Evening star., 1934-08-12
Fifty Years Ago
. In In The, Star

@1t Is hard to see" says The Star OF
August 16, 1884, how one Oh gooo
Judgment and good
No Reason Tor information can
p.ss;m;su nowadays be pes
A0S'AA'' simist, a believer
| in the doctrine that everything IS
going to the bad. That great evils
exist and flourish is evident enough,
as witness the recent exhibit in New
York State of the frightful condition
of the butter trade, but never before
in history was good, so strong. so ag-
gressiye or so victorious as now. The
| Improvement in the conditions may
fairly be cited as an illustration OF
the progress of society at large, Tor
London is today the metropolis and
capital of the world and reflects pretty
Justly the merits and faults OF Anglo
Saxon civilization.
"a short time ago fashionable So
ciety in London was startled by Vig-
orous description of the squalor, mis-
cry and vice of the very poor OF tnat
citv bv a nobleman and leading con-
servative politician. The account
made almost as deep an impression as
Hoods Song of the Shirt, ana was
followed, like that immortal appeal TO
humanity. by practical efforts to
reach and remedy the distress The
subject was given, moreover, political
tinge and as such attracted the atten-
ton of Parliament in the shape OF
petitions and bills of relief. Many
public meetings have also been held,
some of them of a very important
character.
much has been accomplished by
this new craze, as 1t has oeen
termed, but one Of its greatest uses,
perhaps. has been to bring out In
clear light the enormous good which,
mainly in a quiet and silent way, mas
been accomplished already. The
record of this work was referred 10
by the Earl of Shaftesbury recently at
a dinner rendered him at the mansion
house by the lord mayor.
Lord SALISBURY, who Is himself
honorably prominent in all benevolent
work. said in this speech. alluding TO
the recent movement, that those VINO
see or hear of the existing misery Tor
the first time are all aghast, but the
misery has existed time out OF mmo
and has been intelligently fought for
| many years. Philanthropy has ex-
plored every nook and corner II Lon
don, however filthy and degraded. and
is seeking to better it. He then went
on to name some of these agencies
and recite their success. There was
the Metropolitan Association for the
erection of model houses for the work.
ing classes: the society founded in
1912, had accomplished an enormous
work for good. other items OF I'M
provement within half century were
the humane and considerable treat
ment of lunatics: the limitation OF
the hours of labor; the laws for the
safety and health of the dwellings for
the poor; the improvement in the
water supply, and the moral agencies
such as the Sectarian missions, the
efforts Of the Bible and tract societies,
the London City Mission with its
staff of 450 men regularly at work
among the dregs of society, the Young
Mems Christian Associations, the
ragged schools, the school board, the
training ships, the lay preachers, and
the thousand and one private mis-
sions. These agencies had done great
good and have prevented great evils;
but for them London, he said, would
ere this have been a he'll on earth,
had it been able TO survive at all.
The chief dangers Of the future, he
thought, were intellectual rather than
physical There never was he said,
'at any time, at least within the COM
pass of my reading and experience,
such cool and systematic unbelief,
and so largely acceptable: never such
succession of wild and pernicious
opinions, which, though they pass
away as rapidly as they come, dis
tract and pervert the public mind .