Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1903-11-25
TRUE TALE OF
LONDON SLUMS
Jack London, the Famous Author,
Spends a Narrowing Summer in
Darkest England"
DEGRADATION THE DEEPEST
No Other Place in the World Where
Men Have Reached as Low a
Strata Of Existence.

Mary OConnOr IN Chicago RECORD
Ilcrald,D
During the summer Of 1902 Jack
London deliberately turned himself
into = London Fast Endcr, and, under
the glisr of a sailor without money
save a. nc earned it, set himself Ia
studying the life led BIS the millions
of human beings crowded into the
working end of London to learn fol
himself whether the terrible stories
he had heard Of the abjoct poverty OF
most Of these people were true, and
il 50 what was the cause of ii AMI
where should the blame be- placed.
The result Of this experiment is
found In The People of the Abyss.
a book that is truly terrible to read
1t presents an awful picture Of c0ndi
tions OF want, oycrwork, sin and dis
ease that are static in London, and
are suffered by hundreds Of thousands
even millions OF people, conditions in
To which they are born, for which they
are In no sense responsible. and Out
of which they cannot escape. Mr.
ondon saw all The evils he ulrratcs
in a period OF good times. 1t is APP
paling tn think what scenes there
must be- in tho East End when Eng
land is suffering from hard times. A.
il is, one docs not wonder al lluxley's
saying. when h" VAS a medical officer
in the East End, Were the altorna
tive presented To me. ! would delib
%crat"ly prefer the life of the savage
10 that of those people in Christian
London.
The East End is a world where, sta
tislically computed, n out of every
three born is buried by public char
ily. where - per cent of the children
die before the age Of ;, wherc l.S0O,O0t
FAMILIES under the best Of circum
stances live on SI.2j q week, ant
where the slightest push sends III,
worker topping from his ordinary
halt fed condition of security into thu
ably IS where hunger stalks and thcr,
Is no work. II is an almost unhcard
OF thing for tn" third generation o
East Finders to attain industrial com
potency OF any sort, even to attain
normal adult age. Most OF the work
c.s suffer from chronic innutritiol
nom birth. They are unfit for goot
woik rom the start. They work a
heap occupations from early morn
ing until late at night. IN the yiles
environment with respect to health
to carn ven Il pittancc. II anything
happcns-and something is Away!
happcuing-whercby the workers ar,
disabled or the work withdrawn. they
have 10 reserve physical strength OF
which to draw, they inevitably fal
out of the race. and h~enccforth mus
Slaryu or beg. or. rather. starve an,
beg.
What makes the vast begging elias!
with which Mr.. London was forced Il
cOnsort in his stay in East London IL
this dreadful ~narrnwnCss OF lifc's mar
gin. which allows for not the slight
est break in the income OF the family
and not unwillingness to work or 9th
or causes. cxplicable on the score 81
personal idiOSyncrasy, as in our owl
country. II would make yua weep tC
read how the bcggars are driven bach
and forth all night by the London po
liccmcn. how they are made TO grow
81 for the moagcr breakfast charity
.1,1au ..ttt a., l1t.p, Il. Tho F,ARNtnuy ~,
man takes TO tramping in England be
cause ii is easier than working. as
you may see by Mr.. London's story
and as he himself AYERS. IIounded
ont of every sleeping place all night
made TO stand hours in line in the
morning before poor and insufficient
ratious are doled out. pushed about
showed and bullicd-thc man who
takes that sort of treatment when
earning a penny could avert it. is
more broken In spirit than anything
Americans can dream of, or else the
penny is immcasurably difficult to
get. Tie conditions OF the East End,
cr's birth and environment are hope,
lvssly unfair. Every time Mr.. Lon.
don had to work for his breakfast the
work was ten times harder than else.
where for the same wage. So the
boggar is cheated TO boot. There is
no mercy shown To beggars by the
law in England. as may be the ease
is the case. in fact, in America. Yet
there are thousands in England to our
dozens. The very situation shows that
the man is not at fault who sustains
himself by such charity.
Mr.. London says that if he had to
live the life of the East End slave
and destiny should but grant him one
wish it would be TO forget all about
the beautiful and true and good, and
all that he had learned from books.
and all the people that he had known
aud the lands that he had seen. And
II destiny did nol grant the wish he
would get drunk as often as possible
ana forget il.
The greatest lie they preach-and
ignorance of its fnlsity does not make
II less of a lie. he says-is thrift
Thrift means living on less. Living
on less Than a poor Londoncr earns
leads to lowering the standard Of liy.
ms '"'h wv l'MNllHS NhN'Cr lllt
thrittieT tho men the less the wages
and the less the efficiency. One cx.
ccption to all the futile means of help.
ing the poor 10y applying plasters
where the system itself Is diseased is
DR., Bernardo Homes method. He
takes children right out Of the slums
and sends them to homes In the col.
onics, TIP TO date he has sent away
1880 boys, and not one In fifty has
failed. He does not play with palli.
atiycs,' says Mr.. London. "Ic traces
social yiciousness and misery to their
sources. He removes the progeny of
The guttcr-folk from their pestilential
environment. and gives them a
healthy, wholesome environment in
which 10 be proddcd and pressed and
nodded into men,"
The situations presented in Mr.
lOndOu'S hook arc almost too trrrIhla