The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-04-11
WHAT WE SHOULD EXPECT.

Mrs. Besant, who recently made tour of
America delivering lectures on theosophy,
seems to have been an observant critic of
the condition of the wage-earning classes.
Whatever may be thought OF her views on
the mysterious cult disseminated by
Madame Blavatsky, Mrs. Besant has
played noble part in regard to the eleva-
ton of the workman and his labor, and her
sympatbies and clear-minded advocacy of
right and fair-dealing have been full Of
cheer in shaping policy to wise ends. Back
in England again, she has been asked how
the condition Of tho working classes in the
States compares with that of the toilers in
England. The reply was: ION the whole,
favoTably. EVERYWHERE with one eXcep-
ton, found the workers well fed and well
clothed" In spite of its capitalistie pros
perity, the immense wealth in the hands of
the owners of IRON and steel factories and
the coal barons, Pittsburg, which is re-
feTred TO as The exception. presents many
forbidding aspects in the condition of its
working population. Until natural gas was
introduced as a fuel in the factories, il was
perhaps the dirtiest industrial city in the
Union, and 1t still has pre-eminent claims
20 that unenyable distinction. Why the
squalOr and gloom of the smoke begrimed
city should be reflected in the depressed.
heavy temperament of the people is not
evident, for good wages should be expected
in an energetic manufacturing center. 1t
impressed Mrs. Besant dismally. ut is
the only place." she says, "in which you
find the class of poor, with haggard. hungry,
careworn faces, which you find in our
lEhsishl manufacturing districts; where
there is that lifeless. terrible look about
the wumen's faces that tells you at once
how heavy a burden they are bearing.
There is a regular Black Country district
growing up at Pittsburg In all other
American manufacturing districts there is
only foreign poverty. The immigrants are
often abjectly poor; the Americans hardly
ever"
Tina. comparison with the Black Country
of Staff0rdshre is ominous, and it applies to
other parts of Pennsylvania, where the poor
est kind of unskilled foreign labor is en-
ployed in the mines, and the coal barons
pay their employees on the truck system, sell
dom. IN fact, giving them any actual money
and coutrivinE to keep them in debt for pro-
visions and rent But an American work
man TeyoltS at such treatment, and on the
whole the lot of the masses in America is
much higher in every essential comfort of
life and in many Of the luXuries than can
De lnstanced IN any other part Of the earth.
The industrious workman in America not
only has the enjoyment of comparative COM
fort, but has good chances to own a home
stead. Assuredly he is limo need of state
pension in his old age, rs is the case in
Europe. a very large percentage of the old
in England become paupers, and it has now
become question of some moment to de-
wise a system Of pensions. Pensions are
also necessary in Germany. With all the
wealth of this country in the materials for
manufacturing and in its vast agricultural
area it would be a poor compliment to the
energy of our people if they were not more
prosperous and on higher plane of exist
ence than the working population of EYg-
land or any other part of Europe.