Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1892-08-22

1nO66 VINO nave uVeQ luXurlOusly upon
the fruits of their toll could well afford to
do this, and considering how poorly they
have requited their hirelings in wages, il
would have been worse than hesthenism In
these leisured classes to have acted other
wise. But charity which Is given to sup
plement inadequate wages is only wicked
sham, and as to its effect upon the reci-
pients, while it may be effectual enough in
allaying hunger. its final influence upon
the manhood of those relieved by it could
only be q corrupting and -debasing one.
In proof of this one has but to reflect how
little diegraced these lsborers feel when
they fall finally for their subsistence, as
such multitudes of them do, upon the par
ish, and how generally they regard it as q
matter of course-something to be natu-
rally expected and merciful provision
calling almost for gratitude-thst the last
days of a useful and honorable life should
in 80 many cases find their final solace in
the parish poor house.
1t has been repeatedly alleged since the
election that the agricultural vote was won
over to the Liberals by a species of bribe-
ry. In division where we happen to be
well acquainted, and where the Liberal
candidate was reelected by largely in
creased majority, the charge is made that
making himself "solid" with the laborers
by judicious gifts of money in answer to
begging letters. There is hardly q sillsger,
they say, who in that time has not brought
to this gentleman's notice some real or i'm
aginary crisis calling for help, and hardly
any, they tell us, have appealed in vain.
All this we can readily believe. We are
not inclined to doubt the judicious benev-
olence of the average candidate for Parlis-
ment, and as for discounting what is i'm
piled in regard to the begging propensities
of the rural laborers, we know too much
of the prevalence of this tendency, from
our own acquaintance in various constitu-
encies, to think of doing such a thing.
not above asking aims, and that kindness
to him along this line may influence his
vote somewhat-granting this. and what,
after all, does it suggesta Upon whom
does the blame fall for such thingsa If
Honest Hodge has had largely developed
within him the instincts of a psuper,
where is the responsibility for such a sad
RESULT II the rare sight of sovereign,
put into his toil-hardened hand to be all
his own, has the pernicious effect upon
him which it is alleged to have, who can
be surprised at such o phenomenon when
it is remembered that he has never re-
ceived that much-perhaps never more
than three-ffths of that amount-for q
hard weeks work in all his lifei And as
to bribes, the naked fact is that he has
been bribed continually to coed behavior,
to proper respect for bis superiors and to
a due estimate of his own social insignif-
canoe, by the aims which 1t has been neces-
sary to dole out to him as the only means
of enabling him to keep body and soul to-
gether upon his beggarly wages.
1t is the old story of sowing to the wind
and reaping the whirlwind. We know
of vast districts of the best ag-
ricultural land in England where the wage
rate TO- day is three dollars a week, and in
some cases less than that. You might
possibly find few places in England where
a shilling or two more is paid, but they
would be very few, and for every laborer
getting above three dollars you would have
no trouble at all in finding dozens who fall
below that figure. In the districts TO
which we have referred the uniform wage
a year ago was two dollars and fifty cents.
At that time, grain having gone up, the
farmers granted q rise. But this most un-
stable of the staples, 'towing to the bloom
ing imports from Yankeedom and else
where" as the incensed Britisher puts it,
has now fallen again, and what the result
will be. unless Hodge shall rise up mil
ion strong to prevent it, can be easily i'm
agined. Out of the wages indicated above
the farm lsborer over here has to pay
house rent; and what use is it to tell us
that his rent will hardly cost him ffty
cents week when that sum, small though
it seems, will eat up one-sixth, it not one
fifth, of the total amount he is earningi
And what if into this rent he gets little
garden patchl Is not hard toll needed to
Ha fhfo r,rn6naa anvthin0 and ia IL
\ fact, therefore, that having previously
lone full days work, he must slave aud
lrudge when he ought to be resting, sim
ply because, through the greed of the farm
,r or the grinding oppression of the lux
1rious land owner, he has not been paid
:air days wagesl
That the farm lsborers of England get
along so we'll as they do on their meagre
earnings makes them all the more deserv-
ng of sympathy. In the cottager's home
is a fine art. The families are by
40 means small, no do long intervals elapse
between new arrivals. Fortunately,
though, as the number increases the older
ones will be getting big enough to add a
little to the family income, and it will of
Ten happen that the wife takes in washing,
or does work of some other kind. Really
# the wife did not lend hand we fail to
q
and at all, whether in town or country
Honest Hodge is fond of his pipe, it
should be said, and perhaps 1t is to the
soothing influences of the weed that much
Of his contentment is due. Yes, and he Is
fond of his glass, and this no doubt &C
counts in some measure both for his coca
sional hilariousness in circumstances
which might we'll depress him and for the
general hardness of his lot in a financial
point of view. But he does not drink
could ne on such small earn
ipgs? GA man can't get much beer on
twelve shillings week." blurted out
rustic laborer at political meeting we at
tended. and surely he told the truth. The
candidate was inveighing against the other
side for their attitude towards the direct
veto, which he characterized as a subtle
effort to rob the poor man of his beer, and
that was the reply he got; intended. no
doubt, as hint to the would be member
of Parliament that what the farm laborer
cared for most was, not beer, but better
wages.
In the line of clothing the lsborer man
ages to get what he needs primarily by not
needing very much, and, as a secondary
measure of relief, by making what he gets,
which is of the poorest quality, last him
for a long time. A Sunday suit will do
service twice a day at church for as many
twelve months as there are shillings in his
weekly wage, and q working suit, provid-
ing the good wife is smart at patching,
for at least a couple of years. The
schooling of his numerous progeny costs
him nothing now, though up to a few
months ago he had to squeeze a little
out of his pittancs for even that. Such
dry goods as his family may rrquire he
gets usually at the nearest market town,
and prices in the lower grade of materi-
ais are quite reasonable. Meat is costly,
and his sole indulgence in 1t consists, as
rule, of pudding about twice a week,
with little fat pork or q few scraps
of beef, very deeply imbedded in the
center of a very large quantity of dough.
To find out how much truth there is in
the common idea that the necessaries of
life, other than those just mentioned, are
considerably cheaper In villages than in
towns, we have made special inquiries
upon this subject, and what we have dis
covered is that bread is the same as in
London, ten cents for q three and one
half pound loaf, -four from forty-eight
to fifty cents a stone fourteen pounds),
sugar from three to FIVE cents q pound,
tea, of which commodity even laborers
and their families indulge In large quan-
tity, from thirty to aixty-five cents a
pound, coffee from twenty-five to thirty
six cents, bacon from twelve to twenty
cents, while cheese, which Is, perhsps,
when seasoned with his half pint of four
penny ale, the poor laborer's greatest rel
ish for supper and lunch, can be bonght at
the village shop for from fourteen to TWEEN