Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-30
Of that name. He refers to these very
arches when he says:


arches when he says:
THE cold winds of March
Made her treinble and shiyer;
But not the dark arch
Or the black flowing river.
Waterloo bridge and the dark arches GER
tainly help to make the same bridge OF
signs today. On cold, rainy. winter night"
these men find little protection under the
with searching violence, cutting to the bone
through the holes and rents In the men
clothing
Just to the rear of the embankment and
facing the river are the splendid Cecil and
Savoy hotels: where. surrounded by every
luxury of modern life. milionaires sleep
comfortably while their less fortunate
brethren crowd their bodies near together
to take advantage Of the slight increase of
warmth that may arise from close aSsocia-
ton.
Some of these men declare that about
4 o'clock in the morning. when the tide in
the Thames is changing and the cold winds
sweep up the river from the sea, the ex-
posture Is almost unbearable. AT times some
old man among the crowd, who has not SUI
ficient vitality to stand the ordeal, is found
dead by the police, seated on a bench, or
lying on the pavement under the bridge.
1t is under these grim arches that the
cabinet minister has been wont recently TO
conduct his Investigations. Here, between
the hours of midnight and am, the Ri.
Hon. John Burns has held heart-to-heart
talks with poverty. Burns usually conceals
d
men to whom he speaks never suspect that
the elderly gentleman with the gray beard.
kindly voice and sympathetic manner-and
with his pocket full of coppers. which sup
ply many a nights lodging to these out
casts-is a distinguished member of his
majesty's government. -. To many of these
| the price of a nights lodging. cup of cof-
fee or a sandwich is a.veritable Godsend
1t is true, perhaps, some of these men could
get into one of the many warehouses; which
abound in London. and which supply food
and shelter of the best kind Somehow.
| they prefer the rugged independence of the
street.
I THAT is just one of the things 1 admire
about those chaps on the embankment,"
said John Burns. in discussing their condi-
| ton "They at least are not sponging on
the community. There is awful lot of
| that in London, especially in Poplar and
West Ham. Through my inspectors. sent
from the local government board to investi-
gate workhouse conditions. have managed
I, to reduce the vast army of able bodied mer
| who were being entertained housed and
| kept at the public expense. In one dis
| trict cut the number down by as much a.
| 1000. and in another section by as much
! as 4 600 men. Many of the army of unem
ployed who had taken up their headquar
| tiers in the workhouSe and literally campeC
| on the public were able-bodied men whose
| self-respect should have kept them outside
| Ny inspectors have made. as you know. tn,
| closest investigation into the conditions
prevailing in these institutions, and ou
! work has already borne fruit in the grea
reduction of the number of people Twin,
in these places and being kept by the hard
| working people who pay rates and taxes.
| "In London there are $4,000 paupers an'
Migrants. $4,000 casual poor in iodgin'
houses, 10000 pauper lunatcs. 5000 imbe
Giles and $1,000 criminal population.
deem 1t my duty to say that but for drinl
and its concomitant evils our problem
| would be smaller and our remedies more Ell
| fectiye Too many laborers work hard nv
days. but on the sixth are generally <founs
at the Corner Pin spotting winners ant
catching losers"
] II there in one man In England who un