Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-09-25
REMEDIES FOR
GREAT SOCIAL
UNREST URGED
Eight British Commissions
at Odds as to Causes Of
Existing Evils.

1I Nv IGEIl@HrSs EftE slLs@E E.HLNFs7eL TX SO
London. Sept. 25.-It is suddenly
occurring to England to be shocked
at the fashion In which some millions
OF Its working people live. The eight
Commissions on Industrial Unrest
which were recently commissioned by
the government to find out why peo-
pie were disaffected with conditions
generally made as many reports for
various districts in the country. Only
two of these reports really attempted
more than a superficial analysis of the
trouble. The six others told the coun-
try the precise things that It had
known in advance: that the workers
We're d~isaffected because. in ,compari-
son with the cost of living, wages
were not high enough; because, al
though wages had been increased
during war time, prices had increased
still more and the worker was worse
off than ever: because people cannot
find At houses. to live in, or IL they
do find them they also find the rentals
higher than their wages will permit
them to pay; because the workers in
recent times have had some educa-
opportunities and have had the
eyes of their imagination opened to
the possibilities of a better life.
Two of the district reports, how
WOi1t 41lIO SOIIl0 uSIdll Ill az
tempted to present the case Of the
workers in the form of something like
an appeal to the national conscience.
They described the conditions under
which people in some Of the mining
and industrial districts live; told
about the ugly villages and impossible
homes where the people dwell, shut
in from all except the most casual
and frequently the most accidental
b rry1 = ~ - - -,>-T5 IT,
told of how political agitators, COM
monty referred to as "demagogues'
and "~unscrupu1ous adverkurers,s had
been giving these people new theories
about the relations between labor and
capital, explaining to them that labor
after all is the backbone of the
worlds producing capacity and, is en-
titled to a larger share of its product
than 1t commonly gets.
These two district reports were
really arguments in favor of the
tons recognition of the Justice Of
the workingmen's claims and to sci
about ameliorating their condition;
insisting that unless such amelioration
be accomplished more serious times
lay not far ahead.
Some of the descriptions Of condi-
lions in the Industrial and mining
areas might be fitted, with hardly the
change of a wordbor phrase. to sim
liar areas in America. In the whole
mining district, Of South Wales it is
declared that there is not one mu-
nicipally supported public library
available to the people. The schools
are bad and the parents too poor tc
keep their children In school longer
than Is absolutely necessary to avoid
conflict with the law. The houses are
built in most cases on land absolutely
worthless for any other purpose; fire.
quently IN hillside terraces, where
the mine dumps are liable to slir
down like avalanches upon them; ir
other regions they occupy bits Of un-
reclaimed marsh land from which the
germs of malaria constantly arise tc
the wholesale ruin Of the conamunity's
health.