Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-17

success, this complaint fell upon my ears
with peculiar interest and force.
smerican Workers Own Their Homes.
In America, she said, sol many of the
working people after time bought for
themselves little home of their own, and
otherwise got on so we'll that it was no OBJ
ject to them to enter into organizations for
the improvement of their condition; and, of
course, while these held aloof it was diff
cult, for want of proper leading and in
spiration, to get others to combine But in
England, she added, working people were
working people. They began so and re-
manned SO, with the rarest exception,
to the end Then. too, she said
and here is the fact which tells so
awfully against the environments of the
British workman, and which proves SO con-
clusively that the chief cause of his poverty
is not in himself-the English laboring
classes are all substantially in the same
boat. Hardly any rise above the common
level. They csnnot. and the situation is
such that personal interests are merged in
class interests, and are best promoted, as
consequence, by class organization.
How happily true is that part of this ex-
PLANTATION which applies to the UDited
States, the reader will know as well as do.
Yes, we must plead guilty. 1t is possible
for the American workman to own his own
house after time, and to rise in the world
in many other ways In thousands of
instances, throughout every branch OF trade
and labor, are these things actually done.
ChamberlaIn's Old Ago Insurance.
When that which is portrayed is discred-
table to them, we may surely accept rs not
being oyerdrawn the picture which people
give us Of themselves Thus. when a man
like the Hon. Joseph Chamberlain under
takes to set before us the deplorable state
in which the masses of his own countrymen
are living, it may we'll be said, 'He that
hath ears to hear, let him hear, and let him
believe that what he hears is the plain, un-
vanished truth The London Spectator
places Mr.. Chamberlain, in his influence
with the masses, second only to Nh. Glad
stone. This gentleman set in motion not
long ago great scheme for old age insur-
ance. The scheme lies buried at present,
like many other things good and bad among
the debris of the Parliament which has just
been dissolved. What had chiefly touched
the heart of Mr. Chamberlain, in consider
ing the condition OF the British masses, was
that so many of them should end their days
on the parish and should find interment at
last in the grave of pauper. And this
to quote only few words-was what he
had to say on the subject
The summary Of all his investigations
was, he said, that sat the present time, of
the working classes, one in two, if he
reaches the age of 60, is almost certain to
come upon the poor law for his subsistence. "
"Shame," was the exclamation greeting the
speaker at this point, and as an English
man must have been the author of it, we
NAV surely be excused if we re-echo the
sentiment and say it is shame indeed.
Searching for tho Reason.
But whose fault is ito Let Mr.. Chamber
lain tell u.s. SIT may we'll be-" he says,
s'that some of these deserve their fate; they
may have been brought to it by intemper-
ance or misconduct of some kind or an
other But nobody will persuade me that
that is true of all of them cheers or
even of the larger proportion Of them. 1t
is impossible that one out of two of the in
dustrial population of this kingdom have
done anything to deserve the fate which,
under existing circumstances, is inevitably
in store for them Cheers.
The cheers were given, should say, not
to applaud this terrible indictment, but
simply to express faith in its accuracy. Some
time later, in speaking on the same subject,
Canon Blackley said substantially what Mr..
Chamberlain had said. The proportions
which pauperism attained among the old
were not easily. ascertained, he observed,
but as the clergyman of a large parish he
had examined the regist srs of death in his
charge, and had found that of
those Pensioners who, in II years,
had died over TO years of age 81 per
cent had died in the receipt of pauper relief
Moreover, at his request, 20 or 80 other
clergymen had made similar inquiries and
their returns placed the proportion at As per
cent These returns, he said, related to all
classes all over England, and if the number
of those who provided for themselves were
deducted, what lesson did we learn but the
horrible lesson that, roughly speaking, half
our working people, if they reached GO years
of age, were doomed to die as paupers.
Wretched Wages Is the Cause.
Statements like these are so astounding
so really awful-that we are led to ask
again: Who is to bame? The answer, how
ever, though 1t will come from different
source, will be the same as that already
given, and will place the responsibility
upon the same shoulders. In this case it is
the great labor champion, Henry Broad
hurst, NJ. P. who speaks, and what he says
is, to give his exact words: "The blame of
being pauper is not due SO much to those
who come on public charity but to those
persons who pay them such wretched wages
as to prevent their saving anything"
Such declarations as the above, coming
from sources SO opposite, yet so disinter-
ested and trustworthy, require from me
neither explanation nor establishment. I
cannot doubt their truth, and am inevita-
bly, shocked by them. They preclude alto
gether any rational comparison of British
with American workmen, either as regards
their present condition or their prospects
for the future. Alter this showing 1 do
not wonder that the labor question is in the
forefront of English politics, or that the
workingmen in this country hang together
as they do. And far from rejoicing that
these things are so, every true-hearted
American must wish that the situation were
quite otherwise and will hail the day when
labor here shall have wrought out by some
means its much needed deliverance from
these conditions HENRY TUCKLEY