The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-08-03
Seven Wage Farmers
in One Family.

~ SAN 49,
The Lancashire factory hands are better
of than the laUOrins people Of some OF -ho
UJheT parts OF England. They make fairly
good wages. and Us all the members of a
laE!Ily Work the result is that the aggre-
. gate income OF a home often amounts to
~ and UPWARDS. AIR. johnson OF the Man
chester slip canal told me OF a family Of
/ eight of whom seven were wage earners.
I Said he:
"The family consists Of a man, his wife
ana SIX children The father is a skilled
workman. receiving about f2 a week. The
mother stays at home and tends the house.
The four girls go 10 the cotton factory, and
one makes her 70 shillings. while the others
each make from Is to 20 shiIllngs- Then
there are two boys, who each make Is shil-
llngs per week, so that on the whole the
total income is high"
The factory hands all save up for ths
holidays, and every girl takes at least one
vacation a year to spend her accumulation.
The saving is done in clubs. in the treasury
Of which a part OF each weeks wages Is de-
posted. At the end of the year. usually
about July, the savings are drawn out, and
a week or two Is spent at the seashore or
in the country In some families such
savings amount to several hundred dollars
a year. l have heard Of one where they
annually foot up 500, and this all goes at
the end of the year.
! Indeed. the factory hands are good spend
NA-s AN "dAI lHS DCSl lIcs can ReI, anu
as a rule spend all they make outside the
saving for the summer vacation on their
clothes, food and drink. / saw crowds of
them on Market street in Manchester last
Saturday night. There Is no work Satur-
DAY afternoon in any part OF England, and
on saturday night the hands come out for a
stroll These 1 see here look superior to
the common people Of the other large cities
1 have visited, and from the stories told I
can see there might be good demand here
for many things that We make.
Many of the shops advertise American
shoes, and some have the American flag
painted on their windows, and below It the
statement that the shoes therein were
actually made in America This is prob
ably because the English are now making
shoes from American lasts and selling them
as American. They are importing our
taste or the public, which seems to be Ge-
cidedly in favor OF our footwear.
English Shoes Made to ,
Withstand the Wet.
The American shoe Is far easier on the
feet and more stylish than the English shoe,
but 1 hear 1t doubted whether 1t will wear
as well or whether it will Withstand the
wet as the English boot does. The people
here will not wear rubbers, and they must
have a shoe that will keep out the water.
l see about the same American goods
mere that l have described as sold In the
stores OF London. Liverpool and other
cities. There seems to be no antipathy to
goods made in America, although many Of
the British products are advertised US made
by British Yorkmen and backed by British
capital. TIL English, however, Will not
patronize their own goods II they are not
equal In quality and in price with any 9TH
ers on the market What American manu-
facturers should do Is to send nothing but
the best q nd In keen fhA nrtHea a q 10u a
possible. They should send their own trav-
cling agents., but should advise them to
work quietly and leave the American eagle
at home. until they have established theis
trade.
The British are not unfriendly to us. In
deed. they have changed their tone OF late
and now gladly call US their cousins. They
say that blood is thicker than water and
that as We all have the same ancestors, we
should stick together. They are, however,
becoming sensitive as to what Is called the
American invasion. and 1t will be well fer
those who want to do business to work
quietly. They did not seem to mind the loss
OF their commerce so much until the shin
ping combination was formed and they
foresaw that England might lose her gu
premacy on the seas. This fact has caused
something Of a hysteria among all classes
and the situation is for the first time looked
upon as a serious one.
In the meantime a great deal of American
business is being done under British pames.
We have a half dozen great companies
which work here with directorates made up
OF eminent Britishers. whose watch cry
seems to be British goods made by British
labor for the British people" At the samc
time much of the capital comes from the
United States and a large share OF the efyt-
dends Will find their way across the At
lantic 10 US.
FRANK G. CARPENTER
Copyright. 1907. by F. @. Carpenter.