The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1895-08-23

Written JOF ne inhNlJsltfF
The working classes Of Eagl9pd ,thoae
who toll In manual employment for
daily or weekly wages, are roughly ei'
tlmAted at about eleven millions, and
the returns available, which are never
complete, show that out OF this num-
Der those who are enrolled In the va
rious trades unions do not aggregate
more than one and half million
Nevertheless the trades unions Of that
country arc 90 we'll managed and so
well equipped with the sInowl of war,
that they do incalculablo good to all
classes Of workers. American obierv'
era are chiefly impressed by the moder'
alton OF these bodies, Many who DO.
long to them are extreme socialists, and
not few are hare brGiuod (anaIlcS.
hut these arc not the elements IN com'
manl; that post is wisely Tiled by
cOol.headsd conservatives, IN one
OF tho most radical OF work
ing class newspapers Il was COM
planned recently that trades union
ism, instead OF tlshting en-
ployes, was chiefly occupied in dis
tributing benefits. In proof, 1t was
shown that during a receut year ten Of
the moSt influential OF. these organlza.
tons had expended only about $4,000
in trade disputes, while in friendly
benefits they had di4bursed more than
million and quarter, Still another
complaint was that these same societies
had a combined balance At tho end Of
that year amounting in dollars to over
two millions and half. At these COM
plants the cool headed leaders in Brit
ish trade unionism smiie knowingly.
Strikes, they say, arc costly, and not
always etlectuAl. Industrial war IL us.
tifable only when all other methods are
exhausted. Tho way to command gov
Ornamental aud cApitalistic sympathy Is
to show that We are worthy o: it by
uning wisely the wages We already get.
The trus solvents Of the labor problem
are thrift and mutual self help
HABITS oP THRIFT.
That habits OF thrift are making rapid
progress in England, is strikingiy evil
dencod in tho statistics oil working class
savings. Sir William IIarconrt, in in.
PRODUCING his last budget, was ablo TO
state, as u gratifying Sign Of prosperity,
that the deposits In savings banks had
increased within iOur years as tollOwa:
In 1900 they amountOd to q little oyer
$50 million dollars; in, 1891 lhoy ex'
ceeded this by Iomo ivd million dollars
IN 1899. the increase WIS ten millions ;
lSg3 there was au advance OF ten
millionslmore, while the aggregate OF
l7j millions deposited that year had
shot up in 1894 10 22j million dollars.
lie further stated that the total Increase
in savings banks during the last decade
had been $50 millions IN our money,
aud nothing, he said. better proved the
sound financial condition Of the coun.
try.
In this connection American readers
will DO glad to scan the following re'
marks and figures clipped alta recen.
date from the Pail Mall Gazette:
"The English working classes arc OIL
ten charged with lack OF thrift. but ten
manage 20 accumulate large amounts in
friendly, industrial, building, aud
other societies, besides savings banks
The following is q summary OF tho latest
information available a. to tho various
classes OF societies making returns u
the chief registrar Of friendly societies.
Numbered Amount oil