The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-08-21

uItus VI THO tOt8l amount no 10 e6TuluRt
And what If into this rent he gets little
garden patchi Is not hard toll needed to
make this produce anything, and Is 1t not
q fact therefore, that having previously
done full days work, he must slave and
drudge when he ought to be resting. simply
because. through the greed of the farmer
or the grinding oppression of the luxurious
land owner. he has not been paid fair
days wagesf
DESERVING OF SYMPATHY.
Thatthe farm laborers of Eng gland get along
so well as they do on their meaRre earn
lngs makes them all the more deserving Of
sympathy. In the cottaRers home economy
is fine art. The families are by no means
small. nor do long intervals elapse between
new arrivals. Fortunately. though, as the
number increases the older ones will be
getting big enough to add little to the
family income, and 1t will often happen
that the wife takes in washing, or does
work of some other kind. Really, II the
wife did not lend hand we fail to see how
poor families could exist in England at all.
Mnssaer IN TOM or Gen aSunId mon as
and perhaps 1t is to the soothing influences
OF the weed that much Of his con-
tentment is due. Yes. and he is fond
of bis glass, aud this no doubt accounts,
hiIariousness in circumstances which
might we'll depress him and for the general
hardness of his lot in financial point of
view. But he does not drink much-how
could no on sueh small earningsi "A man
can't get much beer on twelve shillings
week. blurted out q rustic laborer at q
political meeting we attended, and surely
he told the truth The candidate was In
Weighing against the other side for their at
titnde towards the direct veto. which he
characterized as q subtle effort to rob the
poor man of his beer and that was the re-
ply he got, intended, no doubt. as a hint to
che would-be member of Parliament that
what the farm laborer cared for most was
not beer. bnt better wages.
In the line of clothing the labOrer 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.
a long time. Sunday suit will do service
twice day at church for many twelve
months as there are shIllings in his weekly
wage. and q working suit. providing the
couple of years The schooling of his
numerous progeny costs him nothing now,
though up to a few months ago he had to
squeeze little out of his pittaDce for even
that. Such dry foods as his family
the nearest market town. and
prices in the lower grade of materials
are quite reasonable. Meat is costly. and
his sole indulgence in 1t consists, as O rule.
little fat pork. or q few scraps of beef, very
deeply imbedded In the center of 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 inst mentioned, are considerably
cheaper in villages than In towns, we have
made special inquiries upon sshis subject,
and what we have discovered is that bread
is the same as in London, 10 cents for q
H. A-1E
As to 80 cents a stone fourteen poundl, su-
gar from to cents pound. tea, of which
commodity even laborers and their fami-
lies indulge in large quantity, from 80 TO
IS cents 9 pound, coffee from p to 80 cents,
bacon from IL to 20 cents, while cheese.
,~whichls, perhaps, when seasoned with his
half pint of four-penny ale, the poor labor
er's greatest relish for supper and lunch,
can be bought at the village shop for from
IA to 30 cents pound.
SEEKING RELIEF IN ORGANIZATION.
Inevitably, honest Hodge has organized
of late for the advancement of his own in
terests. The National Agricultural Labor
ers' Union was his first effort of this kind,
and it Is still his best love. Joseph Arch,
wholly the vote of laborers has just ami
hilated a lordly competitor in ParlIs-
mentary struggle in Norfolk, is president
of this union. and we have il from Mr..
Arch's own lips that In that county alone
ls9 new branches have been esta blished
and no less than 1900 new members en-
rolled within two years. The Rural La
borers' League, rival society, having SIM
liar objects came into existence three or
four years ago under Tory Unonist
auspices. Having read its reports we
must say that We are not sanguine of the
utility of this organization. owing to the
fact that it enrolls among Its contributing
patrons so many of those who are literally
the lords of creation over here. We have
the best authority for holding that devils
cannot be cast ont by the prince of devils
and we hardly expect that great
English landowners will 60 very far
In the sort of legislation needed to
exercise the evils and wrongs under which
agricultural laborers are suffering. STILL
this Rural Laborers' League, In the person
of Jesse Ceilings NJ. p, has true and
tried friend of the laborer for its president,
and considering how very defective and
inadequate ars the measures with which IL
has had to deal, the society. 1t must be adj
mitted. has done good work toward eecur-
ing for laborers anc Others such benefits IS
accrue from the ailotments and small hold
Much could be said in praise of the
kindly and helpful attitude toward the la
borers of many belonging to the landlord
class and of many who are farmers Such
and even with these il is not often that the
help given takes the form of an increased
wage. Usually it is no moro than the help-
ing hand of s0-called charity which is held
out, and however good the intention may
be in such cases the final effect can only he
to make bad worse. The great need is for
thorough revision of the land laws and
the throwing open to cultivation of those
millions of acres which for ages upon
ages have been the private preserves of the
leisured and lordly. AT present Great
Britain provides only about one-ffth of it's
requisite food supply. whereas. under such
sSs stem as that just suggested. IL could
snap its fingers at the rest of the world,
even though it's population were double
what 1t now is. Thus. as Joseph Arch put
it in q recent interview. what the laborer
wants is land. land, land:" though, of
course. that for which he is earnestly seek
ing just now, and that which, surely, on
every principle of justice he may fairly de-
mnnd. is better pay for the hard service he
renders as q tiller OF the land. H.. t.
"a Course OF Reading"
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