The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-25
CITY'S VAST RICHES
WEALTH AND POVERTY OF SEVEN
 MILLIONS IN LONDON.
Astounding Statistics as to the Exist ence of the Population Within
 Her Limits.

London, above all other cities, ,H IS that where the sharpest contrast pre- vail. TypicaIly significant of this, is the fact that in London one person in every three dies in a workhouse, hos pital or a lunatic asylum. If you take only the grown-up people who die in London, probably one in two dies in these public refugees. If you take the working classes the proportion is still higher. ' 2.
 Are there any facts which show more clearly what London means? asks The St. Louis Republic. At any rate. this "one-in-thre fact"-the stu pendous fact that in London one in three dies in a workhouse, hospital or a lunatic asylum-is worth fixing in the mind: worth taking home with one; worth spreading abroad. It speaks more eloquently than any de- scription of the poverty of .Londoners, and the diseases state of their minds and bodies.
 London is the wealthiest place in the world, but 30 per cent of the popula- tion have an income not exceeding '$5 a week in regular earnings. The pop ulation of London, stated in figures is something that the human mind can not begin to understand. A hundred years ago 1t was less than 1000, 900.
 Today in Greater London there are more than 100000 persons. That Is more than the population of Scotland or Ireland. with Wales. It means one sixth of the total population of the United Kingdom.
 In London County proper. there, are 5000, people born in Wales, 6e,0Oo natives of Scotland and 6o,000 of Ire- land. There are 10000 natives of Russia and Poland, 27 900 of Germany, IT O00 of zE AAA of Austria. 1000 of Switzerland, 1000 of Holland and upwards of 6, 900 ma tfves of the United States. To conway Londoners from place to place and their goods and their messages, an army of 250,000 men and wonentis era- ployed. There are 1e,o00 empty houses in London. In Kensington alone one of the lowest-rated boroughs-the loss to taxes on empty houses for the last year amounted to more than 32b5, t. 900. Yet on given night more than 24o0 people were counted sleeping out or trudging the streets, apparently homeless. ---i,.. -.
 The total rental of London land and houses is 3250, 100000 a year-Si0O. : 100000 of this rental value of the site consisting largely of Thames side marsh land. In addition to rental value there are the taxes to be consid- cred, amounting to about 47o, ,o0o, 900 apart from water. So that the cost of living in London is ss2o, ooo. ooo. The salable value of the property at the present day would be more than 93,- 75o.o0o,00o. Thirty-f1ve years ago it would have been less than half this amount. So that London increases in value at the rate of $60 ,000. 900 a year.
 In the City of London alone the ratable value in 1901 was $3ysoo per acre per annum. Today it : is about $4o00o per acre per annum. Property worth $1O0.o0o.0oo Is administered by the city companies. Their income at present is about s5,ooo, 900 a year. The pauper class that seeks relief in London in a year numbers 430,oOO peo- pie. or one in eleven of the population, and l2o.ooo children, are sent hungry to school. :,
 More than 16,oOo children die an- nually under the age of one year. Broadly speaking, half the children of working men die before they reach five years of age largely on account of impure milk. More than 300 people are run over and killed in London in year; S0,000 vehicles pass the marble arch in twelve hours. There are $500 blind people tp London and 1000 deaf and dumb. There are 10, 900. soldiers and l6.000 policemen, and 22O 0OO O00 gallons of water are supplied daily to London. Nearly 5000 Londoners are convicted of crime in year and pun ished at assizes and quarter sessions Sl,O00 people leave London in a year for places outside Europe, 5000 going to the United States and 12,O00 to Au- stralia and New Zealand.
 The total value of the imports brought to the port of London yearly Is about $l,000 0O00. The total value of the exports from the port of London yearly is $s50, 900, 900. Wine is brought yearly to the port of London to the value of nearly $10 900, 900; eggs come to the value of s1OooO 060; tea $50 100000 and corn to the value of more than $55 900 900.