The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-06-01

| STOCef TOT pOunu or sugar. Tn ont l district of London count was made and what 1t showed was that two hun.
 dred and fifty such little toddlers en- l tered public houses on errands of this
 kind within only few hours, and it is
 to stop this vitlating familiarity of the
 young life of England with the inside
 of drinking places that parliament is
 now pushing on to a last reading this
 so-called childrens temperance bill.
 Thus, in moments of happy relief from the interminable Irish question
 and from their quarrels over the South l African war, are the members of the house of commons occupied, and it is
 a noteworthy fact that just at this | time the house of lords is making it. | self useful in a similar way. Not ] strictly with temperance legislation,
 but at any rate with measures tending to better social life. The fact is indeed
 that this much abused house of British
 peers, so obstructive in the case of political reforms, and so much of a
 fifth wheel in legislation generally
 isg very likely in these days to be a
 leader along the lines of social reform.
 One reason for this is that there is a
 goodly sprinkling of bishops in it. In
 earlier times this would not have been
 a reason for expecting social good out
 of such a Nazareth of social caste.
 But the church has changed in these
 times, and the bishops are of differ
 ent class. It almost seems now. judg-
 ing from the elevation to the see of
 London of one of the greatest workers
 amongst the London poor. as though
 promotion were in future to be, not by
 favoritisrn nor as a prize of scholar
 ship, so much as in recognition of he-
 rolc service in the slurns. And at this
 time it would be difficult to find any,
 where a body of men more intelligent ly alive to the needs of the lowest class than are the men who, as Eng lands spiritual peers, belong to-day to
 what is generally held to be the very highest class.
 Strongly, too are the Lords temporal tinctured with this Humanitarian spir- it. These British peers are, in their sympathies, not so far above the com mon people, nor so blind to their needs, as democracy in America has thought them to be Perhaps their interest is, in part, a bread and butter one, but largely 1t is an inherited interest, handed down in nerve and brain through several generations of people, who, to be sure, have had special i'm munitles, but who in connection with these have also had the experience and discipline of heart which naturlly re- suit from seeing below them those whom they were obliged to care for. Upon this point of the relations of the titled to the masses I shall have more to say hereafter, and some of my views, l am sure, will possess the mer- it of novelty, however far they may fall short of the standard of immacu- lacy. But what I want to. especially note at this time Is that the house of lords is just now giving practical proof of It's Humanitarian proclivities in an inquiry 1t Is conducting into the late hours to which small shops (stores) are kept open over here, and the ex- cessive lengths of time during which, in consequence. shop-assistants (the are kept at their work. < Fairness requires the admission that | in the larger businesses there Is little ground for complaint They close a | little later than we, but to atone for this they open at later hour in the the big establishments ever before half-past eight, some of them not until nine Very | general, too. for at least three months in the year. is the weekly half holiday; | far more so in this country than in our | own. But amongst smaller shops .hese regulations are decidedly not in 1. vogue either in London or in the prov nces. On the contrary the little .radesman seems to dislike nothing so [ much a5 closing up. Excepting in come privileged parts of the big cities. ,e does have his shutters up over the Sabbath, but on other days, thinking that Sunday observance has armed him the right to weekday in- lulgence, he seems to revel in the atest imaginable hours, and is in lined to act as though the young peo-. ,le who stand behind his counters were not only above the need of fresh lir, but were equally beyond the frail- V of wanting a part of the evening a ,art of the evening for counting pur- toses
 But at this point the law steps in in what is called the shop ours aC1, that young pGISOllS uHueI | lghteen shall not be employed more han seventy-four hours a week. And his act further requires that a notice f this humane limit shall be posted in ; he shop. This that youthful em- loves may have their bill of rights al ,ays before them, and may thus be mboldened to claim the same. It ap- ears. however. that this wholesome nv has been flagrantly set at naught. t recent period, after a special visit | f inspection. infringements of it were aported to the number of twenty-five ousand. The rule seems to be to .ork shop assistants not twelve hours
 day, with two hours extra for Sat- rday, as the law provides. but from 1urteen to sixteen hours day. [ence this wholesome inquiry by the ouse or lords. and the probability, as n outcome. that an act will be passed.i hich, besides limiting the hours of lose employed in these shops, will, +rike deeper and more effectually at 1s evil by limiting the hours of the ,trs t. cmstlves.
 The final agents in this reform will g the lords and commons who sit at Westminster but the movement was .arted, as so many good movements re. by the lords and commoners who ,nstitute what is called here "The title Parliament of prig Gardens"