Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1903-02-27
POVERTY IN LONDON
A DEALER IN THEORIES TOOK A LOOK
A. ACTUAL CONDITIONS.

! AT pubic meeting under the aus
pices of the London Reform union at
Clifford's Inn hall, Mr.. B. Seebohm
| Rowntree of York delivered a lecture
on "The Problem of Poverty" in
which he said:
| Concerning the measure and the
quality of the present distress In Lon.
don there is room for a legitimate diff
ference of opinion. 1t may be or may
not be more acute and more genera.
than that of 1895, but there is, unfortu-
nately, not the slightest doubt that it Is
painfully real and very widely spread.
In these circumstances it can hardly
be wrong, and it may be productive of
beneficial effect, if | give an account in
plain terms of night spent with Off
cials of the Salvation Army, in the
company of friend, watching in detail
the operations which they have under
taken to meet some of the most press
ing cases in an immense accumulation
Of misery. 1t is also fair to the Saliva
ton Army to say, by way of preface,
that | am constitutionally averse to
"corybantic Christianity" that l detest
many Of their methods and that l am
convinced of the unsoundness of many
of their social principles. For that rea-
son my praise is the better worth hav-
ing.
At quarter to 1 yesterday made
my way with a friend by appointment
to the Salvation Army establishment
In Stanhope street, Drury Lane, of
which Colonel Sturgess is the presiding
official. There, waiting in cue, like
those who desire to enter the pit of
popular theater, were some hundreds
of men and women who were unques-
tionably destitute and homeless. They
were of all ages. Plenty of them were
ablebodied, few of them were very bad
ly dressed, although practically none
were adequately protected against the
weather To each in turn were given
bowl of soup and a hunk of bread.
Each then took a spoon from basket
lying on the pavement, pinch OF
salt from bowl, and passed into Il side
street to consume his meal The wo-
men were allowed to sit and eat inside
the building.
lut OIucl was pNibNNr
and each man when he had finished re-
turned his bowl and spoon and passed
away out of sight lost in the damp
darkness of the night. 1t speaks vol
umes for the recipients of this simple
but satisfying meal (Which costs about
three-quarters of penny head that
SO far not single bowl or spoon has
been lost. As for the spectacle, it was,
without any affectation, one upon
which it was simply impossible for an
Englishman to look without deep sor-
row. had, as others have, often read
of the homeless and destitute. But
segnius irritant is always true. 1t was
appalling to see them filing away in an
apparently endless procession Into the
slush and the darkness, with no hope
of adequate shelter, yet with all the
dogged patience of despair But l was
glad to learn that on the afternoon of
the preceding day the authorities of the
Salvation Army had resolved to open
all their halls and barracks as gratuf-
tous night shelters.
So to Whitechapel, where the story
was the same save that the individu-
ais We're other men and other women.
There we consumed some of the soup,
which was excellent stuff, with some
heart In It," as country folk say, and
very welcome in the raw morning, and
inspected the accommodation provided
for and crammed with those who could
afford the princely sum of threepence.
1t is, of course, of the plainest, but the
men were sleeping soundly in the rows
Of oblong frames, not unlike orange
boxes, which, with a mattress, pill
low, blanket and quilt of American
cloth, are the beds of a Salvation Army
shelter. Everything was spotlessly
clean, but it must be confessed that on
reaching the top floor what colleague
once called "the very distressing smell
Of humanity" was distinctly apparent.
It should be added that the sanitary
and washing arrangements appeared
to be excellent. They included baths
and pans for washing clothes and an
oven for baking infested garments, as
well as the more obvious requisites.
Colonel Sturgess had also collected sta
tstics showing the immensely varied
charity and the very large number of
them who had been many nights with
out shelter. With these 1t is needless
to burden the text. Ships stewards,
stokers, grocers' employees, laborers,
masons, Photographic artists, doctors
of medicine, mechanics of all kinds,
have been saved from imminent risk of
starvation by the prompt charity of the
Salvation Army.
Firm believer in political economy as
I am, abundantly convinced that the
work done cannot go far in the direc-
ton of redeeming the positions of men
and women who are submerged often
through their own faults, but quite of
ten from sheer misfortune, / cannot
deny that the work which is being
done is distinctly good. The pauperiz.
ing tendency of bowl of soup and
bnnIy nf hraod haturaaT nnJ A in tho