The Indiana State sentinel., 1891-05-27
THE POOR MANS POLITICS.
HENRY GEORGE JR., ON ENGLAND.
Social Discontents and Social Conditions of
Great Br.tain-A CIenr Mind Tint OBJ
served the Drift of Labor Matters
For the Liberal LibsralshIp.

will be the poor mans politics." Lord
Rosebery is reported to have said in a re-
cent interview. That he was right is evil
dent. There are unmistakable signs that
the social discomfort which for some years
past has been so rapidly spreading and
swelling is tending to political expression,
and that changes that will bring new
issues to the front and give new meaning
to existing parties even if they do not
give rise TO new parties are al hand.
The same impulse which shows itself in
The United States in such movements as
the farmers alliance, and in the turning
of political discussion to economic ques-
tions, shows itself on this side of the At
lantic. Trades unionism is sweeping on
toward political action, and though moth
ing like a new party has yet taken form,
new political demands are being formu-
lated and pressed, candidates for parlia-
ment in the coming election are being
Intercepted and pledged, and in places
independent candidates are being brought
forward.
TO fully comprehend the political sit
uation IN Great Britain it is necessary first
to consider the social conditions.
a glance shows an unprecedented state
OF unrest and dissatisfaction. And there
is good reason. Since THE bitter cry of
outcast London" was raised by the congre-
gationalist ministers in 1888 and the ap-
palling extent of misery IN the east end
OF London was made known; and since
the more recentdriving OF the forlorn from
their sleeping places on the benches in
fIrufalcrar auH ol tho fHb on
embankment led to the march
ing OF gigantic army of un-
employed through the streets of
London. social conditions have, ii any
thing, become worse. Despite the growth
of population in Great Britain the popu.
latiOn OF the agricultural districts has
diminished. Farmers and farm laboreFs
have 1ocked to the cities and the conges-
tion in the capital has gone on with
/ accelerated speed Large as was the agri-
! cultural exodus to London in the decade
| ending in 1881, the forthcoming census is
| expected to show the exodus from coun-
/ try to city to have doubled. The
result has been TO pack population
| closer in the slums, until General
| Booth, counting the inmates OF prisons,
| asylums, warehouses and hospitals, and
''those who, having no capital or income
/ OF their own, would in a month be dead
! from sheer starvation were they eXclu-
\ sively dependent upon their own work, :"
/ and 'those who by their utmost exertions
are unable to attain the regu alton allow
ance of food which the law prescribes as
| indispensab even for the worst criminals
| in our iails," estimates that a tenth part
| of the population of England is in the
very slough of despond, and finds no se-
| rious question of his estimate
Against such q swelling tide of misery
| the ordinary means OF organized and in
| diyidual charity are clearly impotent.
| They have no more appreciable effect
| than baIling the sea with bucket. Even
| to those who have no other idea of help
| log suffering than that of giving, it has
| become clear that heroic measures must
| be taken If charity is to accomplish any
thing at all. Thus Gen. Booths plan for a
I huge City Colony" to contain all man.
ner OF manufacturing establishments,
under superintendence by sal
vatlon army officials; for a
EARN Colony" somewhere in rural Eng
land; and for an "Over-the sea Colony"
Tor the receiving OF ali those who may be
induced to leave their native country
| found ready acceptance as means oil
1 solving the social problem; and the half
million dollars he asked for was quickly
subscribed. So popular indeed with
| givers was this plan that subscriptions
were diverted from other charitable enter
prises, and even the regular donations to
the religious wing OF the salvation army
| fell off.
But from this solution, all save the ut
terly helpless among the masses turn
| away. They turn away with feeling that
something more than the most highly or
| ganized and best managed charity is
needed and is due; with a feeling that
men ought 10 have; without thanks TO
any one, a chance to make something
more than a bare living; with feeling
that an opportunity to enjoy little recre-
alton and some of the brightness of lie,
ought to be theirs of right Twenty years
of popular schools, the cheapening of
newspapers and books, and the ceaseless
! activity OF all manner OF political propa-
gandists have begun to bear fruit And
| though their thoughts are confused, the
masses have began to think for them
| selves. Distrusting familiar political lead
ers and political measures, they turned
once more to trade unionsm, and seized
the weapon of the strike to apply it on q
larger scale to wider purposes. The new
| hope of the new trades unionism spread
among them like fire through dry grass.
| Bo1ies of men were quickly banded to.
| gether who could never before be gathered
into organized bodies. One hundred
thousand dockers, 10000 gas workers,
10000 railway men, $4,000 seamen and
firemen, 10000 coal pUrters, 10000. car
men, and $4,000 general laborers-in all
nearly half a million men-were organized
in TWO years. Even that most difficult OF
ali classes of workers to move, the farm
laborers, started organizing These unions
moreover, gathered immense amounts OF
money. The dockers, for example, ire
spective of the large sums gathered dur.
ing the great strikes. raised S100 900 dur
ing the past year. OF this $4,000 was
spent in strikes, and, althous h all of it was
not spent for nothing, as shght rises in
wages in London, Hull, Southampton and
other places viii show. 1t has become evi-
dent that faith in the efficiency of strikes
as a means OF establishing general and
permanent increase in wages has, among
the dockers, as among the members of the
other unions, been steadily weakening.
/ With this weakening the tide is turning
back toward politics.
One clear miud quickly observed THU
| drift. With that keen insight which has
| made him the most successful of British
/ journalists, William It. Stead, editor of the
Reuietr of Reuiel0s, obtained and published
an interview with Sir John Gorst, men,
ber of parliament for Chatham and under
I L. IL IL. - 4.