Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-07
forded US, as we reflected upon it, sensa-
tions which were still more pleasant
Young Leader of Iahor

forded US, as we reflected upon it, sensa-
tions which were still more pleasant.
A Young Leader Of Labor.
It Is Toynbee Hall we are seeking, q
place of sweetness and light, an educa-
tional center, planted, happily, as SO many
such places are now in this city, in sur
roundings where it is much needed. We
have an engagement here with Mr.. W. G.
Pearson, prominent lecturer on social
topics, leading official in the Dockers'
Union and member of the Executive
Committee Of the London Trades Council.
He meets us in the Library, a trim, dark
eyed young fellow of about 30, and as We
adjourn for conversation to the court
yard of the hall he waves with pardonable
pride . hand still horny with the hard work
it does, and says Of the stately pile about
us, t"This is nv Alma Mater" He is
man who has risen from the ranks and yet
is still in the ranks. With no chance at all
to get a day school education, he has at-
tended lectures and classes at Toy1bee
Hall, and has SO employed his evenings in
its splendid reading room that now he can
speak with the best, and is more than fit to
hold a conversation on almost any subject
with Her Majesty. He is often chosen to
interview political leaders, and it was but
recently that he was "talking back" at
Gladstone. Still, however, does he toll as
a common docker, and he lives on dockers'
wages. He prefers to do this, because his
aim in life being to lift up his fellow labor
ers, he believes be can accomplish this bet
ter by staying with them on their own
hard level of toll and pay.
This gentleman confirmed what had been
previously told me of the life and wages of
the toilers on the Thames by Mr.. Quelch.
Their pay is nominally at the rate of six
pence ha'penny and seven pence an hour,
but, leaving out the many who hardly ever
get anything to do, their average weekly
earnings will not exceed 10 shillings.
Enough for a Single Mans Living.
He himself by working when he could,
would hardly average more than 18 shillings
(S4 60) q week. Having no one to care for
but himself he managed to get along on that,
but could not conceive how those lived who
had families. Far out from the center of
London small dwellings of four rooms might
be had, he said, for six and sIxpence a
week, but the railroad fare even on work
mems trains would add to that a shilling or
more, and in London itself it would be hard
indeed to get house for less than IL shil-
lings week. As we sat there in the
twilight of Toynbee court yard, Mr.. Pear
son discoursed eloquently and with moving
pathos upon the awful lot of the London
laborera He was not orthodox in the
churchly sense, he said, yet his work in
their behalf he looked upon as the most
religious work he could engage in. The
mass of the men themselves moved only in
great labor struggles like so many automa-
tons. They accepted poor paw and grind
ing want as their natural inheritance, and
not only did not know how to go to work to
get anything better, but for the most part
were so utterly without spirit and ordinary
human ambition, that they hardly aspired
after anything better.
By this time a squad of Whitechapel
boys had gathered in the court, and one of
the Tovnbee instructors were putting them,
with somewhat comical results through the
rudiments of q military drill. ''There,"
said Mr.. Pearson, pointing to this squad of
gamins, "There is our hope for the final
emancipation of labor in London. Those
boys look rough, but they are going to
school, to our ever progressing public
schools in this city. They are learning of
things about which their fathers know moth
ing, and are being fitted to live in surround
ings as different from those at present to be
found by laboring people as paradise differs
from hades.
The Boys Will Eave Their Rights.
"Will the Government" he said, "have
nothing better for such men as they will be-
come than to turn them out on the streets to
fight for a crust? Or, if it should have
nothing better than that for them, how long
do you suppose they would stand it?'
This, we both felt, was clincher, and
our conversation turned in other directions.
"About clothing," I suggested "In
Whitecbapel," he replied, "every trade
under the sun is carried on, and as to
clothes, you can get a suit in Petticoat
Lane tomorrow morning for a song, al
most" But respectable and well-wearing
Clothes" interposed, and then he became
very personal and interesting. "For this
coat and vest, 1 paid Sc shillings, and for
the trousers IA shillings."
This made total of little below S13,
| and as well as we could see, our judgment
would be that you could match the suit in
"ready -mades" in any town in America at
| figure not much, If any, above that.
| The darkening night, which admonished
| us that our interview must soon close,
seemed to scatter our thoughts among Lon
don's tolers promiscuously, and from what
Mr.. Pearson said iotted down that ordi-
nary Office clerks were working here for 25
shillings a week; that men behind counters
would get about the same, and girls assist
ing in stores from II to IA shillings. Street
car men, he said, made about "a shillings a
week and were on duty 13 hours a dav.
Apd gbi1lipo 10 onIv a iitfIo tbor