Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-02
Of the Wage Worker of England
From Colonel Frank A. Burr.
THE MECHANICS ARE PROSPEROUS
And Live as Well and Contentedly as Their
American Brothers.
VERY PRACTICAL INVESTIGATION
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE D1spATcH.i

callty In the British capital. where SO many
of its laboring men live. "The fact is, he
continued, 'sthat business of all kinds seems
pushing, and he who is right and has got an
arm on him can earn good wages. Why, I'll
come near taking my e3 (15) this week, and
1 have taken e2 los for a good while. No, we
have nothing to complain OF, and I've taken
care of my family IN prime way. get
pence an hour for time work, and can make
more than shilling an hour by the piece,
and it's a nasty week when L do not take e2
(S10) or more"
''Let me see," said I, "are you not an ex-
ception to the rule?"
"Not at all. am a carpenter, but brick
layers, masons and other mechanics make
fully as much, because the price per hour is
regulated bv the trades societies, but when
it is possible all classes of work are let out
by the piece, and then it depends upon
mans skill and industry how much he
makes, but there are very few mechanics
worth having that cannot take from 60 up
if they choose to-
HEALTHY DEMAND ALL ROUND.
After much careful inquiry had already
ascertained the facts which this strong work
man put so clearly. There is a wonderful
Improvement in the condition of alf classes
of working people here, and the demand for
skilled labor can hardly be satisfied, even
in what most people would call this over
crowded metropolis.
You no longer see the hundreds of poor
wretches sleeping at night in Trafalgar
| Square, and in the daytime in the park,
that saw here three years ago when 1 spent
| six weeks poring over the mysteries of this
wonderful town. Perhaps the most power
| full evidence of prosperity is that it is next
| to impossible now to get young man to en-
| list in the army, and the Government is at
| this moment making frantic appeals Tor re-
| cruits with very few responses. 1t has re-
| duced the term of enlistment to three years,
and is constantly making regulations cal
culated to attract the young men of the land
| to the service. If they were in distress it is
| quite likely that handsome clothes and a
| life of comparative ease would attract them.
But they are getting work at good wages
now, and the army is next to their last
| thought.
POWER OF THE DOLLAR.
I have taken my carpenter friends case as
an example OF the wages paid to mechanics
in London because 1 found it so perfectly
fair, and such a perfect type of Is other
cabinetmakers and building trades OF that
character that 1 had conversed with upon
the subject. A common laborer of the
roustabout sort can command his e1 (5) or
more week for ordinary enough rough
work, and very many get30 shilliugs (S7 SOY.
Drivers and men of that class get from 81 90
to s. 'or six days labor. When you come
to take into consideration the purchasing
power of dollar to the English artisan or
laborer, this means a very excellent rate of
wages; indeed, more than is paid to a SIM
. liar class of workers in New York City.
"Do you live near here?" asked when
our chat about wages Jagged.
Five minutes walk around the corner.
Come along and get glass of bitter, My
missus got a new keg in last night
Together we walked several squares, and
finally stopped before very cosy two-story
brick house, with a pretty little garden in
front, and all the windows laughing with
flowers. Inside the good housewife brought
us some beer and bit of bread and cheese
She was tidy and the house neatness ITSELF
1t was such a home as any man in ordinary
circumstances might be proud Of
WHAT RENT RATES ARE.
"What does such house as this cost?" I
asked over our bitter.
81 am a tenant and paw six and six Isl 62)
a week, but have several rooms and bit
of a garden in the back. Lots of men do
not pay but four and six Isl 12) week.
They do not get quite as good a house of
course, but big enough for smallsfamily."
As looked around the nice little home,
wondered what New York working man
would think, if he could rent house and
garden within five minutes walk of half the
| railroads leading toward his work and
| within a not excessive walk of it, if he pre-
| ferred to foot it, rather than take the cars.
| Then if he could keep a small family on S.
a week, and buy good suit of clothes for
another S., whenever he needed it, he would
not think himself badly off, That is what
the English artisan or laborer can and does
do, including beer to drink at every meal.
Of course large number of workmen, who
are obliged to live over in the old city of
London, or within easy reach of the Strand,
that they may be able to get at their work
readily in the morning. are obliged to live
In quarters, something on the order of small
| flats, but even their rent charges do not
reach more than % or so cents a week more
than the mechanic, who has the little house
within a l or penny bus ride from the
great traffic thoroughtare.
INLEss FAVORED QUARTERS.
Over in the East Eud of London in such
rough districts as Whitechapel, Mile End,
Houndsditch and other familiar localities
many mechanics of the lower order live and
are employed in making cheap furniture
| and doing all classes of rough mechanical
work, where cheapness and not quality is
the consideration. Even here the rate of
wages are good compared with the class of
work done, and the men earn from 20 to 30
shiIlings (S5 to 81 50) and the women from
10 to 16 shillings (S2 30 to S4) week. The
better class Of workers in the various trades
will reach from 40 to so shillings ($10 to
S12 50) for six days work.
While the lodgings in this quarter are by
no means as good as many other places, they
are very cheap, are kept clean, and people
can live very comfortably on what they
earn, unless they leave their wages at the
rum shop before they get home, which is too
often the case. In fact the greatest draft on
an English laborer's wages is the money he
demands for beer, no matter how cramped
the family store But there is considerable
improvement noted even in this phase of
life here.
CAUSE OF THE GOOD TIMES.
This week 1 visited large cabinet man.
ufactory and ehatted with several Of whom
bore the same testimony to good wages and
general contentment I asked the manager
to what he attributed the marked improve
ment in the working classes during the
past few years. He said: ''The fact is,
masters who employ men, and people in the
the higher walks of life generally, have
been paying more attention to the labor
ing classes within the last two or three
years. The men also themselves have been
looking more to themselves. Their trades
| unions have been yery well managed. and