صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

3'3 (Annual Report of Labor Department, Board of Trade, 1901-2, Cd.-1,755). The average number of persons in London whose home is the "common lodging-house" is over 30,000; over 1,100 are every night found in the "casual wards."

As regards the four millions of persons in the metropolis, Mr. Charles Booth tells us that 37,610, or o'9 per cent., are in the lowest class (occasional laborers, loafers, and semi-criminals); 316,834, or 7'5 per cent. in the next (casual labor, hand-to-mouth existence, chronic want); 938,293, or 22.3 per cent., form "the poor" (including alike those whose earnings are small, because of irregularity of employment, and those whose work, though regular, is ill-paid). These classes, on or below the "poverty line" of earnings not exceeding a guinea per week per family, number together 1,292,737, or 307 per cent. of the whole population. To these must be added 99,830 inmates of workhouses, hospitals, prisons, industrial schools, etc., making altogether nearly 1,400,000 persons in this one city alone whose condition even the most optimistic social student can hardly deem satisfactory (Life and Labor of the People, edited by Charles Booth, 1891, vol. ii., pp. 20-21).

The ultimate fate of these victims it is not easy adequately to realize. In 1905 no less than twenty-one persons, of whom eight were fifty-five years old and upwards, were recorded by the Registrar-General as having died of starvation (Cd.—3,279). Actual starvation is, however, returned as the cause of death in but a few cases annually; and it is well known that many thousands of deaths are directly due to long continued under feeding and exposure. Young children especially suffer.

In England and Wales in 1905, 91,597 deaths were registered as having taken place in poor law institutions, workhouses, infirmaries, schools, hospitals, and asylums, or 17.61 per cent. of the total deaths; the proportion during the eleven years immediately preceding having averaged 15:38 per cent. Of these, 48,794 occurred in workhouses, 32,899 in hospitals, and 9,904 in lunatic asylums.

In London in 1905, one person in every three died in the workhouse, hospital, or lunatic asylum. Out of 70,962 deaths, 28,276 being under twenty years of age, 13,985 were in workhouses, 10,854 in hospitals, and 498 in lunatic asylums, or, altogether, 25,337 in public institutions (Registrar-General's Report, 1905, Cd.-3,279).

It is worth notice that a large number of those compelled in their old age to resort to the workhouse have made ineffectual efforts at thrifty provision for their declining years. In 1890-91, out of 175,852 inmates of workhouses (one-third being children, and another third women), no fewer than 14,808 have been members of benefit societies. In 4,593 cases the society had broken up, usually from insolvency (House of Commons Return, 1891, Nos. 366 and 130-B.). It is probable that one in every three London adults will be driven into these refuges to die, and the proportion in the case of the "manual labor class" must, of course, be still larger. And the number of persons who die while in receipt of outdoor relief is not included in this calculation. As in 1907 the mean number of outdoor paupers in the metropolis was 44,890 (Cd.-3,665), and the average death-rate in London was 174 per 1,000, it may be assumed

that upwards of 1,000 persons died while in receipt of outdoor relief -often from its being insufficient.

15,570 persons died by fatal accidents in 1905 (Registrar-General's Report, Cd.-3,279), 1,113 losing their lives in mines, quarries, etc.; 853 on railways; 219 in working machinery; 510 by poisoning and poisonous vapors; and 233 in building operations. These are figures for England and Wales alone, and would be much increased by including the accidents in Scotland and Ireland.

The Board of Trade Report on " Railway Accidents" during the year 1906 shows that 438 railway servants were killed, and 4,365 injured, by accidents on the lines. Of these nine were killed and 572 injured whilst coupling or uncoupling vehicles (Cd.-3,690).

"At present the average age at death among the nobility, gentry, and profes sional classes in England and Wales was 55 years; but among the artizan classes of Lambeth it only amounted to 29 years; and whilst the infantile death-rate among the well-to-do classes was such that only eight children died in the first year of life out of 100 born, as many as 30 per cent. succumbed at that age among the children of the poor in some districts of our large cities. The only real causes of this enormous difference in the position of the rich and poor with respect to their chances of existence lay in the fact that at the bottom of society wages were so low that food and other requisites of health were obtained with too great difficulty (Dr. C. R. Drysdale, Report of Industrial Remuneration Conference, p. 130).

"Anyone who is acquainted with the state of the population of all great industrial centres, whether in this or other countries, is aware that amidst a large and increasing body of that population there reigns supreme . . . . that condition which the French call la misère, a word for which I do not think there is any exact English equivalent. It is a condition in which the food, warmth, and clothing, which are necessary for the mere maintenance of the functions of the body in their normal state, cannot be obtained; in which men, women, and children are forced to crowd into dens wherein decency is abolished, and the most ordinary conditions of healthful existence are impossible of attainment; in which the pleasures within reach are reduced to brutality and drunkenness; in which the pains accumulate at compound interest in the shape of starvation, disease, stunted development, and moral degrad tion; in which the prospect of even steady and honest industry is a life of unsuccessf battling with hunger, rounded by a pauper's grave. . . . When the organization c society, instead of mitigating this tendency, tends to continue and intensify it; whe a given social order plainly makes for evil and not for good, men naturally enough begin to think it high time to try a fresh experiment. I take it to be a mere plain truth that throughout industrial Europe there is not a single large manufacturing city which is free from a vast mass of people whose condition is exactly that described, and from a still greater mass, who, living just on the edge of the social swamp, are liable to be precipitated into it" (Professor Huxley, Nineteenth Century, Feb. 1888).

B. S. Rowntree estimated that the average income from all sources of the 11,560 working class families in York in 1899 was 32s. 8d. per week, or £85 a year. But 1,465 families, comprising 7,230 persons, that is, 15:46 per cent. of the wage-earning class and 991 per cent. of the population of York, were living in "primary poverty," that is, on less than enough to provide the minimum of food, clothing, and shelter. And, in addition, 13,072 persons, or 1793 per cent. of the population were living in "secondary

rty,'

that is, on earnings which would be sufficient if spent with rigid economy and perfect wisdom, but were insufficient because in part misspent on drink and betting or through ignorant housekeeping. "The wages paid for unskilled labor in York are insufficient to provide food, shelter, and clothing adequate to maintain a family of moderate size in a state of bare physical efficiency." No less than 52 per cent. of "primary" poverty was due to low wages alone (Poverty, 2nd ed., pp. 83, 120, 133).

One great cause of the short and miserable lives of the poor is the insanitary condition of the slums in which many of them are compelled to dwell. The strongest testimony to the evil effects of such surroundings comes from the insurance companies. The industrial friendly societies have in each large town their "proscribed streets." The Liverpool Victoria Legal Friendly Society proscribed for Liverpool alone, on account of their insanitary character, 167 "streets wherein no members of the Society may be entered" (Circular of the 13th October, 1886). Yet these unhealthy streets were not too bad to be the only homes of thousands of the poorer citizens of that commercial centre.

INFANT MORTALITY.

"The best indication probably as to whether the conditions of life in any locality are healthy or the reverse is the infant mortality" (The Dwelling House, by G. V. Poore).

In the Analysis of the causes of death in England and Wales furnished by Dr. Tatham, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P., to the RegistrarGeneral, and published in the Report for 1904 (Cd.-2,617), attention is called to "the enormous waste of life that besets early infancy in England and Wales. Nearly half the children dying under one year perish within three months of their birth; whilst of survivors in the second year of life there die more than twice as many as in any one of the three succeeding years." The mortality among children under five years of age-rate per 1,000 living-from all causes in England and Wales in 1905 was 44'66 per 1,000; 50:26 in urban counties, and 33:64 in rural counties. The highest death-rate amongst children under one year was in Glamorganshire, 155 to 1,000 births; the next highest was Durham, 153; whilst London came sixteenth, with 131. The lowest death-rate was in Radnorshire and Bucks, 82 each.

The infantile death-rate at Bethnal Green is twice that of Belgravia. Holborn (151,835) and St. George's, Hanover Square (149,748), have almost equal populations; yet, in the former, 1,614, in the latter only 1,007, children under five died in 1884* (RegistrarGeneral's Report, 1886, pp. 32, 126, C.-4,722).

Dr. Playfair says that 18 per cent. of the children of the upper class, 36 per cent. of those of the tradesmen class, and 55 per cent. of those of the workmen, die before they reach five years of age (quoted at p. 133 of Dictionary of Statistics, by Mr. Mulhall, who, however, thinks it "too high an estimate").

* No figures for a comparison of this kind are given in the Registrar-General's Reports for years subsequent to 1884.

that upwards of 1,000 persons died while in receipt of outdoor relief -often from its being insufficient.

15,570 persons died by fatal accidents in 1905 (Registrar-General's Report, Cd.-3,279), 1,113 losing their lives in mines, quarries, etc.; 853 on railways; 219 in working machinery; 510 by poisoning and poisonous vapors; and 233 in building operations. These are figures for England and Wales alone, and would be much increased by including the accidents in Scotland and Ireland.

The Board of Trade Report on "Railway Accidents" during the year 1906 shows that 438 railway servants were killed, and 4,365 injured, by accidents on the lines. Of these nine were killed and 572 injured whilst coupling or uncoupling vehicles (Cd.—3,690).

"At present the average age at death among the nobility, gentry, and profes sional classes in England and Wales was 55 years; but among the artizan classes of Lambeth it only amounted to 29 years; and whilst the infantile death-rate among the well-to-do classes was such that only eight children died in the first year of life out of 100 born, as many as 30 per cent, succumbed at that age among the children of the poor in some districts of our large cities. The only real causes of this enor mous difference in the position of the rich and poor with respect to their chances of existence lay in the fact that at the bottom of society wages were and other requisites of health were obtained with too great difficulty (Dr. C. R. Drysdale, Report of Industrial Remuneration Conference, p. 130).

low that food

state,

into

thful

are

ind

"Anyone who is acquainted with the state of the population of all great industrial centres, whether in this or other countries, is aware that amidst a large and increasing body of that population there reigns supreme. . . . that condition which the French call la misère, a word for which I do not think there is any exact H English hare equivalent. It is a condition in which the food, warmth, and clothing, whic necessary for the mere maintenance of the functions of the body in their normal cannot be obtained; in which men, women, and children are forced to crowd dens wherein decency is abolished, and the most ordinary conditions of healt existence are impossible of attainment; in which the pleasures within reach reduced to brutality and drunkenness; in which the pains accumulate at compou interest in the shape of starvation, disease, stunted development, and moral degradoul tion; in which the prospect of even steady and honest industry is a life of unsuccessf battling with hunger, rounded by a pauper's grave. . . . When the organization c society, instead of mitigating this tendency, tends to continue and intensify it; where a given social order plainly makes for evil and not for good, men naturally enough begin to think it high time to try a fresh experiment. I take it to be a mere plain truth that throughout industrial Europe there is not a single large manufacturing city, which is bec from a vast mass of people whose condition is exactly that described. and rom a s. i. greater mass, who, living just on the edge of the social swamp, are Table to de pro gitated into it” (Professor Huxley, Nineteenth Century, Feb. 1888).

a

B. S. Rowntree estimated that the average income from all ces of the 11560 working class families in York in 1800 was SA. per week, or 85 a year, But 14 families, comprising e 430 persons, that is 1gie per cent, of the wage-earning class ande evi per cent, of the population of York, were living in "primary's poverty,” that a on less than enough to provide the minimum chat food, clothing, and shelter. And, in addition, 13.072 persons, cen

great of the population were living in "secondary poverty, as

that is, on earnings which would be sufficient if spent with rigid economy and perfect wisdom, but were insufficient because in part misspent on drink and betting or through ignorant housekeeping. "The wages paid for unskilled labor in York are insufficient to provide food, shelter, and clothing adequate to maintain a family of moderate size in a state of bare physical efficiency." No less than 52 per cent. of "primary" poverty was due to low wages alone (Poverty, 2nd ed., pp. 83, 120, 133).

One great cause of the short and miserable lives of the poor is the insanitary condition of the slums in which many of them are compelled to dwell. The strongest testimony to the evil effects of such surroundings comes from the insurance companies. The industrial friendly societies have in each large town their "proscribed streets." The Liverpool Victoria Legal Friendly Society proscribed for Liverpool alone, on account of their insanitary character, 167 "streets wherein no members of the Society may be entered" (Circular of the 13th October, 1886). Yet these unhealthy streets were not too bad to be the only homes of thousands of the poorer citizens of that commercial centre.

INFANT MORTALITY.

"The best indication probably as to whether the conditions of life in any locality are healthy or the reverse is the infant mortality" (The Dwelling House, by G. V. Poore).

In the Analysis of the causes of death in England and Wales furnished by Dr. Tatham, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P., to the RegistrarGeneral, and published in the Report for 1904 (Cd.-2,617), attention is called to "the enormous waste of life that besets early infancy in England and Wales. Nearly half the children dying under one year perish within three months of their birth; whilst of survivors in the second year of life there die more than twice as many as in any one of the three succeeding years." The mortality among children under five years of age-rate per 1,000 living-from all causes in England and Wales in 1905 was 44 66 per 1,000; 50:26 in urban counties, and 33'64 in rural counties. The highest death-rate amongst children under one year was in Glamorganshire, 155 to 1,000 births; the next highest was Durham, 153; whilst London came sixteenth, with 131. The lowest death-rate was in Radnorshire and Bucks, 82 each.

The infantile death-rate at Bethnal Green is twice that of Belgravia. Holborn (151,835) and St. George's, Hanover Square (149,748), have almost equal populations; yet, in the former, 1,614, in the latter only 1,007, children under five died in 1884 (RegistrarGeneral's Report, 1886, pp. 32, 126, C.-4,722).

Dr. Playfair says that 18 per cent. of the children of the upper class, 36 per cent. of those of the tradesmen class, and 55 per cent. of those of the workmen, die before they reach five years of age (quoted at p. 133 of Dictionary of Statistics, by Mr. Mulhall, who, however, thinks it "too high an estimate").

No figures for a comparison of this kind are given in the Registrar-General's Reports for years subsequent to 1884.

« السابقةمتابعة »