Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-05
BY CYRIL ARTHUR PLAYER.

ed years, but the dismal rags OF child
hood, youth, vigorous manhood and
womanhood. How do these people live?
1t is said that the condition Of work.
depression, has improved since the war.
Yet in some few areas, particularly
South Wales and Durham, poverty Is
acute and visible. South Wales has
nothing but coal Lancashire, North
cumberland, the Midlands and Scotland
have other industries. Not so in South
Wales and Durham. In South Wales
entire townships have become almost
| derelict.
So sharp is the distress that there
have been special relief funds.
Cardiff has been-iS yet-a proud
city It's history is magnificent. 1t has
been the worlds greetest coal exporter
Brushing back the sooty semi-circle of
its environs It has adorned itself with
cleaning civic center. Radiating from
1t like the fingers of a hand are the
roads to the coal, now the highways OF
misery and the valleys Of discomfort.
The children of South Wales play
with childhood's accustomed glee on the
hillsides and in the valleys of that large
coal mining area, mercifully unconscious
Of the morrow. The parents Of many OF
them are on the dole. A large number
even longer. A man receiving unem-
ployment benefit gets $4.25 q week for
himself, $2.25 for his wife and so cents
for each of the children. Out of this,
unless he manages to augment his in
come in some way, he must feed his
family, pay his rent, which varies from
about $1.35 a week to $3.75 a week, pay
perhaps cents a week for medical care
for his family (the man himself Is
taken care of by the health insurance
fund which he pays into when in en-
ploymenD and perhaps so cents or IS
cents a week for burial insurance for
himself and his family.
$5.44 q Week to Care for Five.
Taking an average of So week for
rent and Sc cents for insurance and
medical care, q man with wife and
three children would have $5.44 left
for food and clothing for five.
The miner occasionally has an allot-
ment where he grows potatoes cabbage,
beans and perhaps one or two other
vegetables. Also, the miner frequently
helps himself to coal at the Tip" Of
the hill and at various outcroppings.
This he uses for his own fuel, and
sometimes sells at shilling a bag,
procedure not at all legal, but pretty
generally winked at.
The fare of the family on the dole is
pretty meager. I asked one 8-year-old
boy what he had for meals. Bread and
butter Clnargarine) and jam, with tea,
for breakfast" was the answer, and
bread and butter and tea for supper"
He had a good meal at school for
dinner.
The menu for breakfast and supper
in the dole homes is all very similar
bread, margarine and tea, with some
times little jam; for supper, bread,
margarine, tea, and occasionally cheese.
Sometimes that Is all there Is for din
ner, too. At other times the housewife
will be able to serve some soup for
dinner; again, a bit of bacon and
potatoes and perhaps some beans.
One unemployed miners wife said the
only things they could be sure Of for
dinner on week days were bread, mar
garine and tea, but that on Sundays
they had half pound of bacon for their
family of five, with peas, cabbage and
potatoes.
This family lived in the Pontypridd
district, in which the miners agent
said there were 5000 unemployed, max
ing IS to 40 per cent of the population
unemployed. A large number Of these,
he explained, had been unemployed
since April, 1926.
miners agent said there were II 900 un-
employed, who, with their families,
made about half the population de-
pendent on the dole. Hundreds Of
young men have gone to other parts
seeking work. Half the people are said
to wear secondhand clothes, and these
are peddled in the streets. In Dowlais
part of the Merthyr district, steel
works employing 5000 men has just
shut down. Dowlais is very badly hit,
and half the shops are closed or board
still running.
One Man Idle Since 1924.
Discouragement over unemployment
was breaking down the morale of men,
according to the agent. He told Of one
man idle since 1924. In 1924, he owned
his home and had something in the
bank. He has six children: He was
piece cutter, which meant that he was
extra good at his work. He was proud
and had a horror of going on the
parish" In the early days of his I'M
employment he did not apply for the
dole, but used up his savings and then
mortgaged his house. Then he went
on the dole. Finally, benefit was re-
fused him. He came to the miners
agent one day, thoroughly down at the
heels and sadly in need of boots. Asked
what he was going to do, he shrugged
poor relief. The unthinkable had hap
pened, and his morale was so shat
tered that he no longer cared.
The Blaina district was the first to
be affected, for the depression began
there in 1920. At that time there were
seven colleries employing 5000 miners,
who lived in Blaina and the surround
ing district. Now there is only one
colliery working, and the peak Of en-
There are now between 1,400 and 1900
men in the colliery.
There is always the historic difficulty
Of separating the Englishman from his
accustomed environment and his usual
ly inherited employment, even though,
as in many cases, that employment has
forever vanished. The permanent con-
traction in the mining industry is es-
timated at Is per cent-from 1000, 600
workers to 100000. Efforts are being
made to fit this surplus into an ex-
pansion of the program for public works
on roads, etc.
A few years ago 1000 workers in
the Blaina district we're thrown of the
dole because they did not have the nee
essary 80. stamps, signifying 80 con-
tributions to the fund. These went
on" the local guardians. In 1926 there
were 1000 to 5000 depending on the
Bedwellty Board Of Guardians in Mon
mouthshire. At one time 1t was esti-
mated that the relief provided the
needy by the poor law in this section
made no. allowance for clothing and
figured out at the rate Of three cents q
meal person.
The district was overburdened with
taxation and many Of the taxes could
not be paid. The welfare guardians
paid what they could out of what taxes