Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1905-09-23
Undermining Strength
Of an Empire.

In recent article in the North
American Review, Sir John Gorst,
one of highlands best known public
men, sets forth with great frankness
the appalling physical condition of
the mass OF the English people. He
accepts the usual estimate that at
least one-third OF the az million hu-
man beings in the British Isles are
below the poverty line, and gives the
officials figures as TO the degenerate
ing physique OF the poorer classes OF
the people. What is OF most CON
Germ TO the nation is the extremely
/ bad conditions which exist among
the children who survive the many
diseases which originate in slum
| lie, insufficient food and inherited
weakness. This is the most alarm
ing feature OF Sir Johns summary
OF the facts which con ront the rul-
ing class ana which, in his opinion,
should receive prompt and vigorous
attention from Parliament.
The reasons assigned by Sir John
Tor the conditions he finds among his
fellow countrymcn are: sluns in
cities, nderteeding, lack OF medical
attendance and other causes attend
ant upon ignorance, neglect ant ex-
treme poverty. This analysis OF
causes sounds something like sa wing
that man died for want OF breath
or of heart failure, because they do
not go back to the fundamental cause
out OF which present malignant
evils arise. One does not have to
pendence upon landlord and propri-
etor for housing, feeding and the
daily wage l. responsible tor the
greater part of the misery and des-
intuition which are the lot OF so large
proportion OF the population Of
Great Britain. Even the agricul-
tural laborer is forced to rent and
furnish his own subsistence out OF
his wages. These wages are ex-
tremely small, the rent must be al
most nominal, and the food purchased
OF the coarsest ana cheapest char
acter, naturally representing the
smallest amount OF nutriment In
the United States the agricultural
laborer is generally housed under
the same root with his employer, anu
in majority OF cases eats at the
same table. Ii nc is not ca red TOR in
this manner his food and housing
are generally quite as good as that
of the owner OF the land.
In nearly all OF the smaller Amer
lean cities il Is not an lmpossIbilty
for an industrious laborIng man to
become the owner OF a home. Such
good fortune as this Is beyond the
remotest dream of the English town
dweller. 1t is probably true that
the slum conditions in New York are
worse than they are in London, but
even in the New York slum the
character OF food obtainable by the
poorest people * vastly more nour-
ishing than that which il within the
the reach of the poverty-stricken
resident of the great English me-
tropols. II is also true, however,
that the sanitary conditions in
American cities at their worst are
infinitely better than in London,
where life is. still compa rat lively
primative and conservatism il the
rule in the handling OF vast rented
properties by owners who have re-
ceived them through inheritance.
The children of the poor in all
great cities of the world suffer phys
ically, mentally and morally from
practically the same causes, but the
children of the poor who hive in the
country in America are infinitely
better off than the same class of
children in the countries OF an older
civilization. Out-ot-door lite in the
fresh, pure mir ct the open spaces
is Tremendous advantage, but
when this is accompanied by insan-