toll and those 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 labor in Europe. 1t is sometimes 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 con-
tain very few dishes of food. Meat and
butter are luxuries rarely enjoyed by the
wOrkingmen In Europe.
turned my back upon Europe with
feelings of sadness for the toiling mil
lions of those lands and my face toward
this, my dear old country, feeling that
our land is the earthly paradise of the
laboring man. l do wonder that every
ship from these lands is heavily weighted
with strange passengers for these hospit-
able shores. | also feel more than ever
before that it is the 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
blessing of American protection to labor
shall give place to the pauperHing COM
petition of free trade.
THOMAS HANION