The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-09-16
UNPARALLELED POVERTY INIEAST LONDON
Fearful Conditions
the WhitechapeI
District.

LONDON-Nearly every city has one
claim or another to some distinguishing
feature, and East London, the poor
quarter of the vast English metropolis,
Is unrivalied the greatest center of
squalid poverty to be found on the
globe. No other place can even APP
proach it's unparalleled meanness and
moDotony. Here is city of more than
two million inhabitants, more people
than there are in Berlin or Philadelphia
or st. Petersburg or Vienna, yet which
is so benighted that it has neither a
cathedral nor a high school It has
no hotel because it is so dull and I'M
Inviting that no stranger would care
newspapers nor bookstores because the
most of its inhabitants can not read.
Ninetytwo per cent. of the popula-
ton have no religion at all. In this
respect they are worse off than savages,
because the latter venerate the sun or
the moon or something. The dull
routine of the aboriginal's existence is
frightened somewhat by the supersti-
tious beliefs he has about the future
life, but there is ray of hope for
the denizen of the Whitechapel-he
does not believe In anything. Accord
ing to recent statistics only four per-
sons out of every hundred living IN
East London ever go to church. As far
as the investigators could learn, the
reason for the failure of the masses to
attend service was not caused by hos
tility to religion, but simply indiffer
ence to it. They neither knew nor
cared to know anything about it.
HAVE NO PUBLIC SPIRIT.
no interest in God, it is not surprising
that he is altogether lacking in the
spirit of patriotism. The British army
gets few reinforeements from the
Whitechapel. An occasional vagabond
from that quarter may stray into the
clutches of the recruiting officer, but
the average Hooligan from the east
side prefers to prowl about in his al
leys and dungeons. seeking his prey In
his own lawless way rather than de-
vote his daredevil instincts to the ser
vice of his country. Public spirit is so
lacking in this quarter that the au-
thorities make no further appeal to the
martial instincts of the people living
there. No flags fly over the public
buildings, no soldiers are quartered
there, and there are no parades of
troops through the streets. What is the
use7 You can not fire the blood OF
people who have no reverence for God
nor country nor anything.
But why are these people so dead
to the usual impulses OF humanityq l
will tell you, and it won't take long
to explain They are starving. They.
are having such battle for bread to
keep life in their stunted bodies, and
shelter over their unhappy heads,
that every other instinct is deadened.
The same investigators who found that
only four persons out of every hundred
went to church, also discovered that
only one person out of every 600 In
the whole of East London, was in
dependent of his day s work Do you
comprehend what this meansE 1t
means that 500 people out of every o0p
must get up in the morning and bestlr
themselves in order to satisfy their
hunger and provide a roof for the night.
Tt means that all they can get for their
days exertions will provide them no
more than this, and that If they fail
they must beg or steal or starve.
DAILY FIGHT WITH STARVATION.
Do you grasp this in its full signif-
ieance? Suppose you had no credit at
all, and the most you could earn by
doing your level best would amount to
lust enough TO keep you on your feet,
don It you think the thought OF the day
when you might get sick o.. disabled or
old would stagger you2 IF this were
all you got in return for doing your
utmost, you would not be very enthusl-
.astic about God or country, would yous
And your children-no place was ever
so poor and despicable that children
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