Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-11
BREAD LINES IN LONDON
Thousands Of People Are Out of
Work and Near Starvation.
EFFORTS AT RELIEF ARE WEAK
Unemployment r Far More Pressing
Evil in England Than t. Gener-
ally Realised, as Indicated
by stories of Misery.

HN' l'o''lllllk pONeIlNt nIllklUk llblsdiun-
how many It is impossible to compute-to
the starvation line. is a far more pressing
evil, even a more immediate danger, in
this country than is probably realized
either here or abroad by the general pub
lie. Early last autumn it is not too much
to say that the British government looked
forward to the coming winter in a spirit
almost OF panic.
Unemployment and distress were reported
on such a scale frmo all parts of the king
dom even then that alarm. and very Sc
rious alarm, was felt as to what might be
the result when the real pincli Of winter
should come. As It happened the most
serious part of the year went by without
anvthing more alarming coming to pass
than previous years have witnessed. But
the widespread unemployment. poverty and
distress remain. and with them the ques-
tion of what they are to lead to.
So far tho alarm they have inspired in
a weak kneed government has led to a GER
tain amount Of panic legislation which,
while leaving the root of the evil un-
touched, has served as a sop to the leaders
and organizations, which vaguely threat
ened trouble. The Ill considered and worse
applied old age pension act and other leg
~islation affecting the legal status of trades
unions and the relations of employers and
employed. which have been too fully de-
scribed to need more than a bare mention
now, have been the work of a panic
stricken government too anxious to pacify
the mob they fear to consider the welfare
of the masses, who, beyond question, are
in need of assistance based on proper
economic principles.
Fearful Poverty Known of All.
Nowhere more than in London is this
need so evident. In no city is squalid,
starving and ragged poverty so forcibly
thrust upon the attention even of the cas-
ual passerby.
In the warm weather the turf of every
public park is thickly strewn throughout
the day with the sleeping forms of the I'M
employed. among them, no doubt, a GER
tain proportion of deserving poor and TN
fortunate people. When the days arc cold
there does not seem to be a street in Lon
don that has not at every yard a ragged
and hungry looking beggar to open the
door OF a cab, and beg, articulately or
mutely, according to the distance Of the
nearest policeman, for a copper.
Thousands of these are wastrels, unem-
ployed because they are unemployable.
Excluding them and the ever increasing
number of youths who have learned to do
no sort of work, and the pitiful army of
broken women, 5000 of whom made a
pathetic spectacle shuffling through the
streets of the West End on the day of the
opening of Parliament. there must, 1t is
calculated. be at least 5000 unemployed
men in London who have the will and the
ability to be hard working citizens, but are
yet near enough to starvation, thousands
OF them, to take advantage of the several
schemes, public and private, who provide
them with their little food once In the
twenty-four hours. That may seem a
strange, perhaps an ungracious way in
which to refer to charity offered and in
many, cases accepted in a proper spirit, but
1t connotes a truth which will be apparent
from what is to follow.
Efforts at Relief n Failure.
Municipal attempts at providing relief
work have. generally speaking. been a
failure in London. Labor colonies have
proved a costly failure. Street cleaning
and other sanitary work. with very oc-
caslonal snow cleaning, seem to have pro-
vided more work for communities than
unemployed.
A recent article in The Bee on the poor
AN' 49, NNA'N' fA'NS N'aN ~ BAo-
vided no remedy. The food and shelter of
the workhouse, to which every destitute
man has a right, only prevent the recipient.
II he is a bona fide worker. from looking
for employment. while for the loafer they
provide the attractions of a free hotel
which he enters and quits at his own sweet
will.
But there are attempts made to provide
the hungry man with one meal a day in
order to give him some measure of physi-
cal strength to prosecute his search for
employment. Day after day and night
after night the Church Army feeds thou
sands of these derelicts. The Thames
Embankment near Charing Cross is the
assembling place. Here are some impress
sions gathered personally for the purpose
of this letter not many nights ago.
What is true of one night is true of every
other; the people and the weather change,
but the picture is otherwise always the
same. 1t was an hour before midnight, a
cold winter night with the snow lying on
the street and a bitter east wind blowing
that had driven into shelter all that had a
shelter to seek. But already a long shiv-
ering queue OF men and youths are wait
ing, and every moment adds to their num-
Der.
Starving, but Orderly.