Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1861-11-15 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

THE COMING WINTER.  The approaching season has heralded itself with storm and tempest, which have caused many gloomy forebodings in the humble and scanty dwellings of the poor. In many places of manufacturing industry the cry of distress has been raised ; labour is becoming scarce, manufactories are being closed, whole families are becoming pauperised, and poor's rates are becoming oppressive. In the cotton districts  a sad reverse is now felt. The manufacturers  aie experiencing great difficulties. The supply of cotton is very short, and the demand for manufactured goods has fallen off, so that scarcely half the mills are working half time, and the remainder are closed, or are about to be closed. This calamity is  brought to bear by the terrible American  war, the dislocation of interests in that unhappy land, and the consequent suspension, if not ruin of trade with that country, which has been the beau ideal of perfection, po litically, and commercially of the astute Man cheater politicians. This unfortunate condition of the manufacturing interests is made worse by the necessity there is of importing a large quantity of food to supply the deficiencies of our own land, and to provide for these people who are, from circumstances, necessarily idle and unproductive, and making  _ no remuneration for the food they consume,  which must be paid for by the country, at a time when provisions are unusually dear. These remarks apply to other branches of trade at pt esent under depression from the same cause. The first cold blast of winter has pinched the poor, generally speaking; they feel the effects of cold and hunger, hard living and scanty clothing, and regard the approaching Christmas, not with pleasing but sad anticipations. Fog and mist, rain and snow have shed their chilling influences round us, and excited our deep sympathies for our needy and suffering fellow creatures, whom the depression of the times deprives of the means of providing bread for themselves and families. It is a noble trait in the laws of England that provision shall be made for every suffering child of want. There is a refuge provided for the destitute, a home for the old and helpless, provision for the hungry, and clothing for the naked, where the poor may enjoy the necessaries of life without being dependant upon the cold hand of individual charity. But while the poor-house is open to the really destitute, there are thousands of families who will not, from eircumst4lices, be able to avail themselves of the advantages it provides. A labouring man with a wife and family cannot relieve himself from the responsibilities of his home, and willingly pauperise himself and family. It is doubly incumbent upon such persons to practise the strictest economy while they have opportunity; a few pence, or shillings, saved now, will be worth double their value when winter pinches hard, and labour is scarce. It is very painful to the benevolent to see so much improvidence among the labouring classes ; men whose work is casual spend too much of their earnings in drink, which, if frugally used, would diffuse comparative comfort and plenty among those whom it is their duty to provide for. We should not hear so many complain of their hard lot if they would help themselves when they had the means, and in the sunny times of plenty think of dark days and an empty cupboard. It is more than distressing to think there are thousands of able-bodied working men refusing to work, in order to carry out the mistaken, or it may be, selfish ideas of a few demagogues who lead them by the nose. They voluntarily throw themselves upon charity when they might earn plenty of money. They scarcely find bread for their families, when they might be enjoying plenty from the fruit of their industry. Do such men think the generous public have any sympathy for them under these circumstances? They are greatly mistaken if they do. The country has got tired of strikes, and look upon them as a wicked perversion of power. If the strike affected the individual only, the case would be somewhat different, as he only would suffer, but when it affects a wife and family' there is a sinful departure from the divine law, as it entails cruelty, misery, and death, as we have seen too often. What dreadful scenes of wretchedness accompanied the strikes of Manchester, London, and other places ; children were starved to death, daughters were driven to prostitution, sons to gaol for thieving, and wives, in the extremity of anguish, to suicide; and yet, in the face of such dreadful circumstances, men, wilfully blind to consequences, are throwing thousands of families again into such scenes of desperation. They will certainly suffer for their misconduct. Winter is at hand, when most of them cannot get work if they are willing ; they have thrown away the golden opportunity of providing for an adverse day, and when it comes they are unable to cope with it, and suffer the dreadful consequences. We anticipate a trying winter to the poor, and to the country generally; trade is very dull, commerce has been re strained by the adverse nature of affairs abroad, money is scarce among tradesmen, and there is every probability of corn being dear. A cheap loaf would be the means of alleviating much distress. Corn, however, continues to advance in price, both at home and abroad, and the tendency to a continuance of this state is evident from the shortness of the crops generally in Europe, and the miserable war in America. We hope the active benevolence of our good townspeople will be early shown in the re-opening a soup kitchen, and providing cheap bread and coal to the really necessitous. This will mitigate the severity of winter to hundreds, it may be thousands, in our own neighbourhood. We  'L‘-‘%1.--.'  rejoice to know that in no town of the same size is there more Christian feeling shown, nor more chai ity exercised towards the poor. It is not always wise to give to beggars for the asking; there are so many mendicants who make a trade of begging, who are generally encouraged by the labouring classes, who do not feel the pressure of the poor's rate, which falls heavily on land and houses of the upper classes. The Scriptures say, "turn not thy face away from any poor man, he.," but there were no poor laws in those days. A small tradesman, who pays three or four pounds a year in poor's rate, cannot afford to pay again to the determined beggar who lives on the mistaken sympathy of the benevolent. We recommend the divine virtue Charity to our readers, but let it be practised with discretion ; seek Out the really necessitous poor, relieve their wants, and comfort their hearts in their distress, pour the balm of consolation upon their broken spirits, and ye shall feel the full unction of the divine precept —"lt is more blessed to give than to receive."