New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-09-28
DARKEST ENGLAND
Glimpses of London's Inferno
and It's Denizens.

! MT Holmes writes with the aulilor'
ty If exhaustive knowledge won by
long service as court missionary III
London and later as secretary OF the
Howard Mission, whose work lies
among discharged convicts. In thiS
book. which is Il nightmare of unhihch-
ING facts. he visits the slums OF the
canital of the world from top to bot
tom. by day and by night. He classlies
their inhabitants, voluntary and OF ne
cessity. ranging from the Industrious
and honest. who with heroic courage
keep up the struggle against starVa-
ton. to the hotsam and jetsam thar
cannot be helped, or will not; TO the
mentally or physically defective, the
spineless. the shiftless, the idlers an'
vagabonds. the vicious and criminal.
He pays special attention to the puz-
zle of the derelicts who come drlitlhg
downward from better social circles
until they reach the bottom, content 10
stay there. He has known many Oh
them we'll, and confesses that the tun-
damental cause OF their failure has re-
mained a mystery to him:
Many were decent and good-hearted
fellows: yet they were outcasts. others
were intelligent. clever and even INDUS
trious. quite capable OF holding their own
with respectable men, yet they We're
HELPLESS Others were faStidiously honest
in some things yet they were persistent
rogues Many of them were clear-headed
J I'm ninety-nine directions. but In the nun
dredth they were muddled, II not mem
No, II IS not drink. for generally they
were sober men. | will own my igno-
rance This | do know: that but for the
I possession OF a little something many or
my friends, now homeless save when
! they are in prison, would be performing
life's duties in settled and comfortable
| homes.
Delicately nurtured women sink
slowly into this slough OF despond, oc-
! casionaly through their own initial
fault. but oftenest through the loss OF
! the bread winner II is the women, in
/ deed, who bear the heaviest burden OF
all whether 1t be the wives of unskilled
! laborers. contriving. helping, scraping,
I saving 10 keep the home together, or
| the widows and daughters cast unpro-
I tectcd and unprepared on the mercies
| Of the economic system that has
! evolved sweatshop labor And always
! the poor pay more for the necessaries
/ Of life than do those above them. The
! profits paid by slum real estate. as Mr.
/ Holmes calculates them, are scandal
! lous. The rent must always be paid
and in advance-that is an axiom
ground into the minds OF the poor. So
| II must come, II necessary-and II
nearly always IS necessary-out Of
/ their expenditure for food. Clothes
come last. one can do justice 10 the
( significance OF this book I'm review
| only by constant quotations:
| But they refuse TO die and have not
yet discovered the point ut which life
GIBBS out for lack Of food, FOR when un'
| dcrwoTld folk die OF starvation we are
! comforted by the assurance that they
died OF natural causes" That is
! the. euphonious name given by intelligent
! Jurics TO starvation. when lHluests are
held in the underworld. Herein is a mys-
terry: In the land Of plenty. whose grana-
| ries, depOts. warehouses are full TO Tee
| pletion, and whose countless ships are
/ traversing every ocean bringing the food
| and fruits OF the earth 10 Its shores,
| starvation Is held 10 be natural cause
| Of death.
The author sees the philosophy Of
the 'nomads," of those who give up
who do not even try who live on the
free soup and bread they can get by
standing in line, who sleep "out" and
therefore are free from the burden Of
the weekly rent. who get their rags
where they can and beg or steal I'm a
small way to secure "A nights lodging
In some "doss house" i'm the inclement
season.
The book Is a social Indictment, but
! II is also collection Of individual cases
| even better calculated TO bring home
to the reader his personal share Of re-
sponsibility for collective socio-eco-
nomic evils. And wlthal the author
makes us understand his admiration
OF the marvellous optimism, the cour-
! age the endurance, the indefatigable
| persistence Of the Industrious poor. es-
| pecially of their wives and mothers.
The price they pay the sacrifices they
make, are wasted, for their children are
! forced to follow in their footsteps; only
a few emerge and mount to better
things. State and Church even aid
them in handicapping themselves at
the beginning of life by affording them
every facility for the concluding of
early. reckless. improvident marriages.
So says Mr.. Holmes.
! The cure? He knows Of none. His
experience and reflection have shown
him no royal way out. This he knows.
| however: that all the organized efforts
now being made persist in dealing with
the symptoms. while letting the causes
| do their work unchecked He considers
the shelters established by the Saliva
ton Army, on which such high hopes
were built. as futile No permanent or
| increasing results can be traced to
them, he asserts. The suggestions he
offers at the erd for the gradual amel-
ioration of hopeless state Of affairs
are practical and TO the point. Collect
| lively much can be done-the world is
awakening to its duty--but always
there will be point where treatment i'm
the mass will have TO be dropped and
| the indiv idual dealt with. And here
will be found the minimum that is ir-
reducible. The book has been written
chiefly for Englishmen: it contains its
/ ~