Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-04-07
ILogan.port lIndlansl JournaI.l

contractors, has just returned from "A
several weeks visit in England. Mr..
Backwards is an Englishman by birth
and has large number of rela ives
and friends in England. BY his own
effor in this country he has risen to
a partnership in ore of the larIest es-
Establishments in The west. He came to
the United States when eight years of
age, and at he age of fourteen was
apprenlieed 10 plumber at Fort
Wayne, Ind His knowledge of men
and mechanics enabled h IN TO look
about him when abroad, and his re-
lationships afforded him additional
advan' ages. Naturally he was most
interested in the comparison of Eng
lsh mechan cs and labor with that of
the United States. and his account Of
his minute and Ga ul investigation is
very interesting. A journal repre-
sentative yesterday interviewed Mr..
Backwards about his tip, and bis OBJ
seryations are here given 1t should
be explained that Mr.. Backwards has
always been identified with the demo-
cratic party. though he has never
taken any part in pol ties or POLITICAL
discussion, and that his views are not
political views, but those OF an observ-
ant and practical business man, who
for years was wage worker himself
His trip has made a republ can Of him.
The interview was read to MIR. Bed
wards, and Is just as he corrected it.
England is a great nation, and all
Englishmen ate proud of it, whe her
they live in this country or in England,
but Americans. said Mr. Backwards.
''learn little of the true condition of
the English is,borers The p'ess, ever
boastful, admits nothing. and even the
workingman himself has become so
imbued with the idea of England's
greatness and so accustomed to slow
going that he does not fully realize
his condition. Briefly stated, English
workingmen get 80 to 800 per cent,
less wages than Americans, and it
costs them more to live This is not
generally understood in this country,
because the cheapness of their me-
chanical products has given the inn
preston that the cost of living there is
less. 1t is only the wealthy who live
cheaper than those of the same class
do in America English workingman
get little more than food. clothing and
shelter and the greatest Of these is
food. tried all classes of no els and
restaurants, and in no case did ! set
special orders or meals as good or as
cheap as could in America The fare
of the English workingmen of the
middle class is almost the same the
year around In the morning he gets
cup OF tea, and b cad and butter,
which is really butterine, for genuine
butter COS 40 cents pound. Ats
O'Clock he has lunch of bread and
but er, with cup OF tea or cocoa At
noon he has really the only me i of thu
day. roast beef. wi h dish of pot +
toes. and bread and bu ter At 6
o'clock he has a cup of tea and bun
or roll On Sunday tor dinnerhe adds
plum pudding Beef sts him from
l6 to 81 cents per pound, according to
the grade, but he can get the b st
American beef for l6 to 20 cents; flour
costs him 20 per cent. more per barrel
than it does Americans; eggs 81 to 5
cents apiece. He gets not much food
nor much variety. and the cost of his
food alone ttkes almost his entire
earnings. AS to shelter, he pays less
rent, only because he uses less room.
Not one laborer in thousand owns
MS home, and in most cases families
live in from one to three rooms on the
second and third floors in cities and
in similar quarters on ground floors
in town. For these they pay more
than We do in America for similar ae-
commodations. and their rent is les.
not cheaper. The rooms are poorly
lighted and poorly ven illattd. and in
many of them an American workman
Won i not live if the rent was free.
i talked with one man, a good
tailor, who had wife and six grown
up daughters. His wife and daughters
have all learned the tailoring trade.
and they all worked at it and were
kept busy. They lived in three rooms.
about by 10 feet in size each. In one
OF the rooms the kitchen, was an open
fire place where the cooking was done.
CHE poorer classes have no stoves. !
In the same room, across one end of ii.
was the tailor's bench, and 1t the other
side of the room was plain square
table at which four could be seated.
On this table they ate tleir meals tbo