davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-20

are running full time our people are idle
Today the goods that. are being made in
Leeds and in Sheffield would, were it not
for the WILSON bill, be made in the
United States.
/ spent a day in birmingham. which
is another thriving AMI prosperous manu-
featuring center. Here also the people
are very DESTROYS that no change be
made in the present American tariff
schedule which wouhl result in depriving
them of our market, for their goods.
The British Chain Gang.
After leaving here / went to Cradley
Heath--among the women chainmakers
and women blacksmiths-to witness the
misery there Which l had visited in
Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-20

with a table, u chair, n thing called n
bed and few pots. These rooms are
sublet for IL cents night for two
size - by 10-wherc people eat, cook
and sleep. ! entered some of these
houses-if such name could be given
10 the novels | saw-and in one L asked
of woman:
"Do you rent this?' "Yes," was the
sWhat do you pay for it?" -Four and
six lS1.0S) a week.
Have you the whole house," mo,
sir: only this room" (Size II by 10)
do you sleep in hereT' ''Yes, sir:
we sleeps, eats, cooks and everything
here"
"You have room abOve--up the
stairs:'' NO, sir; that's another par
tvs"
Can / go up?" "Yes, dare say he
will let you"
Before L go up / would like TO ask,
what do you do for livingY" My
husband sells sandstone, sand and blue
mole, or he gives the stone and gets
rags, bottles, bones or old iron for
them"
what does he earn in week.
AZ this question the woman smiled.
"Well, it depends-sometimes more,
sometimes less. One day perhaps shil-
ling ga cents, another day i and q
t36 cents and SO on"
| should say here that the agent finds
the pots, pans, bed and fire, such as
they are, for / will not attempt to de-
scribe them. This ] will say-no dog
of mine should ever be allowed to sleep
on what is called bed in those places.
The whole outfit was not worth 10
cents.
Have you back yard?" "No, sir"
.Where is your closet, then ~
"There, sir" pointing TO three closets
In the street
Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-20

ground floor of this clearinghouse is a
large room for the men to sit in. The
kitchen below contained large closed
cooking range, which was red hot, and
the odor of the cooking going on made it
anything but enviable to be in. The lodg.
ers all cook for themselves and have a
variety of things TO cook and they are
not very particular as to how many diff
ferent things are cooked together in the
same pot. We went upstairs and saw
80 beds, which are let at three differ
ent prices-6, s and II cents per night.
The 12-cent lodger has place boarded
off to himself-no water, no towel.
Wealth and Poverty Mixed.
Manchester, with her 100000 popula-
ton, boasts of her wealth and manufac.
turing resources and one would suppose
that all of the people alike lived in pal
aces; but TO examine into the exact con-
dition | find quite the reverse. Thou
sands of these people live on alcohol
When they earn any money, it goes for
alcohol chiefly.
Coming back to my hotel, the Queens.
facing one of the finest streets in Man.
chester, is the Royal infrmary, all along
the front of which there are seats which
Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-20

England for each person taken from
reports published by Parliament is about
$3.50. a difference in favor of America
of S20S per capita. Now there are thou
sands of people in England who do not
receive onc-half this $3.50. We pay our
angle iron smiths 80 per cent. more than
they are paid in England; our black
smiths. 102 per cent. more; cur boiler
makers, AZ per cent. more: our brick
layers. 10 per cent. more; our boiler
shop helpers, % per cent. more; our
carpenters, 16J per cent more; our con-
ductors (op express trainsl, 349 per cent
more; our locomotive engineers. III per
cent more: our police, go per cent.
more: oar telegraph operators. 1O3 per
cent. more; our train dispatchers, 316
per cent. more, and our common labor
ers, 15S per cent more. The difference
in all classes of labor is the same as
these examples | mention.
The engineers who run the fastest cx-
press trains on the road in England get
but $1,000 per week for ten hours per
day. The 6remen get S5.92 per week or
9S cents per day The guards (who
correspond with our conductors) get
from $3.50 to $6.72 per week. The por
tiers 1--WE call them brakemen) get $4.56
per week This is sample of the pay
OF English labor. Our engineers in
America on the express trains receive
S31.50 per week, our conductors $50
and our brakeman S13. We pay more
than double the wages paid in England,
where railroad fare is higher and the
coal cheaper than in America.
The following table of wages answers
all the free-trade fallacies of the Demo
cratic party and cannot be disputed:
Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-20

the blacksmith shop. They worked so
minutes and made me Ia pounds of
three-eighths chain, Each piece was
over two feet long, and they worked like
beavers to see who could make the long.
est piece. They work ten hours day.
gave them shilling apiece when they
all came into the room, and l asked
them how long it would take 10 earn
mat amount. They replied, 1T would
centsl> l thought. Miserable England"
Women Coal Miners.
i did not visit Wigan this time las
have done twice before), but there is no
change in labor there; the poorhouses
which l described and reproduced in 1892
still stand. 1t is a pitiful sight TO wit
ness the poor women there, half. starved
and half clad, wheeling coal on the top
OF the pits for the small pttance Of
AZ TO 90 cents for ten hours work
reproduce here a cut of the shoes that
are worn by the women in these dis:
tricts, heavy clogs with big nails in the
bottom.
The situation has not changed yet. Az
long as there is coal in the pit there will
be women to wheel it. At one time this
class lived and had their families IN the
coal mines, but Parliament prohibited
this, and now they do the wheeling on
the top of the pits. With this cheap
labor no wonder coal is cheap in this
country. This coal is used on the very
steamers and vessels which carry Eng
lands free trade labor product to Ameri-
ca to compete with our labor and manu-
features.
Charles J.. Snowden of Brownsville.
Pa, writes me: I'VE pay our miners 10
cents per ton, or $3.50 per 100 bushels
(76 pounds to the busheD. One man can
put from $50 to 200 bushels per day
and can earn from So to 81 daily. There
Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-20

are occupied by poor people from the
Sums. L was informed that many sat
there the whole night, so / arose early
the next morning and went across to the
seats and found that 80, II of whom
were women, one with n child. had sat
there all night because they had not the
necessary cents for bed
The trade of Manchester is very much
depressed at present-awaiting the pres
idential election i'm the United States.
The merchants of the United States are
making very small purchases now, be.
cause they fear new tariff bill and
because American consumption is less
ened through the idleness of the people
and their inability TO buy. The manu-
facturers and shippers here do not want
any change in the present American
tariff. But they say they would rather
have Mckinley for President thar Bry.
an, for if Bryan is elected and a silver
standard declared in the United States,
they cannot sell their goods at ali 10
America. Yet they despise Mckinley
for, as the London Times stated few
DAYS ago, his Infamous tariff bill"
Trade Paralysis in bradford.
Leaving Manchester, / visited Brad
ford. which is the largest wooden and
sboddy manufacturing district i'm the
world. Trade is paralyzed there as far
as United States shipments are con-
cerned at present. The manufacturers
are awaiting the election of the Presi-
dent of the United States, to know
whether he will be free trader or pro-
tectionist The merchants are very much
agitated on this. account-for they can
get but few orders from the United
States. i said to one of them: "You
have now the whole British empire lin
Guiding Indial. with population of al
most 100000, 900 controlled by her majes-
~, to supply; why are you not satisfied
Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-20

the working people and comparing their
wages with those of Americans. -Four
years ago i made second visit for the
same purpose and on August Il, 1896,
left New York, for the third time. TO
make another investigation. / arrived
III Manchester on August 20 and there
began my investigation, where | found
more destitution than | had ever seen
In any other city.
~ The "Cesspoor' of Manchester.
Standing. looking uD Angel meadow.
q graveyard OH the left and behind one
of the worst courts" in Great Britain.
public houses of course, and all around
population struggling in the ocean of
'moral and social degradation. it has
been called the 'cesspool of Manches-
ter" Its history is Il history of dirt.
vile crime. drunkenness. riot, cruelty
and robbery. The houses are low and
diapidated, and many are viIlainous
holes. unventiated. undrained, corrupt.
reeking with smells, utterly infamous
and sickening both to body and mind
all this within few minutes walk of
the Queens hotel, the Exchange and
hallway stations.
There are scores of rooms furnished
Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-20

This court" was horseshoe pattern
and contained 3 houses-1S dwellings
% on one side and on the other, and
these three closets were all there was
for this whole "court."
Board and Lodging.
These novels are inspected by the po-
lice, / found a certificate in the hall of
one of them dated March %, 1898, and
signed "A. n. Wood, chief police super
! intendent." These certificates are signed
at his office, and probably he never Wis
its the places.
One man told me he had for his break
fast bread and butter and tea-no meat
and for his dinner bread and bacon,
but meat was luxury he could not af-
ford. The tenants fiocked around me by
the dozen in Miller's court. / would
have been glad to have taken some pho
tographs of these scenes and ''courts,"
but the weather was too cloudy for any
satisfactory results.
| passed from this court to another,
and. going TO door l asked, "What
do you do for a living?" The man there
answered, Il take in dodgers"
What do you charger ''Fourpence
Is cents per night or sevenpence IA
cents couple" (The man saw there
we're two of u.s.
Passing on, we came to the largest of
ITS kind. containing 800 beds On the
Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-20

to manufacture your goods and supply
your own peopleT'
His answer was: 1--WE want the Amer
lean market. 1t is the greatest market
in the world and during the time the
Mckinley bill was law our manufac-
-turers were quite paralyzed."
There was exported from Bradford
during the last nine months of the ex-
istence of the Mckinley law S4,47S,000
worth of goods. This was from January
/, 1894, to September 80, 1894. During
the corresponding period of the following
year from January l, 1895, TO Septem-
Der 30, 1890, under the Wilson bill,
the exports from Bradford amounted to
$2l,1 600. Five times as much under
the Wilson bill as under the Mckinley
bill. The total exports for the year 1895
from Bradford amounted to So, 745, 900.
These exports include thirty-seven items,
but consist chiefly of card clothing, cot
ton goods, iron and steel, machinery,
hosiery, stuffed goods, worsted goods,
yarns, silks, etc.
Mr.. Meeker, United States consul at
which were taken from his reports to the
state department.
We manufacture similar goods i'm
America, but on account of the Wilson
tariff bill we have been deprived of the
chance to manufacture them. and the
money which should have been paid 10
our own working people has been paid
to the laboring people of Great Britain.
Our chimneys have ceased smoking.
while theirs are in full blast Our
working people are idle and deprived Of
living on account of this Ubiquitous,
free trade, Wilson tariff
Business Thrives in Birmingham.
left Bradford on August "A for Bir-
mingham, passing through Leeds and
Sheffield, whose iron and steel works are
in full blast. Not only in these places.
but all over England. this line of in
dustry is prospecting. And the factories
part of their product is shipped TO the
United States. And while their works
Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-20

two) and he told me it was his wife,
who was very sick. All around were
signs of poverty. 1t was not fit for hui
man beings. 1t made me chill with
pity as l looked on this terrible scene.
Going through a little court about 10x
10 feet, in the rear of this house, came
to the shop where one of his daughters
makes chain with another woman. L
asked her name and she told me Clara
Boxley. Her age is % years.
She has been making chain for five
years and receives from $1.75 to S2.16
a week for her work. She makes three
eighths inch chain and is paid S1.O2 for
112 pounds. For breakfast she has
bread and butter and tea and sometimes
a piece of bacon. She told me she
worked from o'clock in the morning
until { in the evening; that the only re a
son she staid there was because she
could not save enough money to pay her
fare away from the town.
The buildings look as if they had stood
for centuries, and as / passed through
the little court leading into the house
and which is walled on every side by
houses L counted fifteen little children
from 2 to 6 years of age playing to,
gether in all the filth that could sur
round blacksmith shop in this district
Across the alley was another shop where
another daughter was making chain
She is married, has one child and makes
$216 per week.
She has been making chain for twenty
years, having commenced when she was
II years old. Her husband, a chain
maker also, earns from So to $3.50 j
week
Mrs. Polly Fowkes has four daugh.
tiers making chain. She is 81 years old
and has made chain since she was {
years of age, but is now too old to work
at it any more. Each of the daughters
makes from S1.20 to $1.50 per week
They live in a little old house, with
stone flooring. Here they cook and eat
together. The girls are very smart at
the fnrCn. / snl five nirls 10 work In
Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-20

There are 80 friendly societies Of
trades unions in Great Britain with q
port of House of Commons). Several
of these societies are located in London
and include some of the trades enumer-
ated in the Booth table. The societies
control the wages of their various trades,
and were it not for the stand they, take
their wages would be reduced by the
manufactures to lower standard than
they are at present, which is less than
one-half Of what is paid in America.
Higher Wages in America.
Our last census report of 1890 gave
us 4,T12,622 people employed in manu-
featuring. the average yearly earning of
each person being S4SS The average in
Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-20

One pauocr to every 81 persons. Twenty
eight paupers to every 1000 persons.
Cost 10 maintain these paupers
annually ................... s57, s25, 475
the royal family. .... ta.e s2,eos, 40
Cost 10 maintain the president
and his secretaries. ......... $50, 600
The population of the British empire,
including India and the colonies, is 346,-
100000. There are 50 colonies and 40
distinct governments.
Life lin London.
/ arrived in London August IS, and
made a visit to Whitechapel. / visited
a lodging house ON Osborne street.
asked for the proprietor and was intro
duced to him. They cali him 'the gov
ernor" to distinguish him from other
Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-20

1888 and in 1892. There are women
there by the thousands who MAIZE chain
for a living in old, low buildings adjon-
ing their houses.
One man, William Boxley, said he
was So years old and earned GO cents a
day as a iaborer, when he gould work.
He has FIVE daughters AMI five sons.
Three of this daughters are chainmakers
and one works in a brickyard, carrying
brick. went into his house. On the
lower floor was n room with a. stone
Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-20

floor and an old-fashioned fireplace
with ovens on each side and place for
coal in the middle. Back of this was a
little space for washr0om where there
is room for only one person. In the front
room all the cooking is done and it is
also used for living room ana dining
room. Upstairs is a room Sx12 feet.
As 1 entered here l noticed a woman
lying on one of the beds there were
Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-20
FREE TRADE MISERY.
Nathaniel Mckay Tells of His Tour
Through British Manufac-
turing Centers.
PEEP AT POVERTY IN LONDON
Working Women at Masculine Labor
Stem Facts for Our Wage
Farmers

Tree-trade slavery still exists in the
British empire notwithstanding the re-
duction of the American tariff. which
benefits the English manufacturer, b, >
does not reach the British workman.
Eight years ago | visited England fo"
the purpose Of studying the condition of
Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-20
at the expiration of which time they are

at the expiration of which time they are
discharged.
Nobody is allowed to come to these
places more than once II month, and he
can stay no longer than the time pre-
scribed. The ward visited accom-
modated fifty-fye men and thirty-two
women. The beds consist of Il narrow
strip of canvas stretched like hammock
between two iron rods about a foot from
the floor. The applicants are admitted
after 6 p. m. in the summer time and
after A D. IN. in the winter time. AS
soon as they are admitted they are given
bath in one of the six baths in the
ward and their clothes are fumigated
and disinfected. After the bath they
have their supper of six ounces of bread
and pint of gruel For their bed they
are given three blankets. For breakfast
they receive the same food us for sup
per. For dinner, in addition to the bread
and cruel, they are given 11a ounces of
cheese. The total cost for caring for
these people during the period of their
confinement, including the five meals, is
cents each.
Advice to Americans.
NV advice to every American working
man is, as / have said before, to pro-
tect his own rights and the rights and
privileges of his family and not TO fol-
low the whims, cries and falsehoOds of
the free-trade politician who seeks 10
have goods imported into the United
States which are made by cheap pauper
labor because he thinks the goods can he
sold cheaper than If they were made
in America.
III the wages of the American working
men are not reduced to the standard of
those in England, and the goods are not
made in America, he has no money
10 purchase these cheap goods with. Be
ing deprived of work, where are they to
get their money TO make their purchases
withg
Labor in London.
The following statistics are taken from
Booths 'I.ife, and Labor of the People
pie employed in the various lines in the
Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-20

are no poorhouses in Brownsville staring
these working people in the face. They
make from six TO eight times the wages
of the poor people at Wigan, and there
are no women at work wheeling coal in
the United States.
Paupers in the British Empire.
Population OF Great Britain and
reupers. ..............,,.,.... 1,o1S,02S
Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1896-08-20
sueeuMRsp 10 GRIEF.
Horse SEPARATED from HIS Mate Died IL
a short Time.


short Time.
The emotional life of a horse is re-
markable. There are instances on rec
ord where the death of the horse has
been traced directly TO grief. One in
stance is called to mind, which occurred
more than 20 years ago. A circus had
been performing in the little town of
Unionville, Pa, when one of the trained
horses sprained one of his legs so that
he could not travel. He was taken to
the hotel and put in a box stall. The
leg was bandaged, and ne was made as
comfortable as possible.
he ate his food, and was apparently
contented until about midnight, when
the circus began moving out of town.
Then he became restless, and trampled
and whined. As the caravan moved
past the hotel be seemed TO realize that
he was being deserted, and his anxiety
and distress became pitiful. He would
stand with his ears pricked in an atti-
tude of intense listening, and then as
his ear caught the sounds of the retir-
ing wagons he would rush, as best he
could with Ills injured leg, from one
side of the stall to the other, pushing at
the door with his nose and making every
effort to escape. The stableman, who
was a stranger to him, tried to sooth
him, but to no purpose. He would not
be comforted.
Long after all sounds of the circus
had ceased his agitation continued.
The sweat poured from him in streams
and he quivered in every part of his
body. Finally the stableman went to
the house, woke up the proprietor and
told him he believed the horse would
die if some of the circus horses We're
not brought back to keep him company.
AT about daylight the proprietor
mounted horse and rode after the cir
Gus. He overlook it ten or twelve miles
away, and the groom who had charge
of the injured horse returned with him.
When they reached the stable the horse
was dead.
The Stableman said that he remained
for nearly an hour perfectly still and
with every sense apparently strained
to the utmost tension, and then, with
cut making a sign, fell and died with
scarcely struggle. The veterinarian
who was recalled remarked after the
circumstances were told him that I'M
questionably the horse died from grief.
If it is possible for all the mental facul-
ties of the horse to become abandoned
to grief to such an extent as to cause
death, how much more does he appeal
to the sympathy and regard of man.
kind.-Kentucl1y Stock Farm
Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1896-08-20
WHERE FISHES SWIM.
This Tells How ANY Bright Boy c
Make a Waterscope

This Tells How ANY Bright Boy Can
Make Waterscope.
If you go to the lakes or to the sea-
shore this summer you should take a
waterscope along with you.
A waterscope is device which will
enable you to peer down to the bottom
of a lake or stream and see the sea-
weeds, with the fish resting among
them. Any boy can make one of them
very easily, and he can have no end of
fun using it.
The waterscope consists of long,
narrow box, covered at one end with
glass ordinary window glass. To make
it get four pieces of smooth, straight
grained pine wood, one-quarter of an
inch in thickness, 30 or "a inches long
and 21a inches wide. Have these pieces
made true and exact in measurement.
Carefully tack them together with
brads in the form of long box. It may
be well before joining them TO daub on
little white lead paint. SC as to make
the joints watertight. Now cut piece
of glass the size of one end of the long
box. You can readily cut glass with an
old pair of shears by holding it under
water. Fasten this piece of glass to the
end of the tube by means of few small
lacks driven close to its edges. Then
putty it carefully round, and, when the
putty is thoroughly dry, paint the box