Yes; perhaps you yourself have smarted under "the insolence of office,
and the spurns which patient merit of the unworthy takes"; perhaps you
have borne the tortures of long suspense as one of the unemployed;
perhaps on some weary tramp after work you have learned what it is to be
a stranger in your own land; perhaps you have seen some old veteran
worker, long known to you, now broken in health and stricken in years,
compelled to seek the shameful shelter of a workhouse; perhaps you have
had comrades of your own or other trades, who have been laid low by
sickness, sickness caused by exposure or overstrain, and have died what
coroners' juries call "natural deaths," or, in plain English, have been
killed by overwork; perhaps you have known widows and little children,
left behind by those unfortunate men, and can remember how much succour
and compassion they received in this Christian country; perhaps as you
think of the grim prophecy that one worker in four must die in a
workhouse, you may yourself, despite your strength and your skill,
glance anxiously towards the future, as a bold sailor glances towards a
stormy horizon.
Well, Mr. Smith, will you look through a book of mine called _Dismal
England_, and there read how men and women and children of your class
are treated in the workhouse, in the workhouse school, in the police
court, in the chain works, on the canals, in the chemical hells, and in
the poor and gloomy districts known as slums? I would quote some
passages from _Dismal England_ now, but space forbids.
Or, maybe, you would prefer the evidence of men of wealth and eminence
who are not Socialists. If so, please read the testimony given in the
next section.
_Section C: Reliable Evidence_
The Salvation Army see a great deal of the poor. Here is the evidence of
General Booth--
444 persons are reported by the police to have attempted to commit
suicide in London last year, and probably as many more succeeded in
doing so. 200 persons died from starvation in the same period. We
have in this one city about 100,000 paupers, 30,000 prostitutes,
33,000 homeless adults, and 35,000 wandering children of the slums.
There is a standing army of out-of-works numbering 80,000, which is
often increased in special periods of commercial depression or trade
disputes to 100,000. 12,000 criminals are always inside Her
Majesty's prisons, and about 15,000 are outside. 70,000 charges for
petty offences are dealt with by the London magistrates every year.
The best authorities estimate that 10,000 new criminals are
manufactured per annum. We have tens of thousands of dwellings known
to be overcrowded, unsanitary, or dangerous.
Here is the evidence of a man of letters, Mr. Frederic Harrison--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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