Morning journal and courier., 1892-07-12

when by direct efforts in his behalf, or by
some radical change in the principles upon
which trade is conducted, the statesman
ship of the country must come without
further delay to his rescue.
1t is quite immsterial to the observa-
tions we are offering how many of the
twenty-five labor candidates will be elect
ed, or upon which of the great parties to
this contest the mantle of success may
fall. These things will be fully known in
a few weeks; possibly before this letter
appears. This, however, will not In the
least affect either the truth of our remarks
or their timeliness. We are not so foolish
as to expect that the party which shall get
in, be it Tory or Liberal, would revolu-
tionize matters Immediately; nor Is the
British workman expecting anything of
Ia not upon the promises of politicians,
but upon himself and upon the splendid
and powerful organizations into which his
forces have been massed. Having waited
| 30 long already, he can we'll afford to walt
| Q few years more, especially as every year
of waiting is q year which registers in
creased preparation and greatly augment
ed strength. In the readiness and tenaci-
ty with which they combine and hold to-
gether, the working classes of Great Brit
ain are a model for the world. And that
which fits them for this distinction-that
indeed which impels them to it's the
fact that such vast numbers of them are
doomed by the conditions attending their
| labor TO drag out a miserable existence
upon the same low level of inadequate re-
mnneration, and to grapple daily, from
youth to old age, with the same awful
| problem of how to make both ends meet.
| Thus, that which has so long been the
shame of England, has finally become, in
L he fv,aa do fA~ ant
zation, the brightest omen of a much
needed change.
The English workman complains sadly
| of his fellow toilers in the United States.
The laboring classes on our side, he says,
| are not sufficiently alive to their own in
terests They do not combine sufficiently.
They are not active enough as class in
| politics. They proceed too much upon the
| principle of every man for himself. We
met recently very intelligent lacy, Miss
Mary Forster, one of the numerous and
/ most noble women of this country who in
| these days are working with might and
main for social reform. She had just re-
turned from retracted visit to the United
| States, and the complaint noted above,
which we had previously heard from 9TH
ers, we heard again from her. Naturally,
| too, coming from the lips of one who had
| spent many months in organizing social
| clubs in America, with only partial sue
| cess, this complaint fell upon our ears
with peculiar interest and force. But wo-
| man though she was, and very gracious at
that, We still felt it was our duty, for the
| sake of truth and fairness, to crosse exam
| inc Miss Forster. What we wanted her
| to tell us was the reason why the working
people of the United States were so differ
ent in this matter from the same class in
Great Britain. This she did, and her an
swer speaks volumes in her praise. In
America, she said, so many of the work
ing people after time bought for them
selves little home of their own, and
otherwise got on 80 we'll, that it was no
object to them to enter into organizations
for the improvement of their condition;
and of course, while these held sloof, it
was difficult, for want of proper leading
and inspiration, to get others to combine.
But in England, she added, working peo-
pie were working people. They began SO,
and remained 30, with the rarest excep
ton, to the end. Then, too. she said-and
here Is the fact which tells SO avfully
against the environments of the British
workman, and which proves SO conclu
sively that the chief cause of his poverty
is not in himself-the English laboring
classes are all substantially in the same
boat. Hardly any rise above the common
level. They cannot, and the situation is
SucQ InRC personal interests are merged
in class interests, and are best promoted,
as a consequence, by class organization
How happily true is that part of this
explanation which applies to the United
States, the reader will know as we'll as
we do. Yes, we must plead guilty. 1t
is possible for the American workman to
own his own house after a time, and to
rise in the world in many other ways.
In thousands of instancee, throughout
every branch of trade aud labor, are these
things actually done. To be sure, as
Miss Forster was careful to remind US,
many even in America do not rise.
When, however, the conditions are such
that a fair proportion rise, is it not a
justifable inference that a still larger
proportion could do SO if they wouldl
But in England, we are told, hardly any
rise above the common level. Miss Fors-
ter assures us that they cannot, and to
fortunately for England, the testimony of
English statesmen, and the inexorable
confirmation of facts and figures.
When that which is portrayed is dis
creditabls to them, we may surely accept /
as not being overdrawn the picture which !
a people give US of themselves. An alien 1
might be preiudiced, or he might speak .
on such a subject from partial and mis- I
leading knowledge. But when a man like
to set before us the deplorable state in
which the masses of his own country
men are living, 1t may well be said, "He
that hath ears to hear, let him hear, and
let him believe that what he hears "a the
plain, unvarnished truth The London
Spectator places Mr.. Chamberlain, in his
influence with the masses, second only to
Mr.. Gladstone. This gentleman set in
motion not long ago great scheme for
old age insurance. The scheme lies bur-
led at present, like many other things
good and bad. amongst the debris of the
Parliament which has just been dis
solved. What had chiefly touched the
heart of Mr.. Chamberlain, in considering
the condition of the British masses, was
that so many of them should end their
days on the parish and should find in
terment at last in the grave of a pau
per. And this-to quote only few
words-was what he had to say on the
subject.
The summary of all his investigations
was, he said, that "at the present time, of
the working classes, one in two, if he
reaches the age of sixty, is almost certain
to come upon the poor law for his subsis-
tsnce." "Shame," was the exclamation
greeting the speaker at this point, and as
| an Englishman must have been the author
| of 1t, we may surely be excused If we re-
| echo the sentiment and say 1t is a shame
| indeed. But whose fanlt is it'll Let Mr..
| Chamberlain tell Us. SIT may well De-"
he says, "thst some of these deserve their
fate; they may have been brought to it by
intemperance or misconduct of some kind
or another. But nobody will persuade me
that that is true of all of them-cheers)-
or even of the larger proportion of them.
1t is impossible that one out of two of the
industrial population of this kingdom
have done anything to deserve the fs 9
which, under existing circumstances, is
inevitably in store for them. (Cheers.p
| The cheers were given, we should say,
not to applaud this terrible indictment,
but simply TO express faith In Its sccurs-
cy. Some time later. in speaking on the
same subject, Canon Blsckiey said sub
/ stantislly what Mr.. Chamberlain had said.
The proportions which pauperism attained
among the old were not easily ascertained,
he observed, but as the clergyman of q
large parish he had examined the regis
ters Of death Is his charge, and had found
that of those parishioners who, In eleven
years, had died over sixty years of age
thirty-sev per cent. had died In the re-
| ceipt of pauner relief Moreover at his