The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-12-09

visitors to London this last hot sum-
mer were loud in their cutlery against
the neglect of England's slum Riddles.
What! No ice!" they cried, as the
mercury rose higher and higher and
the little mites persisted in shoals in
the back streets of the heart of an
empire-yes, and in provincial cities.
too And now, the second misery of a
single year is upon the submerged
tenth of England, men, women and
children alike.
Is anything being done to mend it?
Yes, the fringes of the problem are
being treated by a host of devoetd
lovers of their kind. There are work
ers Of big hearts in the slums; there
are agencies to transplant the hope
less to freer colonial air, and today
there are politicians boldly graphing
with social ills. Yet the specter of
poverty so far refuses to be "downed"
among England's swarming millions
and storm clouds are thick on the
horizon.
To witness the scene in bread line
or a soup kitchen is to dream ugly
dreams of weeks. These are the
shadows cast on the glorious records
of the older countries of the world.
They provide eloquent reasons why
the jewellers in the hopeful, fruitful
roomy Western lands of the North
American continent should give thanks
daily for the opportunities that are
theirs to develop independence, health
and manhood. They do not need to
take "glimpses into hell like these
social workers of London.
Here can be traced the origin of
much of the discomfort that is
troubling industrial Englanl today.
For beyond the poverty touched by
the official relief system are hundreds
of thousands whose lives are one long
fight with the wolf at the door-days
of hard labor; nights spent in misery
for lack of clothes and food, and at
the end of the week 81 or less in the
pay envelope OF course, there are
vices to account for much of the
trouble Drinking, especially among
women, is working woeful havoc, while
gambling on race horses is a close
second in it's disastrous effects on the
working class.
But there are social causes, too, far
too vital to be shirked much longer.
In a country like England, where Gus
toms belonging to various past eras
still survive, ancient ideas die hard. So
is comes about that IN few parts Of
the country the dole of bread and beer
once made at the monastery gates is
still carried on, generally by the titled
landowners whose ancestors received
a monastery of two and some goodly
acres for services rendered to bluff
King Hal. This medieval made of
poor relief is for instance observed at
Longleat House, the Marquis of Baths
palatial mansion in Somersetshire.
The total number of paupers in re-
ceipt of Teliefin Great Britain at the
end of July was 63O,O64, of whom 252,-
74O were inmates of warehouses; and
377,324 on the outdoor relief basis.
These figures show marked decrease
on the corresponding period of last
year, but though the trade boom is
holding, winter has boosted the figures
of pauperism to higher level. Eighty
dollars a year is roughly the annual
cost of each pauper's maintenance, the
total expenditure on poor law last
year being over $7GOOO,OOO. Yet, after
the expenditure of that vast sum of
money the problem of poverty re-
mains unsolved, and sooner or later
John Bull will have TO follow the adj