Year: 1878

Colonel John w. Forney. in letter
to the Philadelphia Press. dated on last
Christmas Day, had this to say about
the condition Of the British working
people:


Owing to the depression in the coal
and iron trades at Cardiff, in Wales, the
guardians of the poor have been COM
PEELED. in consequence of the work
house being crowded, to open a sto-e-
yard for the employment of married
men Last week family. consisting of
seven persons, subsisted for days on a
pailful of compost which had been re-
served for the pigs. Clergymen are
calling loudly upon the rich for help in
all quarters. The owners OF the col
lieries assert that every ton of coal sold
involves loss to them of about fifteen
cents of our money per ton. To secure
to the poor children one meal day is
the great effort of benevolent men.
Hundreds of people in one district
crowd the streets. turning over the dust
and refuse boxes to pick out something
in the nature of food. while in another
the guardians of the poor have resolved
not to give the inmates of the work.
houses their usual Christmas dinner, as
many thousands of tradesmen anG me-
chanics who pay the taxes are unable
to provide Christmas dinner for them
selves.


Two thousand half famished children
in one district of South Wales. called
Merthyr. were fed last night. Shoe
less, ragged, unwashed boys and girls.
from two to twelve years old, had one
bowl Of soup each for the first time in
weeks The better classes came forth
aud superintended the benefaction, and
the contrast at the distribution between
the richly -attired ladies and the half
naked children must have been very
suggestive.


The Sheffield work house has more
inmates, and many of these able bodied
men, than it ever held before. In one
district, that of Brightside, which is in
the immediate neighborhocd of the
large iron and steel works, there are
about two thousand cottage houses
empty, and In some few instances al
most entire rows of houses are unlet.
To make matters worse, those employ
ed at the Atlas and Cyclops Works.
two of the largest establishments in the
town, have had to submit to reduc-
tion in, the rate of wages, and the
works have not yet been reopened after
the holidays The works of Messrs.
Brown. Bayley & Dixon (limited) have
also remained closed since the Saturday
before Christmas. and many OF the cut
lery houses are likewise closed. As q
rule, the steel melters and the puddlers
have been living almost at starvation
point. Everything available has gone
to the pawnbroker long since; and how
some of the men and their families live
is mystery. Applications for relief
of rates are unusually numerous. and
the applicants are altogether of a diff
ferent class from those who usually
make their appearance before the over
seers. Many of them are young men;
a large number are iron workers. and
engaged in the steel trade. In conse-
quence of the depression having. been
SO long continued. and coming on so
gradually, only those who are in the
immediate neighborhood can be aware
how severe the distress really is. At
the adjoining town of Rotterdam. soup
kitchens have been set on foot. and at
Sheffield subscriptions will probably be
raised for that or some other way of
mitigating the misery which the work
ing classes are now suffering. Though
the majority of the former occupants
still remain at Sheffield. they endeavor
Ia curtail their expenses as much as
possible by making one house do for
two or three families. and live as best
they can in the expectation of better
times turning up. Bat a comparative
few of the iron. workers are engaged
at all.


From Scotland the same paper has
this paragraph: In consequence OF
the appalling distress prevalent IN
Aberdare and its vicinity. owing to
the stagnation in the iron and coal IN
dustries, an Observation-Disclosures mem
orial was few days since presented 10