The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-09-20

England viii buy n little more than In
the United states, but not much more
Food is more expensive I'm England
than America. rent and clothing and
most other things somewhat cheaper
here. When the average earnings Of all
the working classes do not exceed $3.50
per year il is easy to imagine all the
rest.
One-third Of the working population
OF Great Britain live always right on
the line of poverty, where sickness, loss
OF work or old age places them at once
in the pauper list. This. Of course. is
quite apart from the great class who
always live in state OF fear, who are
Obliged 20 hoard and save and deny.
and who even then cannot hold out
against amy prOtracted sickness or III
luck or the calamity Of Old age This
class includes nearly all the working
people Of England, and, for that mat
ter. of the world.
Investigation I'm Great Britain shows
that in one single day over 100000
people, per cent OF the whole popu-
latiOn-received poor relief" and that
the class who are permanently in re-
ceipt OF poor relief I'm Great Britain IS
ii per cent Of the whole.
In no civilization is the workman
sure Of employment. He has nothing
whatever to do with furnishing work.
and the man who gives 10 20 him is q
benefactor. Somewhere from TO 10
per cent are constantly out Of work.
and this great supply Of surplus labor
furnishes a constant danger to the Ia
Dor unions, who must control the sup
ply OF labor to fix prices.
In the city Of London $4,000 people
have no home but the lodging houses,
and of the London workingmen one
out OF every three will die in the poor
house the public hospital or the in
sane asylum. This Is not a really al
Turing hope to hold out to the English
workingman: still. ne ought to be
thankful that he has a poor house or a
hospital or an asylum In which to die,
or. for that matter, that he has a
chance to die.
In all England only six out Of every
hundred leave any property worth men
tiouing at the time Of their death. and
St. is safe TO say that these six are not
WOrkingmen. All the people of Eng
land except this small number must live
and work their whole lives through in
the constant fear OF the almshouse and
the charity hospital, and with nc
chance to leave their children in any
better position than the one in which
they work and die. It is not strange
that I'm England and Wales in the last
thirty years the percentage Of those
who commit suicide has doubled. This
may not be due to the fact that people
are growing poorer, but rather that
they are growing wiser.
1t is scarcely worth while to look into
the houses or the habits of the poor
Whatever the life of the workman has
for himself and family must be within
the limits which these conditions I'M
pose. Still. something in the way OF
facts is known about the houses of the
poor. In the districts where the work
men live in London, 80 to SO per cent
of the tenements are OvercroWded, and
an overcrOwded apartment is taken to
mean one where more than two people
live I'm one room. As the rooms are
very small. this definition is in keeping
with the well known conservatism Of
the English people. In all Of Scotland
% per cent of the people live in one
room for the family. and in Glasgow
30 per cent of the families have but
one roam. OF course, in all Of these
calculations as to wages, housing and
the ike, the amount of prosperity
must be divided between all the mem
bers of the family. For family there
must be, else how would the favored
of the next generation get their work
done?
But poor as the wages OF the men,
more unfortunate. There are 100000
women workers in Great Britain. In
many Of the places I'm the east Of Lon
don these get % cents American money
q day I'm some cases $3.50 to 81 per
week. and amongst the Glasgow linen
weavers, $3.50 to So per week.
II the east of London, and, in fact,
throughout England, much difficulty
has come from the swaming Of Polish
deny the right of these unfOrtunates,
who have ever been the subject of the
hardest and most cruel conditions, but
I'm spite of this the fact remains that
they have In many instances been the
despair Of some of the English trade
unions. Especially in the clothing
trades have these people brought ha-
voc. Whole families living and work
ing in a single room, have forced the
other workers to the lowest possible
limit, and often entirely out Of the en-
ployment in which they were reared.
When the English workmen consider
the vast number Of these people still I'm
Russia. and the cruelty and despotism
o. that country towards the Jews. they
cannot help fearing this modern inva-
sion so disastrous to them.
a celebrated English scientist and
man Of affairs. a man great and good
triotic address to the London League
club Of Chicago. Frederick Harrison.
summed up this question in a govern
men report I'm the following words:
ITO me- at least It would be enough
20 condemn modern society as hardly
an advance on slavery or serfdOm. If
the permanent condition of industry
we've TO be that which we behold. that
~ per cent of the actual producers OF
wealth have no home that they can
cali their own beyond tho end OF the
week. have no bit of soil. or 50 much as
room that belongs 20 them: have
nothing Of value of any kind except as
much old furniture as will so in a cart;
have the precarious chance of weekly
wages which barely suffice to keep
them i'm health; are housed for the most
part i'm places that no man thinks ut
Tor a horse; are separated by so narrow
a margin from restitution that a month
of bad trade sickness or unexpected
loss brings them face to face with hum
Ger and pauDerigm -@.a This is
the normal state of the average work
man in town or country"
The world likes TO look at pictures. 1t
cares little whether they are pleasing or
ugly. only that they must be well
drawn The world likes 10 gaze on
these pictures, because it has not the
wit and Imagination to paint them for
itself. But not until one can really
paint 10 for himself can ne know or
care much what &c means. To those who
care 20 paint the life and conditions OF
am English workman I can furnish a
few bare facts The English workman
must live and rear his family on $3.50
per year. He must be prepared through
iIi luck or sickness to be reduced 10