Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-24
WORKERS AND WAGES
Conditions in England and
United States Contrasted.
AGE PENSIONS IN BRITAIN
Cost Of the System Estimated to Be
100000.
COMMISSION GIVES FIGURES
Many of the Unemployed in Chronic
state-show No Signs
of Self-Help.
GIVES FIGURES
BRUSSELS,
no24. de22. ja12.26. fec
BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.

Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
There is a striking contrast between
labor conditions in England and in the
United States. On this side of the At
lantic every man who is willing to work
can find employment at high wages, and
for certain classes of labor there is an un-
precedented and unsatisfied demand In
| England Notwithstanding the old age
pension bill, which gives five shillings a
| week to every applicant who has passed
| the age of seventy years, and the in.
| Vulnerable measures of relief that have
been in operation by official, religious
charitable and other organizations, the
central government expended the sum OF
| 81. 593 ,676 for the relief of the destitute
unemployed for the year ended March 81,
1863, Of which $619,s12 was distributed
in London, and the balance, 1918, 1854, in
the other cities and towns of England
and Wales.
Although the estimate of half a million
eligibles for old age pensions made by
the prime minister and the chancellor OF
the exchequer while the act was pending
| In parliament was considered far beyond
the possibilities, it has been actually ex-
ceeded by 10000 and the number Is in
creasing every month. The cost of the
law, winch was estimated HI $oVOVO,OVV =
year. will come nearer to S50O0O,oOO
There have been 653.01O applicants for
pensions, of which 1861, 1877 have come from
England: 1913, 100 from Ireland, 6s.1s5 from
Scotland, and 1880 from Wales. At the
| same time, during the year ended March
81, 1900. there were 196.757 applications
from able-bodied, unemployed. entirely
destitute persons for temporary relief
OF these. $3.50 were from London,
oil rofllrn2 from
Ireland or Scotland. This number Is
40 per cent of the working population OF
the country. or an average of 81 per 1,OUO
which seems extraordinary.
Comparison With Previous Year.
That conditions are growing worse
instead of better is demonstrated by a
comparison with the previous year, when
the applications for relief from able
| bodied, destitute, unemployed workmen
were 1884 in London and 81, 433 in the
rest of the country.
The applicants were carefully investi-
gated; 33623 were denied relief because
Of good reasons, and 1851 refused to &C
cept employment when It was offered to
them. OF the total of 198.I57 there were
4.S32 women, mostly seamstresses.
An analysis shows that 47.4, or nearly
one-half, of the applicants. We're ordinary
laborers, who are illiterate. without in
duStr1al training ana i've ny oOiilS ihlSA
mittent work as it offers to them. This
fact has set people to thinking. and has
caused an animated discussion OF the
question of industrial education which
has recently received similar attention
from the American Federation Of Labor.
More than one-third of the applicants
for relief were entirely illiterate; per
cent were under twenty years of age; 10
per cent were over sixty years OF age,
while 81 per cent were in the prime OF
Il fyyAn
age Forty per cent of the applicants ad-
mitted that they had applied for public
relief before, but it is believed that TINS
Is a very small proportion of the actual
nected with any trade union or any mu-
| tuaI benefit society: "a per cent are &C
oustomed to outdoor labor; 1863 per cent
belong to the building trades, and 20 per
cent are from shipyards
Curiously enough, large number were
household servants, but in nearly all such
cases the reasons for unemployment
| were apparent from Incorporate habits.
| The largest number claimed to have been
DISCHARGED from employment on account
Of the trade depression: the next largest
number had been compelled to quit work
| on account of illness.
Commission Reaches Conclusion.
The British government has been look
| ing into this question with a great deal of
|
and it's report contains a great deal of
valuable information for those who have
| to do with similar subjects in this coun-
| try. The conclusions of the commission
are that THE chronic condition of unem-
plOyment exists as to- a very conSidera BILE
number Of persons who have to be resu-
| larry assisted to keep them from passing
| into the pauper class, because they have
| no fixed habits Of industry, no trades and
| no education. The point Is accentuated
| leave school every year lacking In general
education and without any industrial
| training whatever. They naturally drift
| into employment suitable to their age and
| attachments, which they cannot follow
regularly or for any considerable number
| Of years: and thereafter do intermittent
| work and pick up a precarious living
| through doing odd jobs" The corpmission
| adds: Every effort must be made to cut
gent labor by training boys to enter regu-
| lar and permanent work"
Praise for Trades Unions.
| The commission bestows high praise
upon the trades unions for the assistance
they render the unemployed, and says:
to their future policy. whether to con-
tinue on their traditional lines, and by
steadily raising the workman's power to
help himself, independent of all outside
| aid. whether public or private. or try to
obtain state aid for themselves, seeing
that at present the public is pouring out
any signs of self-help. The solution lies
\ I'm a better organization of tho workors