Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-10-02
ENGLAND'S POOR.
Comparisons Made Between Them
and the WelI-fo-do of this Country.

The linton devotes considerable space
in an attempt to prove that because the
crowded cities of England and Scotland
contain many miserably poor people the
the cause is 20 be attributed to the free
trade princi pies of Great Britain. II
would attem pt to strengthen this conclu-
sion by quoting remarks of John Ruskin
and John Bright. The large hearted,
philanthrophic men bewailed the poverty
to be found in all large cities and their
desire was to draw the attention of the
people to it But neither Ruskin nor
John Bright intimated in the slightest
degree that their poverty was the result
of free trade. Bad as the poor may be
in England now they were infinitely
worse under protection.
But in protected America is there no
poverty Look at the misery and degra
dation caused by it in every large city in
the United States Is there not enough
room for pitiful tales of suffering New
York has as much to contend against
with its poverty stricken population, con
sidering Its age and size, as London or
Paris. Blind legislation may have large
ly TO do with The poor of all nations, but
these human walls are not the result of
free trade principles.
Fall River is manufacturing town in
Massachusetts. 1t is singled out TO show
how cheaply the people live and what
comfortable homes they can rent for a
small sum of money. II is so with the
manufacturing towns of the east general
ly. They are peopled chiefly by the fac
tory hands. Everything is cheap because
labor is cheap. The Union itself quotes
the remark that the mill hands live
there in good style on less than an aver
age of 81 day. They will consume as
much food as If they lived anywhere else.
In what way can the farmers product
command nigh price when factory
ment was made that there was room
enough to give each inhabitant ten acres
of land. Certainly. or more if necessary.
Land in the east is worth comparatively
little. The people have deserted the
farms because they could not real re
enough to make both ends meet. They
moved farther west, first to one state and
then TO another. always getting nearer the
setting sun. They never seem TO get a
chance to prosper. The Cover nme Mt
seems TO think them easy prey. and gen
orally they are. Their consent is not
asked about taxation. Their remon-
STRANGE that they are overtsxed is of no
avail. Whichever way they turn they
confront the faces of the assessor and the
tax gstherer. They mortgage their farms
10 help them over what they think tem>
porsry depression. Next year it is the
same and the years that follow are no
better. if not worse. Their remaining
possessions they dispose of and remove
with their family to newer home. There
they are bettered for time but the
paternal government thinks they are not
sufficiently protected" and SO where they
buy hat or a coat, or shirts or shoes or
mittens they wonder why they can be so
dear 1t is the same with the imple-
ments they use on the fsrm-all taxed so
high that they groan in misery. And the
products OF their land and their labor
they sell in the east so low that man can
live there in good style on less than a
dollar day.
Whatever comfort and happiness and
prosperity the people in this country en-.
Joy they do so not through protection,
but in spite of il