Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-21

| F@ - NuS StAN GHETTO
child. He could not speak a word of En-
glish, but explained through an Interpreter
that he had been out of work for six weeks.
He worked at the cheap tailoring trade. and
in that trade any man who is out of work
for even six days is on the ragged edge or
starvation.
The mother had no medical attention at
her confinement but another Jewish woman
acted as midwife She had no food except
a few cents worth of milk each day and a
share of a chicken which lasted the entire
family five days. To buy the chicken the
husband had to pawn his only pair of trous-
ers. He had pawned his coat before The
dead child had no clothes except dirty
ma pkin to cover 1t. 1t lived one week ana
then died of starvation.
The doctor who went to the garnet after
the death was reported stated to the cor
oner that there was no sheet or blanket on
the bed-a mere bundle of filthy straw. The
mother had no proper clothing. and there
was no food in the room except = cup1ul
of sour milk unfit for human cor nption.
A terrible case, but sporadic e! MOI
at ALL The coroner and the Decor knew
better They both said that they common
Iy met with such cases in the course of
their daily work The doctor was one or
| those great-hearted, overworked East END
practitioners whose regular fee Is Twelve
cents and who do three-quarters OF their
work for nothing. because their patients
cannot afford to pay even that insignificant
amount.
Swarming Like Ants in the Slums.
If the immigrants would spread over the
country their presence would hardly be no
ticed and they would certainly be no serious
social evil The trouble is that they have
the ghetto habit firmly ingrained. They
swarm into the already overcrowded slums
of the big Cities notably London and Leeds
with the natural results that they reduce
10 of IN
which they turn their hands; they dfas
down the standard of living to an almost
Incredibly low point, and they seno up
the rents of houses in many cases more
than 200 per cent because OF their IN
veterate tendency toward overcrowd1ng.
1t is a common thing for twenty unrelated
people-men, women and chi4dren-to work,
sleep, eat and live together in one small
filthy room.
ITO say that these people are living to-
gether like beasts would be an insult and
a libel on the beasts" remarked medical
officer of Leeds when giving evidence be-
fore the sweating committee OF the house
of lords. Their rooms are always over
crowded; their beds, If they have any, are
made of filthy straw and sacking; their
windows are never opened, and there are
seldom any arrangements for washing. 1t
is usual for both sexes to sleep in all their
clothes, and the beds, in many cases, are
never empty. According to the sworn testi-
mony of numerous witnesses 1t Is ocm-
mon thing for one set of people to turn in
when the other set turns out, that they may
go to work on cheap ready-made garments
in the same room in which they slept.
1t seems incredible that people should
consent to live under such conditions, but
1t is not surprising when their life in their
native land and their introduction to Brit
ish civilization are taken into account.
They usually land in London or Hull alb
| solutely penniless and unable to speak a
word of English. In most cases they are
| of poor physique, underfed, broken-sp spirited
lNtA Srrr kn
dirty rags on their backs If they happen
| to have a few thalers or roubles they are
| soon robbed OF them by the East End
"hoodlum"-a worse edition of the Bow
\ cry tough" They naturally fall a prey
| to the sweaters in the slums, who are al
| ways on the lookout for these "greeners,"
| as they are called in East End slang.
The Slave Market of Modern London.
| No slave market of ancient times was
ever worse than the East End of London
Is today. The sweater, once he has the
| "greener" in his clutches, Is the hardest
| of taskmasters. His prototype on the
| East Side of New York dashed his serfs
| with whips years ago, before the trade
! was organized; but he f1ogs them with
| scorpions. According to the sworn evil
dence given by scores of witnesses, whose
| truth cannot reasonably be doubted, he
| makes them work for fourteen, sixteen
| and even eighteen hours a day-and then
sleep in the same filthy den in which they
| have worked. In the majority of cases
! he pays them no wages, merely giving
| them place in which to sleep and
| enough food to keep body and soul to-
| gether. so that they can go on working
4 for him.
| AT the best, the "greener" Is only paid
| two or three shillings week. In time,
| of course, he becomes expert at his trade
| and learns the ropes" Then he may earn
1 " q N "a Uaafx ,lrit
| day and the greater part of the night all
| the seven days of the week.
I Most OF the alien immigrants work in
| the bootmaking and cheap tailoring
/ they have reduced the already miserable
| rate of wages in those trades in the dis
| tricts whore they are thickest by as much
as 40 and 30 per cent
| According to sworn testimony cents
was paid to one Russian Jew for sewing,
! heeling and putting together a pair of
| boots. and he had to find his own nails.
| wax and thread A welI-made knscker-
| booker suit adorned with braid, was
turned out by woman in the East End
Tor IL cents, and she had to provide the
ne needles; thread and material for binding.
| Inc ordinary price for making a pair of
mems trousers is cents; for coat La
cents. and for boys suit, IS cents.
| English workmen have been entirely
driven out of the cheap tailoring trade In
| London and Leeds and the hard case OF
| the English needlewomen in the East END
| has been made doubly hard. Their scanty
pay has been cut in half. The evidence
| given before the last royal commission
| proved beyond a doubt that they are far
| worse off today than they were when Tom
| Hood wrote The Song of the Shirt ano
| when the late Sir Walter Besant demon
| strated in Children of Gibeon." that tn,
| East End working woman could not al
best earn an average of more than eleven
| pence-halfpenny a day MANY witnesse:
! testified that large number of these Eli
glish girls and women have been driven by
pauper foreign competition to lead lives o.
shame. This fact, more than all the others
has awakened sompolent John Bull to the
| dangers of alien immigration.
Crime Among the Aliens.
The question of crime among this unas
simulated allen population is also very ser
lous. Recently complied statistics show
that over thirteen thousand aliens hav,