Morning journal and courier., 1892-08-01

and Fifty Cents for Rifty-Four
Hours, Work Considered Fairwages
american Workmen Have n De-
cided A Advantage over the British.
LONDON, July 90
To the Editor OF the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
t'It's about FIVE minutes walk, sir"
place in London, Judging from the uni
formity with which this reply is given to
ones inquiries, and this was the time
which we were told at London Bridge
would ''sb1ut" bring US to the headquar-
tiers of the South Side Labor Protection
League in Bsrmondsey Wall. Our course
led us in front of the large warehouses of
Armour & Co., and we could not help re-
flecting, as we looked at this alien estab-
lishment, how dependent are the millions
of this vast metropolis for some of the
very cheapest of their necessaries upon
the superior resources and mercantile en-
terprlse of the United States. Further
along we passed an extensive stretch of
model tenements. The Hanover buildings,
az these are called, cover several blocks,
and in locality where the struggle for
subsistence ia so hard and the houses gen
orally are SO poor, they are a delightful in
novation and bright augury of what
London's future may possibly be. Our
marred, however, by the query, so rife
just now, as to what becomes, in this re-
housing process, of those who are nm
housed and sent adrift with no shelter
over their heads. 1t is not the very poor
who live in model tsnements. Low as the
rent is comparatively, it is quite too high
for those three hundred thousand of the
toilers in this city whose earnings per fam
lily, as statisticians tell us, ara less than
four dollars and fifty cents week. We
thought, too, of what the Archbishop of
Canterbury bad just said on this subject.
viz, that, as regards the housing of the
poor, "while the present state of things
was great improvement on the past, it
was still fearful scandal"
With reflections like these, stimulated
by moderate use of our legs, We easily
consumed the allotted five minutes. In
fact fifteen minutes had gone, and another
inquiry as to our destination brought the
response, which did not at all surprise us,
that it was still "about five minutes walk,
SIR" But this time we knew that the pro-
verbal estimate of Londoners as to dis
tances could not be far out, because We
found ourselves now in the midst of the
granaries where those are employed whose
condition was the epecisl object of our in
vestieations The Office of the Labor
| league, we had been told, WAS at the "Old
Justice" name which, though not trap
propriste to a campaign in the interests of
| down-trodd. n labor, was still too sugges-
| tive of pablo house to be quite to our
liking. Fortunately, however, these sus-
picions, like many others that We are all
| too fond of indulging, proved to be ground
less. The "Old Justic-" was indeed pub
| lic but we were happy to find that the
name was used by the Labor league sim
ply as a convenient address, and that al
though the Office sdjoined the drinking
place, it was neither in 1t nor of it.
The gentleman we sought was the gene
raj secretary of the league, Mr.. a. Quelch.
From the position he filled, and from the
fact that, besides being constant writer
on social economy, he had been twice
called to testify as a specialist before the
ROYAL Commission on Labor, We felt sure
that Mr.. Quelch could give us reliable in.
formation, If he would, and We were mol
disappointed. He was extremely courte-
Gus, and as ready to impsrt facts as the
clouds are to distil rain in this latitude
His last appearance before her msjesty's
commission occurred only few days ago
and was made in the special interest of the
four thousand lsborers at the Woolwict
arsenal. Referring to his testimony be
fore that body he said that one of ths
grievances he had ventilated was tn,
heartless indifference of the government
to the unfortunate amongst its employees
It WAS not uncommon for those working
at the arsenal to meet with accidents, ant
some of these were fatal. Yet, when
collection was taken In behalf of thos
left in dependence and poverty by such al
accident, he had never known an instano
! In which the government had made an.
! contribution toward such q fund. A. :