The Man Farthest Down: A Record of Observation and Study in EuropeWashington, Booker T.
History
The Man Farthest Down: A Record of Observation and Study in Europe
Washington, Booker T.
Poor -- Europe; Working class -- Europe
The articles I refer to, which were written by a woman, were a
protest, on the one hand, against the clergy because they taught
that it would be immoral for women to refuse to have children, and,
on the other hand, against the physicians who withheld from these
women the knowledge by which they might be able to limit the size of
their families. These articles were followed from week to week by
letters purporting to come from working men and women telling of the
heartbreaking struggle they were making to support their children on
the wages they were able to earn.
What made these articles the more startling was the fact that, at
the very time when they were proposing to the English labourer what
ex-President Roosevelt has defined as "race suicide," thousands of
immigrants from the south of Europe were pouring into London every
year to take the places left vacant by the recession of the native
Anglo-Saxon.
On my previous visit to England I had been struck by what seemed to
me the cold and formal character of the English newspapers. It seemed
to me that they were wholly lacking in human interest. Upon my last
visit my opinion in regard to the London newspapers was considerably
altered. A careful study of the daily newspaper, I found, will repay
any one who wants to get an insight into social conditions in England.
I had not been in London more than a day or two, for example, when my
attention was attracted to the following item in one of the morning
papers:
STARVING FAMILY
CORONER'S APPEAL TO THE PUBLIC FOR AID
Telling of a terrible case of starvation in the Stoke Newington
Coroner's Court, Dr. Wynn Westcott, the coroner, asked the press
to bring a deserving case before the notice of the charitable
public.
He said that he had held an inquest upon a three-weeks-old baby
which had died of starvation. Its father had had no regular work
for three years, and only a little casual work in that time. There
was so little money that the mother, Mrs. Attewell, of White Hart
Street, Stoke Newington, was half starved too. She had only had a
crust of bread to sustain her on the day her child died, although
she had done nine and a half hours' washing to assist the home.
The home was perfectly clean, although practically destitute of
furniture. It was a most deserving case.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account