Evening star., 1902-08-23

! state. There is hut little work done during
Easter week. and in this region especial.
/ little during the week following Ascens.r
/ day. Then there is a holiday time abo.
| midsummer. and also at Christmas and Ne.
| Year. The American would celebrate su,
| times in a rational manner. but in
| jority OF cases the English laborer Cc.,.
| brates them by getting drunk
Drunkenness in England
Our people who have not visited the fac
tory centers Of England can have no idea
of the terrible condition OF the working
classes as regards the use Of intoxicating
liquors. Women and girls patronize the
saloons almost much as the men. and
you cannot so into a public house without
! finding from one to a dozen women drink
ing. There are saloons near all the fac
! tories, and at the meal hours the hundreds
| OF factory girls rush for them and sit down
! with the men and have their beer gin or
| whisky with their meals. They drink at
| noon and at night, and many drink 100
| much.
The average man when he receives his
| wages lays aside a certain amount for his
| drink over Sunday. If he makes so a
week he may give his wife 81 for the house
hold expenses and reserve the other s. for
| the public house where he sits and guzzles
! In many cases he prolongs his spree till
/ Monday, and the factory then looks for
him In vain. This fact makes English
| labor very unreliable. The companies dare
I not contract to finish their Jobs I'm a fixed
| time, and as result much Of their business
/ is going out of the country.
| Again, when the American CAPITALIST has
a big job his workmen will turn in and
! work nights to help him. Here. | am told.
| the average man works rather against
than for his employer. and the more skill
ful man is the slower he works.
England's Big Drink Bill.
For fear what 1 have said about English
drunkenness may be disputed have looked
up the national drink bill for one year and
l find that 1t exceeds that of any otLer ma
ton. 1t amounts to more than $500 900 90
annually, or almost a hundred dollars per
year for each family of five. The amount
spent for liquors in 1900 was more than the
government revenue Of that year and more
than the rents of all the houses and farms
of the country Taking out the people who
1t is estimated abstain from the Use of in
toxleants' 1t amounted to about s35 per
head, and two-thirds of the whole was
drunk by the working classes. These fig
ures are taken from the London Mail Year
| Book. which also adds that of all the ma
tions Of the world the English drink the
most and the Americans the least.
Sheffield and Its Factories.
But let me tell you something about this
city Of Sheffield in which 1 am now writ
ing 1t is the typical English steel manu-
ldCtuIlHB iONI, anu Is the cnlef cutlery
town of the whole world. 1t is a city OF
the rich and poor, of many capitalists and
tens of thousands of workmen Its work
men have been doing the same class OF
work for generations and they are among
the most skilled of their kind vast
amount of the work Is done by hand. 1
went through one of the largest cutlery
establishments and found in it hundreds
of blacksmiths pounding out knife blades
blades
them just as the country blacksmith does
his work at home. / saw the grinding done
by hand, and in other little shops the han
dies were made and the knives and raZors
put together in the same way. Much OF
the work 1t seemed to me could have been
equally well and more rapidly done by ma
chinery.
Like Pittsburg.
Sheffield makes me think of Pittsburg 1t
is about big Pittsburg, and it lies in
a nest in the hills at the junction of two
rivers. 1t has hundreds Of foundries and
factories and the foundry chimneys rise
through the sr1oke which hangs over It like
the ghosts of dead forest vieing in height
with the spires Of the churches
The city has good streets, some Of which
have been recently widened at the cost OF
the corporation. 1t has an excellent car
system, which will give you rides for one
or two cents q trip. 1t has a magnificent
town hall, which cost $S000o0 and other
fine buildings.
The business blocks would do credit to
Pittsburg itself, and in one of the best of
them is the American consulate, with the
good old American flag flying from the
windows.
The United States consul, by the way is
Major Church Howe, a business man from
Nebraska. He has brought the consulate
out Of the chaos in which 1t formerly was
and is now pushing American ideas in a
most. respectable way.
FRANK C. CARPENTER.