Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-31

weekly wage compared to which that sum
was almost princely. Taking all branches
into the estimate and leaving out the vast
multitude of the unemployed, his Judgment
| would be, he said, that labor was paid in
London something like an average of %
shillings for week of, say 60 hours In
evitably, though, in the very short days of
the English winter. the average pay would
be considerably below that estimate. With
special reference to those who, in the i'm
mediate locality of our interview, were en-
gagged in loading and discharglng grain, and
whose nominal pay was at the rate of five and
! tenpence day for casuals, and 80 shillings a
week for regulars, these figures, he said,
| might mislead. The work of the casuals
was so very precarious that he seriously
| questioned if, taking the earnings of these
and the regulars together, aud striking an
| average, the weekly earnings for each man
| would be much more than 10 shIllings-the
small pittance of 50 so.
At this point the question was naturally
put, "How do they live on such earnings?"
''That," said our courteous and sympa-
thetic informant, 'they could hardly tell
| themselves.
To the suggestion that possibly some of
them would find home in the model tene-
ments nearby, the reply was, 'Not many;
perhaps none in the Hanover buildings
Those are occupied by people in better
station, like clerks and artisans. But in
the Wolsey buildings, where two rooms
can be had for about five shillings week,
you might find few, though only few"
Tho Rent Is Half the Wages.
Most Of the casuals, he said, had only
Themselves to look after, and these would
find shelter for the night in cheap lodging
houses and cook their own meals as best
thn,v ha,v
be found in the small houses round about.
The house would have four rooms, with
scullery, and small room over that in ad-
dition. For this the rent would be 50 IS or
So week. The financial stress in such
cases would often be relieved little, he
said, by the renting out of the upstairs
part to lodges, or, perhaps, to small
family, and it would also not intrequently
happen that the wife would be earning
trife by sack making.
We were curious to learn if the large
class OF toilers tor whom this gentleman
spoke, and for whose welfare he was work.
ing, got enough to eat. Some did not, he
said, but they took that sort of thing as a
matter Of course. The problem of how
they made both ends meet he gave up in
despair. He lived among them, depended
upon the same markets, traded at the same
shops and knew from experimental least,
his wife did, which was just the same
what they had to pay for the necessaries of
life Coal at the present time (summer
price, was Is I'D a hundred-weight, which
would be at the rate of IS IS q ton. Such
meat as was on the market in that locality
would cost Cd or Sd pound. 1t would not
be extra good at cd, yet there were scraps,
or "block ornaments" as they were called
among the poor of London, which could be
picked up for even less than that Flour
they did not buy, and their bread cost AID
and Sd a quarteru loaf (3H pounds). The
poor apology for butter which they were
glad to put up with cost 20 cents pound.
Tea was cheap, costing from Is pound to
Is Cd, and bacon they might get at all
prices, from 10 cents a pound-such as it
was-up to 90 cents
He Had Heard About Homestead.
These are few of the facts so courteously
impaired by the General Secretary of the
South Side Labor League. This is how it
fares with the toilers in London's docks
three years after the triumphs, so-called, of
the great dockers' strike of 1889. And
what is still worse, we are led to believe
this is fair sample of what life means to
the laboring classes of London taken as
whole. Surely, men of the stamp and spirit
of our Kind informant, who are giving their
lives to the work of bettering such condi-
tions, are worthy to be lauded by honest
laborers, and honest men of all classes, the
world over. Personally, looked upon Mr..
Quelch with profound admiration, and
when, as we walked together from his Of
flee, he spoke of the peculiar discourage
ments attending such work, my deepest
sympathies were stirred
1t was by no means a surprise that he
broke in upon our inquiries about the labor
ing classes of London with some playful
remark respecting current disturbances in
the labor market in America That we
quite expected. Mr.. Quelch is an English
man, and the people over here, we find,
whether representing labor or capital, are
not at all backward in reminding the visit
ing American of such occurrences as these.
But this Englshman, in the final judgment
he expressed, was fairer than his country
men usually are, for he frankly admitted
that, from what he knew OF the situation in
the two countries, the American workman
had decided advantage over the British,
both in regard to the wages he received and
the comforts OF life falling to his LOT.
HENRY TUCKLEY.