Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1892-10-17
L0NDON OUILLDRIVERS.
Habits, FoibIes, Service and Salary
of Men Engaged in Office Work In
the Great City-POor Pay for a
Good Deal of work.

of Men Engaged in Office work In
the Great City-Poor Pay for a
Good Deal of work.
LONDON, Oct. 8.
To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
The people over here are dreadfully per-
verse in their use of language. 1t is i'm
possible to get them to talk United States
or even good English. The class of gen.
teel persons whom we call clerks, they
persist, spite of all protests, in clubbing
"shop assistants" and the former name
they apply indiscriminstely to those en-
gagged at dssk end Office work This, too,
is only the beginning of thsir perversity.
Not only, according to American stand
ards, is this name wholly misapplied, but
it is further foreignized by being grossly
mispronounced. AS matter of fact they
haven't any clerks over here at all; those
who might become such If fair chance
were allowed them are recognized only as
clarks, the poor. inoffensiye 'e" having
been mercilessly pounced upon by John
Bull, who is always looking around for
something or other to conquer, and con-
verted, without rhyme or reason, into a
broad and harsh sounding "a" But the
men themselves are here, though disguised
under an inexcusable name, and in Lon
don the Clark family is very numerous
Those who ought to know tell us that
there are quite too many of them. They
have multiplied at marvellous rate since
the recent extension of common school
privileges. Almost every good has its at
tendant evil, and the great business firms
of London are agreed that one of the evils
of the late educational revival in this
realm is that it has flooded the big towns
with young fellows ambitious to WELD a
psn and keep books who would be hap
pier, and better off in all ways, keeping
pigs and following the pillow.
London clerks, besides being a very nu-
merous class, are also, for the most part,
a very intelligent and gentlemanly set of
fellows. Their dress aud manners are
part of their capital. Hence they gene
rally get themselves up in silk tie, and,
| of course, wear other things in keeping.
| The two most obvious facts to the casual
| observer who sees them on their way to
business and back, are, that they are good
dressers and inveterate smokers. Occa-
sionally they are piloted through the
streets by cigar, but the rule is to find
them guided to the o flee and elsewhere by
| the strong leading of a good old English
| pipe. So far they are quite democratic
and not at all above the level of other toll
| ers in this metropolis. But in other re-
| spects they are sort of aristocracy.
Which reminds us that in England every
/ fellow is an aristocrat of some sort. They
are not aristocrats of the first water, but
| they all have water of this kind on the
| brain in some measure. We heard Mrs.
Besant maintain, In a lecture to working.
men the other night, that the class feeling
was as strong in the lower as in the higher
orders, and that capitalists were no more
inclined to air it over workmen than work
men of various grades were TO air 1t ovel
one another. She was speaking to Eng
lishmen in regard to English foibles and
failings, and the applause which greeted
this home thrust could only be regarded
as the Erglishman's good natured way oi
pleading guilty. They all do it, and oi
course the London clerks do 1t. They ar:
decidedly clsnnish, to say the least, apo
the rest of London's wage earners, upor
whom these knights of the inkstand anG
Quill so universally look down, are giver
to the use of harsher phrase and do no
hesitate to characterize them as snobbish
We have felt a deep interest in thes,
London clerks. Without closing our eye
to their little frailties, we have recognized
in them q noble type of the race they be
long to, aud we are prepared at any tim
to vote that amongst all the various classe
of her msjesty's subjects, these gentlemen
: taken altogether, are second to none IL
either intelligence or average integrity
They are not running after "fads" In poll
tics; they are as quiet and orderly as an,
) government could wish. Their duties ar
performed with exactness, and, as thing
60 here, with dispatch. They preside owe
stupendous accounts and handle immens
sums of money, and defalcations are yer
, rare indeed. 1t is only occasionally this
wine and women get away with any G
them; which is saying great deal consi6
= ering that London offers to well dresse
masoulinity such enormous temptations
And now, If to all these things, we coul
only add with truth that the country put
3 q proper estimate upon this worthy clasl
and that those who use them in csrryin
, on the mammoth financial operations {
the biggest city in the world, are payin
them fair salary, we should record sue
a creditable fact instantly, and dismil
these swells of citydom, without furth'
. notice, to the undisturbed enjoyment I
t their ledgers and cash drawers, their an
{ pie incomes and inevitable pipes, H'