The Washington times., 1903-11-21

Abyss" Jack London appears in
role which will be new to most
OF his readers-the role of a social
student with a strong socialistic tend
ency. He went to England some time
ago with the intention of studying the
conditions in which the poor of the East
Side of London live. He has done it.
He has done 1t thoroughly What Is
more, he has described those conditions
with a graphic force which ought to
make the boeL. read all over two coun-
tries
Well Fitted for the Work.
For such work as this Mr.. London is
peculiarly fitted. His experience is par
alleled by that of no other investigator
save, perhaps, Josiah Flynt; and the
young Californian has not only expe-
rience, but the nOvelist's imaginative
insight to help him make these things
real TO other people. At the age of ten
he was a newsboy in San Francisco. He
served as sailor on a merchantmen a few
years later. He has, as everybody
knows. knocked about the I<londlke
lie has seen men in the rough, and
knows how to deal with them; and none
other than such a man as this can hope
to get at the real truth about that great
pitiful, hopeless mass of humanity accu-
rately called the Submerged Tenth.
His London Experience.
In this book he tells how he lived for
months in the East End of London
passing as a Yankee sailor out of work
that East End of which Kipling wroG
in The Record of Badalia Herodsfoot
the East Side where drunken women
finhf in q or ct an
their wives for diversion and whole
families live In one room-the East End
which none but the Salvation Army and
the Catholic Church dares touch. 1t Is
a sOmber. squalid picture. and there is
going 10 be something Just like it on
Manhattan Island II the American civic
conscience does not wake up. In fact,
every large American city can furnish
small sample Of this life OF the sub
merged tenth. and that Is where the les
son lies for US.
The book Is not at all gloomy, 20 be
sure There are glints OF grim humor
here and there The authors expert
ence in getting information on the best
way to go about his task is rather anus
ing. Re says:
But you can't do IL. you know,
friends said, 10 whom I applied for as
sistance In the matter of sinking myself
down into the East End os London.
You had better see the police for a
guide they added, on second thought
painfully endeavOring TO adjust them
selves to the mental processes OF a mad
man who had come to them with better
credentials than brains.
But I don't want TO see the police,
I protested. What I wish to 90 is to
int End
thisgs for myself. I wish TO know how
these people are living there. and why
they are living there. and what they
are living for. In short, I am going to
live there myself
Where Life Is Held Cheapfy.
you don't want TO live down
therer everybody said. with disapprc-
baton writ large upon their faces. Why,
Il is said there are places where q man :
life isn't worth tuppence.
- The very places I wish to see.' ]
broke IN
But you can't. you know. vas the
unfailing rejoinder.
Which Is not what I came TO see
you about, answered, brusquely,
somewhat nettled by their ineomprehen-
sion. am stranger here. and ! want
you to tell me what you know OF the
East End in order thai | may have
something 10 start upon
But we know nothing Of the East
End. 1t is over there somewhere? And
they waved their hands vaguely in the
direction where the sun on rare oeca-
sions may be seen 10 rise.
Then I shall go TO Cooks. 1 an
nouneed.
on. yes. they said. with relief,
Cooks VIII be sure to know
Even Cooks Fails.
But 0 Cook, o Thomas Cook & Son.
patkhnders and trail cleArers, living sign
posts TO all the world and bestowers of
hrst aid to bewildered travellers. un-
hesitatingly and instantly, with ease
and celebrity. could you send me to
Darkest Africa or innermost Tibet. but
to the East End Of London, barely
stones throw distant from Ludgate Cir
GUS. you know not the wayi
You cant do II, you know, said
he human emporium OF routes and
fares at Cooks Cheapside branch. It's
so-ahem-sp unusual
Consult the police he concluded au-
ehoritatively. when I persisted. We
are not accustomed 20 taking travellers
10 the East End; We receive no call TO
take them there. and we know nothing
whatsoever about the place at all.
However. 1 departed with the adj
dress OF a detective who lived in the East
End, and took my way 70 the American
consul general And here at last /