ME TRADE MISERY.
Mathaniel McKay Tells of His Tour
Through British Manufac
turing Centers.
PEEP AT POVERTY JN LONDON.
Working Women at Masculine Labor
—Stern Facts for Our Wage
Earners.
"Free-trade slavery still exist* in the
British empire notwithstanding the re
daction of the American tariff, which
benefits the English manufacturer, but
does not reach the British workman.
Fight years ago I visited England for
the purpose of studying the condition of
This “court" was horseshoe pattern
and contained 9 houses—-18 dwellings
—5 on one side and -1 on the other, and
those three closets were all there was
for this whole "court.”
ltoui-cl and Lodging.
These hovels are inspected by the po
lice. I found a certificate in the hall of
one of them dated March 22, 1.893, and
signed “A. T. Wood, chief police super
intendent.” These eertiticates are signed
at his office, and probably he never vis
its the places.
One man told me he had for his break
fast bread and butter and tea—no meat
—and for his dinner bread and bacon,
hut meat was a luxury he could not af
ford. The tenants flocked around me by
the dozen in Miller's conrt. I would
have been glad to have taken some pho
1 tographs of these sceneit and “courts,”
but the weather was too cloudy for any
satisfactory results.
' I passed from this court to another,
and, going to a door, I asked. "Wbat
do you do for a living?” ■ The man there
answered, "1 take in lodgers.”
j "What do you charge?” “Fourpence
(.8 cents) per night or sevenpence (14
cents) a couple.” (The man saw there
were two of us.)
Passing on, we came to the largest of
its kind, containing 395 beds. On the
II
CMiwitei cf Ondlej Heath earning from $1.20—1.60 per week, working ten hours per day. 1
Taken August 26, 1896, by N; McKay.
working people and comonring their
with those of Americans. Four
■go 1 made a second visit for the
mm purpose and on August 12, 18SW, I
I New York, for the third time, to
Ae another investigation. I arrived
Manchester on August 20 and there
tan my investigation, where I found
re destitution than I had ever seen
■ay ether city.
®s •‘Oesipssr* m€ Msndmnr.
■trading, leaking up Angel meadow,
• V*1regard an the lent and behind one
*ha worst ‘'courts" in Great Britain,
i of eoaree. and all around
• palliation struggling in the ocean of
■ WV.TBU ui
-- - social degradation, it has
■mb called the “cesspool mf Manchee
*“ Its history is a hlsTbry of dirt,
rime, drunkenness, riot, cruelty
jobbery. The houses are low and
-Mated, and many are villainous
mventilited. niMlrdned, corrupt.
- with swells, atterly infamous
kenlng both to body and mind—
srithla a few minutes* walk of
hotel, the Exchange and
stations.
are scores of rooms funds bed
ground floor of this lodginghouse is a
large room for the men to sit in. The
kitchen below contained a large closed
cooking range, which was red hot, and
the odor of the cooking going on made it
anything but enviable to be in. The lodg
ers all cook for themselves and have a
variety of things to cook and they are
not very particular as to how many dif
ferent things are cooked together in the
"®me P°t. We went upstairs and saw
395 beds, which are let at three differ
ent prices—0, 8 and 12 cents per night,
■the 12-cent lodger has a place boarded
•off to himself—no water, no towel.
Wealth and Feverty Mixed.
Manchester, with her 500,000 popula
tion, boasts of her wealth and manufac
turing resources and one would suppose
that all of the people alike lived in' pal
aces; but to examine into the exact con
dition I find quite the reverse. Thou
sands of these people live on alcohol.
When they earn any money, it goes for
alcohol chiefly.
Coming back to my hotel, the Queen’s,
facing one of the finest streets in Man
chester, is the Royal infirmary, all along
the front of which there are seats which
L h**nm*j OT HeMh, The background shows on the left the
blacksmith shop snd on the right the home. She makes 12.16 a week.
Taken August 26,1866, by N. McKay.
a table, a cnair, a thing called a
' and a few pots. These rooms are
‘et for 18 cents a night for two
12 by 10—where people eat, cook
sleep. 1 entered some of these
*—If such a name could be given
to the hovels 1 saw—and in one I asked
f a woman:
“Do you rent this?” “Yes,” was the
st do you pay for it?" “Four and
ate ($1.08) a week.”
“Have you the whole house?” “No,
•ir: only this room.” (Size 12 by 10.)
“Do you sleep in here?” “Yes. sir:
W» ^ sleeps, eats, cooks and everything
“You have a room above—up the
•tain?” “No, sir; that’s another par
ity's.”
i “Gan I go up?" “Yes, 1 dare say he
twill let you.”
1 “Before 1 go up I would like to ask,
“What do you do for a living?’ ” “My
husband sells sandstone, sand and blue
"e, or he gives the stone and gets
bottles, bones or old iron for
“What does be earn in a week?”
At this question the woman smiled.
•Well, it depends—sometimes more,
•ssaetimes less. One day perhaps a shil
Hac (24 cents), another day 1 and 41
(Mcents) and so on.”
1 should say here that the agent finds
puts, pans, bed and fire, sucly as
are, for I will not attempt to de
e them. This I will say—no dog
mt aaine should ever be allowed to sleep
« what la called a bed in those places.
TM whole outfit was not worth 10
. “Have you a back yard?” “No, sir.”
* “Where la your closet, then?"
“Where, air.” painting to three closets
4a the street
are occupied by poor people from the
mums. I was informed that many sat
tnAVA ^ -_1- A. -_w . * ■
there the whole night, so I arose early
the next morning and went across to the
seats and found that 30, 12 of whom
were women, one with a child, had sat
there all night because they had not the
necessary 6 cents for a bed.
The trade of Manchester is Tery much
depressed at present—awaiting the pres
idential election in the United States
The merchants of the United States are
making very small purchases now, be
cause they fear a new tariff bill and
because American consumption is less
ened through the idleness of the people
and their inability to buy. The manu
facturers and shippers here do not want
any change in the present American
tariff. Hut they say they would rather
have McKinley for President than Bry
au» for if Bryan is elected and a silver
standard declared in the United States
they cannot sell their goods at all to
America. Yet they despise McKinlev
for, as the London Times stated a few
days ago, “his infamous tariff bill.”
Trade Paralysis In Bradford.
Leaving Manchester, I visited Brad
ford, which is the largest woolen and
shoddy manufatcuring district in the
world. Trade is paralyzed there as far
as United States shipments are con
cerned at present. The manufacturers
are awaiting the election of the Presi
dent of the United States, to know
whether he will be a free trader or a pro
tectionist. The merchants are very much
agitated on this account—for they can
gar but few orders from the United
States. } said to one of them: “You
have now the whole British empire (in
cluding India), with n population of al
most 350,099,000 controlled by her majes
ty, to supply; why are von not satisfied
to mncnfnctmc imir goods anil supply
your * . ]■ people
His answer was: “Wo want the Amnr
ioan market. It is tin* greatest market
in the world and during the time the
MoKinloy bill was a law our nmuufac
turors wore quite paralyzed.”
There was exported from Bradford
during the last nine mouths of the cx
istenee of the McKinley law $4.478.000
worth of goods. This was from January
1. 1894. to September 30, 1804. During
the eorresponding period of the following
year (from January 1, 1895, to Septem
ber 30. 1895.), under the Wilson hill,
the exports from Bradford amounted to
.821.171.000. Dive times ns mueh under
the Wilson bill as under the McKinley
bill. The total exports for the year 1895
from Bradford nmounteil to $27,745,000.
These exports include thirty-seven items,
but consist chiefly of card clothing, cot
ton goods, iron and steel, machinery,
hosiery, stuffed goods, worsted goods,
yarns, silks, etc.
Mr. Meeker, United States consul at
Bradford, furnished me these statistics,
which were taken from his reports to the
state department.
We manufacture similar goods in
America, but on account of the Wilson
tariff bill we have been deprived of the
chance to manufacture them, and the
money which should have been paid to
our own working people has been pnid
to the laboring people of Great Brituin.
Our chimneys have censed smoking,
while theirs are in full blast. Our
working people are idle and deprived of
a living on account of this iniquitous,
free trade, Wilson tariff.
llualneitfl Thrives in Birmingham.
I left Brudford on August 24 for Bir
mingham, passing through Leeds and
Sheffield, whose iron and steel works are
in full blast. Not only in these places,
but all over Knglnnd, this line of in
dustry is prospering. And the factories
are running full time, and the greater
part of their product is shipped to the
United States. And while their works
;nvri an'i ne told me it was his tv up,
who v.as very sick. -VII around wore
signs of poverty. It was not lit for hu
man beings. It made me chill with
pitv as I looked on this terrible scene.
Going through a little court about lOx
10 feet, in the rear of t It in house, I ramc
to the shop where one of his daughters
makes chain with another woman. I
asked iter name and she told me Clara
Boxley. Her age is 112 years.
She has been making chain for five
years and receives from $1.75 to $2.10
a w eek for her work. She makes three
eight h.s inch chain and is paid $1.02 for
112 pounds. For breakfast she has
bread and butter and tea arid sometimes
a piece of bacon. She told me she
worked from 7 o’clock in the morning
until 7 in the evening; that the only rea
son she staid there was because she
could not save enough money to pay her
fare away from the town.
The buildings look ns if they had stood
for centuries, and ns I passed through
the little court lending into the house
and which is walled on every side by
houses I counted fifteen little children
from 2 to 0 years of age playing to
gether in all the filth that could sur
round a blacksmith shop in this district.
Across the alley was another shop where
another daughter was making chain.
She is married, has one child and makes
$2.1 (i per week.
She has been making chain for twenty
years, having commenced when she was
12 years old. Her husband, a chain
maker also, earns from $3 to $4.50 a
week.
Mrs. Polly Fowkes has four daugh
ters making chain. She is 54 years old
and has made chain since she was 7
years of age, blit is now too old to work
at it any more. Each of the daughters
makes from $1.20 to $1.50 per week.
They live in a little old house, with
stone flooring. Here they cook and eat
and live in the same room all huddled
together. The girls are very smart at
the forge. I set five girls to work in
Emily Panona, age S2, Cradley Heath, Ena.,
earn* *2. 16 a week. The building la her bl
20 yean a chalnmaker. Work! ten houn per day and ■
ackemllh shop. Taken Ang. 26,1896, by N. McKay.
are running full time our people are idle.
Today the goods that are being made in
Leeds and in Sheffield would, were it not
for the Wilson bill, be made in the
United States.
I spent a day in Birmingham, which
is another thriving and prosperous manu
facturing center. Here also the people
ore very desirous that no change be
made in the present American tariff
schedule which would result in depriving
them of our market for their goods.
The British Chain Gang.
After leaving here I went to Cradley
Heath—among the women chainmakers
and women blacksmiths—to witness the
misery there which I had visited in
Shoe Worn by Wigan Women.
1888 and In 1892. There are women
there by the thousands who make chain
for a living in old, low buildings adjoin
ing their houses.
One man, lVillinm Bosley, said he
was 50 years old and earned CO cents a
day as a laborer, when he could work.
He has five daughters and five sons.
Three of this daughters are chainmakers
and one works in a brickyard, carrying
brick. I went into his house. On the
lower floor was a room with a stone
the blacksmith shop. They worked 30
minutes and made me 14 pounds of
three-eighths chain. Each piece was
over two feet long, and they worked like
beavers to see who could make the long
est piece. They work ten hours a day.
I gave them a shilling apiece when they
nil came into the room, and I asked
them how long it would take to earn
that amount. They replied, “It would
take more than a day" (to earn 25
cents). I thought. “Miserable England!”
Women Coal Miners. .
I did not visit Wigan this time (as I
have done twice before), but there is no
change in labor there; the poorhoases
which I described and reproduced iu 1892
still stand. It is a pitiful sight to wit
ness the poor women there, half starved
and half clad, wheeling coni on the top
of the pits for the small pittance of
40 to 50 cents for ten hours’ work. I
reproduce here a cut of the shoes that
are worn by the women in these dis
tricts, heavy clogs with big nails in the
bottom.
The situation has not changed yet. As
long as there is coal in the pit there will
be women to wheel it. At one time this
class lived and hnd their families ,’n the
coal mines, but Parliament prohibited
this, and now they do the wheeling on
the top of the pits. With this cheap
labor no wonder coal is cheap in this
country. This coal is used on the very
steamers and vessels which carry Eng
land’s free trade labor product to Ameri
ca to compete with our labor and manu
factures.
Charles L. Snowden of Brownsville.
Pa„ writes me: “We pay our miners 70
cents per ton, or $2.60 per 100 bushels
(76 pounds to the bushel). One man can
put from 150 to 200 bushels per day
and can earn from $3 to $4 daily. There
A enapshot Uken In Whitechapel, showing how the poor get their rest.
Taken Auguit 28,1896, by N. McKay.
Boor and an old-fashioned fireplace
with orena on each aide and a place for
coal in the middle. Back of this was a
little space for a washroom where there
la room for only one person. In the front
room all the cooking la done and it la
also need for a living room and dining
room. Upstairs ia a room 8x12 feet.
As I entered here I noticed a woman
lying on ana of the beds (there wars
are no poorhouses in BrownsTille staring
these working people in the face. They
make from six to eight times the wages
of the poor people at Wigan, and there
are no women at work wheeling coal in
the United States.
Paapers la the British Empire.
Population of Great Britain and
Ireland. . 37.732.822
Paupers. 1,018,028
'•'**« (u rvtrr *•“' pe.iMins. Twenty -
eijrlit paupers to every 1000 persons.
Cost to maintain these paupers
annually.5:.7,S23,4T5
Lost to iiinliirniii the queen n:nl
the royal family. *2,IK)3,770
Cost to maintain the president
ami his secretaries. $35,000
• population* of the British empire,
including India and the colonies, is 848.
(KK).OOO. There are 50 colonies and 40
distinct governments.
Life in London.
I arrived in London August 28, and
made a visit to Whitechapel. I visited
a lodging house on Osborne street. I
asked for the proprietor and was intro
duced to him. They call him “the gov
ernor’* to distinguish him from other
r
There are 519 friendly scetcties ofj
trades mioss in Croat Britain with
membership of 1.043.000 (taken from
port of House of Commons). Scve
of these societies are located in Loiui,
and include some of the trades enume
ated in the Booth table. The societi
control the wages of their varions trade?
and were it not for the stand they take
their wages would be reduced by the
manufacturer to a lower standard than
'ncy are at present, which is less than
one-half of what is paid in America.
Higher Wages In America.
Our last census report of 1890 gave \
ns 4,712,(122 tfeople employed in mann- )
factoring, the average yearly earning of j
each person being $4S8. The average in
Daughters of Mrs. Fowkes, chslnmskers of Cradley Heath, earn $1.20—1 50 a week
a day. Taken August 20, 1896, by N. McKay.
Work ten hours
i
I
men. His name is Wildemouth. ne
lodges 391 persons in his house every
night. His rooms are 6 by 6 feet and ho
receives 12 cents per night for each of
these rooms.
I went from there to Commercial street
(in Whitechapel) where I saw a place
called the Victoria home (kept in the
same manner as the one on Osborne
street), where the roomers pay from 6
to 12 cents per night. Then I went
through the thickest part of Whitechapel
—an alley called Petticoat lane. The
meat hanging in the stores and on the
sidewalks was so filthy that it sickened
me and I could not tarry long enough to
oven ask the price of it. 1 asked the
price of herrings—1 cent each. Bread
was 1 cent a loaf, and it was hard look
ing bread; potatoes one-half cent ' a
pound; onions one-half cent a pound; 3
pounds of carrots for 2 cents. Such a
filthy trading market would disgust a
stoic. . They live in filth, breed in filth
and die in filth, knowing nothing else.
The “Casual Ward.”
Then 1 went to a pubiic institution
known as n casual ward, the same one
I visited eight years ago. I found it
just as it was in 1S88. The keeper, or
guardian, told me this ward had been
in existence for more than thirty years
and that there were thirty such places
in London at present. These institutions
are kept as public places and are really
poorhouses. If a man has no money, he
can go there and apply for admittance,
which he^gets if the place is not already
filled. When received, they are kept in
confinement for two nights and one day,
England for each person (taken from
reports published by Parliament) is about
$280, a difference in favor of America!
of $208 per capita. Now there are tbou-j
sands of people in England who do not!
receive one-half this $2S0. We pay our
angle iron smiths 53 per cent, more than
they are paid in England; our black
smiths, 102 per cent.' more; our boiler
makers, 47 per cent, more; our brick
layers, 125 per cent, more; our boiler
shop helpers. 05 per cent, more; our;
carpenters, 105 per cent> more; our con-:
ductors (on express trains), 340 per cent..
more; our locomotive engineers, 101 per
cent, more; our police, 200 per cent. I
more; our telegraph operators, 103 per \
cent, more; our train dispatchers, 316
per cent, more, and our common labor
ers, 158 per cent. more. The difference
in all classes of labor is the same as
these examples I mention.
The engineers who run the fastest ex- . i
press trains on the road in England get,
but $10.80 per week for ten hours per
day. The firemen get $5.02 per week or,
98 cents per day. The guards (who
correspond with our conductors) get
from $4.80 to $0.72 per week. The por
ters (we call them brakemen) get $4.56
per week. This is a sample of the pay
of English labor." Our engineers in
America on the express trains receive’
$31.50 per week, our conductors $26
and our brakeman $13. We pay more ,
than double the wages paid in England, J
where railroad fare is higher and the
coal cheaper than in America.
The following table of wages answers
all the free-trade fallacies of the Demo
cratic party and cannot be disputed:
V*
Mrs. Fowkes’ daughters work ten hours per day. earn from *1.20—1.50 per week,
laken at Cradlcy Heath, August 20, 1890.
at the expiration of which time they aro
discharged.
Nobody is allowed to come to these
places more than once a month, and he
can stay no longer than the time pre
scribed. The ward I .visited accom
modated fifty-five men and thirty-two
women. The beds consist of a narrow
strip of canvas stretched like a hammock
between two iron rods about a foot from
the floor. The applicants nre admitted
after 6 p. m. in the summer time and
after 4 p. m. in the winter time. As
soon as they are admitted they are given
a bath in one of the six baths in the
ward and their clothes are fumigated
and disinfected. After the bath they
have their supper of six ounces of bread
and a pint of gruel. For their bed they
are given three blankets. Fofc breakfast
they receive the same food as for sup
per. For dinner, in addition to the bread
and gruel, they are given 1% ounces of
cheese. The total cost for caring for
these people during the period of their
confinement, including the five meals, is
9 cents each.
Advice to Americans.
My advice to every American working
man is, as I have said before, to pro
tect his own rights and the rights and
firivileges of his family and not to fol
ow the whims, cries and falsehoods of
the free-trade politician who seeks to
have goods imported into the United
Stntes which are made by cheap pauper
labor because he thinks the goods can be
sold cheaper than if they were made
in America.
If the wages of the American working
men are not reduced to the standard of
those in England, and the goods are not
made in America, he has no money
to purchase these cheap goods with. Be
ing deprived of work, where are they to
get their money to make their purchases
with?
Labor In London.
The following statistics are taken from
Booth’s “Life and Labor of the People
of London,” showing the number of peo
ple employed in the various lines in the
citv of London:
Tailors. 01,876
Boot aud shoemakers.•>.. 06,614
Hatters.. ••••.. 0.827
Dressmakers and milliners. 43.704
Shlrtmakers. 17,326
Machinists... 6,715
Drapers and hosiers. 31,377
Clerks. 181.589
Cabmen, coachmen, busmen, etc_ 261,406
Railway service, labor, etc. 02.828
Seamen.. • .... 15,833
Dock service, labor, • coal heavers,
porters, gasworkers, etc. 88,201
General labor, factory labor. 215,465
Engine driven and artisans. 45,300
Total.1,201,241
All other classified labor not in
cluded above. 711,240
Grand total In London,
1,912,490
TAKEN FROM OFFICIAL SOURCES.
Per Week.
K
D
«
Angle Iron smiths. ...
Boilermakers. ..
Blacksmiths.
Bricklayers.. ’
Boilershop helpers.. 4
C nlkers.
Carpenters, house.
Carpenters, ship..
Conductors, express..
Car drivers, Eng. 6s.
12 hrs., Amer. $2..
Engineers, Loudon and
Northwestern and N.
Y. Central.
Firemen, express. ...
Hodcarriers.
Holders on, boiler shops.
Joiners, house, Liverpool
Laborers in streets, Lon
don.
’Longshoremen, N. Y.
docks 22 to 40c per hr;
London docks 12c per
hr...
Machinists, 1st class..
Machinists, 2d class...
Masons, 8 hours.
Molders, iron. ........
Painters.
Plasterers.
Plumbers...
Platers.
Printers, job.
Policemen.
Pavers.
Riveters.
Riggers.
*&tage drivers (same as
horse car drivers).
Telegraph operators.
►d
**
to **
< n
c n
* a
© r*
►s
a 3
2 B
® n
England
Average first year's serv
ice.
Average ten years’ serv
ice.
Train dispatcher.
Common laborer..
Mortar makers.
8i3.no
14.52
16.02
27.00
7.02
19.50
21.00
21.00
2G.40
14.00
31.50
17.10
16.50
10.50
10.50
10.50
16.02
12.00
27.1(0
13.50
12.00
24.00
21.00
12.00
18.00
25.00
27.00
13.50
10.02
14.00
10.00
20.00
$8.16
9.841
7.92
12.00
3.60
8.16
7.92
8.40
5.88
10.08
10.80
5.92
4.50
5.04
7.92
7.20
1 .53
.47
1.02
1.25
.95
1.26..
1.65
1.50
3.49
.38
1.01
1.88
2.67
1.08
.33
.48
21.00
10.50
10.80
6.72
6.7
11.40
8.16
7.92
11.40
8.04
8.8S(
7.92
6.96
9.72
0.7
7.08
10.08
1.88
7.48
5.04
4.06
7.201
1.38
.79
1.37
.53
.51
1.11
1.43
.35 •
1.21
2.00
1.77
.39
.41
.39
1.03
1.54
3.18
1.58
_.50
♦English stage drivers work 12 to 15 hours
a day; American, 10.
Cheapness will be still more dearly J
bought by the American wage-earner if—1
we continue a free-trade policy in Amer- "
ica.
I present this statement to the Repub
lican nntional committee, free of charge,
and trust they will attend to the dia
tribution of it.
_ _ Nathaniel McKay.
London, Sept, 4, 1896.
■EVEN.