Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1892-09-27
THE BRITISH WORKMAN.
His Social, Civil, Industrial and Pc
euniary Disa biIities as Seen by Him.
selG-Some Impressive Facts-Wages
and Cost of Living.

euniary Disa biIities as Seen by Him.
selE-Some Impressive Facts-Wages
and Cost of Living.
LONDON, Sept. IA.
To the Editor OF the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
England is the paradise of working
men," was what Britisher observed to us
the other day. But he was not a working
man himself; otherwise his opinion might
have been altogether different. This, at
any rate, was not the verdict of the recent
Trades Congress. In that body. which
represented not far from a million and
three quarters of British workmen, the
view seemed to be unanimously held that
under the social and industrial system of
Great Britain workingmen are placed at a
serious disadvantage and are grievously
oppressed. Some of the complaints en-
phasized in that gathering are wholly un-
known in the United States. Our own
country may be far as yet from the ideal
conditions of workingman's paradise,
but 30 is it also very far from being pur-
gatory to that honorable guild; and the
latter half of this proposition. according
to the findings of the recent trades coun-
Gil, cannot be affirmed with strict accuracy
of this class ridden mother-land. Things
are far better here than they used to be,
and the trend in every department is to-
ward improvement. But long distance
has yet to be travelled and no end of stu
pendous obstacles must be removed-Eug-
lish workmen themselves being the judges
before English conditions of life can be
compared favorably with those prevailing
in the American republic.
One of the long standing and still exist
ing curses in this staid old nation is the
iron bound system of caste which obtains
in 1t. An American consul of marked in
telligence and unusual facilities for obser-
vation observed to us recently that he had
been the rounds of all the big dinings-out
in his district, and the rule from which he
had observed no single departure was that
the wholesale tradesmen and large manu-,
faoturers had no dealiugs socially with the
retailers big or little, and that the country
gentlefolk held aloof just as vigorously
from all social affiliation with the manu-
facturer and wholesale dealer. He might
have added, too, with equal truth-and of
course this was implied-that the county
gentry were in their turn ostracised just as
mercilessly by men of title, and that in
/ this contest for the maintenance of social
dignity the workingman was nowhere, and
had no chance of getting anywhere. To
be sure he is man for all that, but it can
hardly be compatible with sense of man
| 1x,i ind 70 ha yoo1a 70 onI fool
all the time that his lines are cast among
people who hold him to be their natural
servant, and whose invariable attitude to-
ward him, excepting when they want fa-
vor at his hands, Is that of undisguised
contempt.
In civil life it is substantially the same
To be eligible for service on boards oi
guardians and on those local boards called
vestries q man must pay rates to certain
amount, and the same qualification seemi
to be necessary in the case of jurymen
This means that candidates for these posi-
tions must own property and be fairly vel
off in life; a requirement, which, as thing
90 in England, leaves the workipgman, il
regard to local administration, to the car,
of the poor and to the ordinary safeguard
of the law, in virtually the same position
of ostracism in which he stands with ref
erence to social matters. 1t serves N,
1 ROOQ Gnu 10 Ieuluu US tuht uo uAS Dt6u III
vested with the electoral franchise; for, il
the first place, he is not equal to the 80
called gentry even in the enjoyment of thi
privilege. Even in this commonest boo
Of citizenship he is Disseminated agains
in England. Besides, the most that ca
be made of the vote which the majority @
the workmen are allowed at general cleo
tions is to cite it as an evidence of i'm
provement in their condition; it can in n
sense be held to justify even the least O
the civil disabilities under which they ls
Dor. And that the disabilities we hav
J noted are held by the workmen themselve
to be irksoms and unjust is shown in th
strongest possible manner by the condem
natory action taken upon them at the n
cent Trades Congress.
, It would seem too, from the proceeding
of that body, that the British workma
! has grounds of complaint, such as coul
hardly arise in America, against numerou
. expressions inflicted upon him by the go,
ernment. These matters are the mo,
prievous and hurtful because they touc
him at his most vulnerable point, and ten
to keep down at its minimum, and even I
reduce, the small return he gets for lii
of patient and skilful toll. Our observ
t ton may be at fault, but go far as 1t h,
gone we are quite sure that the Americs
government cannot be charged justly viii
discriminating against home industries
: favor of those abroad, or with jewir