The unemployed question is really by far the most important and serious domestic problem we have to meet. And under this head of an "unemployed class" may be placed the precariously employed and those sweaters' victims who, even by the most laborious toil, cannot make a decent livelihood. Some people suppose that this question, serious as they are obliged to admit it is, has nothing to do with politics. It is a question, we are told, of supply and demand, of freedom of contract, and so forth. But if politics have nothing to say to the unemployed, then the unemployed, we may be sure, will have nothing to say to politics. What are the House of Lords, or Salisbury's doings in East Africa, to a man who has no work to do, and whose wife and children are starving in the miserable den he calls his home? "The three great ends," said Coleridge, "which a statesman ought to propose to himself in the government of a nation are (1) security to possessors; (2) facility to inquirers; and (3) hope to all." While we may doubt whether those who possess unjustly ought to be rendered secure in their possessions, we cannot doubt that the State exists to secure "hope to all," and that it fails just in so far as it falls short of accomplishing this.
Now, hope for the unemployed there is at present none, but we may give him such hope by three methods - 1. By a reduction of the hours of labor. 2. By municipal organisation of labor. 3. Generally by a relief from the great land monopoly from which London suffers. As to the first of these two important reforms, every one admits that it is desirable. The only question is as to the method to be adopted. The English trade unionists at the Bradford Congress (so far as the wretched muddle made of the voting enables one to judge), and at the recent International Trades Union Congress, appear to think that reduction of hours can be secured by the trade unions. If this is so, one obviously asks, Why do they not secure so desirable a result? The fact is, they cannot secure it. The existence of a large unemployed class is an important factor in determining the hours and the wages of labor. So long as employers can draw upon this class to an unlimited degree, so long will the Trade Unions be powerless to effect the object in view. The unemployed who are glad to get any work at all will be used to defeat the combinations of the discontented workers.
We quite admit the difficulty of a universal eight hours working day in the face of foreign competition, and we do not suggest that that should be made an object of political action. But we think that an eight hours' working day might be demanded in (1) Government establishments, and (2) State-created monopolies such as railways, in which the element of foreign competition does not enter. The Government employs some 140,000 persons, and works many of them overtime, while it is also unhappily directly guilty of encouraging sweating. The railways employ nearly 380,000 men, many of whom are worked at cruelly long hours, to their own injury, to the destruction of their family life, and to the danger of the general public. The tramcar men are among the hardest-worked victims of the present industrial system. They cannot combine, for they have no time for organisation; they cannot strike for shorter hours or better pay, for if they did their places would be instantly filled by thousands who have nothing at all to do. Institute an eight hours' working day in Government establishments and State-created monopolies, and you at once absorb a large mass of the unemployed or half-employed into the ranks of employed workers; you give leisure and opportunity for improvement to those who work; and you remove a most threatening danger from the midst of our civilisation.
There is another form of work in which foreign competition does not enter, viz., our shops. Sir John Lubbock, with a most praiseworthy devotion to public improvement, has already introduced a bill on this question, which was defeated in the House of Commons. It is not surprising that that Bill was defeated, for as drawn it prevented a man or his wife from carrying on trade at his own little shop at the very time of day when he has most custom. Such a law was arbitrary, and could scarcely have been enforced. But if Sir John Lubbock would accept the advice tendered him by friendly critics of his bill, and draw a distinction between small shops, where the proprietor himself serves at the counter, and larger establishments where employees are kept, he would gain a great measure of support now withheld, and confer a boon on toiling, weary London.
The second means of dealing with present evils, that, namely, of the organization of labor, is too large a question to be dealt with here. Such organization must obviously be through the municipal and new local bodies. The national government cannot open up new public works; but local bodies such as the new county councils may, with extended powers, and elected on a more democratic basis, surely in time be able to open workshops, to carry on municipal undertakings of various kinds, and to let municipal land to co-operative bodies of producers. It is monstrous that when industrious men ask for bread they should be literally offered a stone (stones to break in the stone-yard) when they are ready and willing to perform useful tasks which would have the effect of adding to the wealth of the community.
At about half-past nine this morning a man named James McCarthy, who was engaged with others in repairing the Congregational Chapel, Pentonville-road, fell from the scaffolding, 40 feet above the ground, on to the stone pavement. He fractured his thighs and broke his jaw, but was conscious when taken to the hospital. He is not expected to live, however.
Not Blake, but Warren?
It is rumored that at the Cabinet Council last Friday the subject was discussed of withdrawing Sir H. A. Blake's name from the Governorship of Queensland in favor of that of Sir Charles Warren.
At half-past twelve to-day the remains of Mary Janet Kelly, were removed from the Shoreditch Mortuary to the burial-ground at Leytonstone, followed by Joseph Barnett, the man who lived with her. Thousands of people saw the remains taken from the mortuary.
"Not an Act of Parliament."
The Hammersmith magistrate had to tell Inspector Pearson that "a police order is not an Act of Parliament." The remark had no direct reference to Trafalgar-square, but to the allowance of expenses to the police for the removal of a wandering lunatic to the workhouse. The magistrate said that in spite of "a recent police order" he had only power to order expenses where he made an order for the lunatic's detention. Inspector Pearson will submit the matter to the Commissioners.
When Charles West was brought before the Wandsworth magistrate charged with assaulting his mother, his solicitor complained that the police forced their way into the house and arrested him. The Chief Clerk pointed out that as the woman bore marks of violence the police were justified in what they had done. The mother said she worked hard and kept her son and his wife, who both had assaulted and kicked her till she was bruised all over. The defence was that she entered her son's room drunk, and that in the scuffle which followed she fell against a fender. The magistrate said it was a bad case of assault, and passed sentence of three months' hard labor.
A laboring man, giving the name of Henry Turner, was charged at Dalston with disorderly conduct in Victoria-park. - Mr. Collman, on behalf of the Metropolitan Board of Works, said he believed the prisoner was a Socialist. On Sunday afternoon he led a Socialist procession into the park. Further statement was prevented by the prisoner calling out loudly, "Hold on; not so much of that; don't tell so many lies." - Mr. Horace Smith: If you do not behave yourself I shall remand you for a week. - An officer went into the box to prove the case. - Turner said: There is a man who don't know anything about it. - Mr. Smith: You are remanded. - He was then removed from the dock shouting, "I will remand you too! Wait till the people, the people - " Here he disappeared behind the gaolers' door. The magistrate directed that the state of his mind should be inquired into.
A young girl named Annie Webster, aged 14, was charged at Bow-street with sleeping in the open air without any visible means of subsistence, in Bedford-square. - She was found in a very exhausted condition, and when questioned said she had travelled from Deptford selling hearthstone, and was afraid to return, as she would be thrashed by her father because she had no money to take home. She also said that he lived on what she got by hawking hearthstone. One of her brothers, a lad aged 16, had run away from home in consequence of his father's ill-treatment. - The magistrate asked where her father lived. She replied: "20, Stowage, High-street, Deptford." - Mr. Cohen said a detective had said he knew the facts of the case, and that the girl was speaking the truth. - Mr. Vaughan (to defendant): In what way does your father ill-treat you? - The Girl: Sometimes he beats me when he is in a temper. The last time was two or three weeks ago. - Mr. Vaughan remanded the girl to the workhouse, and directed that the father should attend the court next week.
The feeling grows that the correspondence between Mr. Matthews and Sir Charles Warren should be made known. The real cause of quarrel has leaked out from an authoritative source. It is alleged that Mr. James Monro devoted too much of the time of his department to Irish business, especially in support of the Times case. This the Chief Commissioner of Police objected to and repeatedly brought what he considered Mr. Monro's neglect of home detective duties to the notice of the Home Secretary in vain. At last Sir Charles Warren complained to Lord Salisbury in person, and won the Prime Minister over to his views. Mr. Monro at once resigned, and Mr. Matthews nursed the slight on his authority until the article in Murray's Magazine gave him his revenge.
The executive of the Open-Air Meetings Committee met on Saturday afternoon at the National Liberal Club, Mr. Cuninghame Graham, M.P., in the chair. Amongst other business it was resolved that the case stated by Mr. Vaughan should be taken up. Mr. C. Graham, M.P., and Mr. Conybeare, M.P., consented to join in the necessary recognisances. Mr. C. Dillon Lewis was desired to forthwith take steps to put the committee in possession of the case. If, as was apprehended, the case as stated did not properly raise the question of constitutional right, it was decided to take such action for that purpose as might be required, in order to secure the performance of the engagement of the Home Office that the questions between the authorities and the public should be fairly stated.
The committee further resolved to issue a statement of the public rights involved in the contest between the Government and the people, in particular the right of open-air meetings in every part of the kingdom. A resolution was also adopted relative to the illegal violence of the police in connection with the recent meeting on Clerkenwell-green.
The last of the series of meetings in celebration of the Trafalgar-square and Chicago events of a year ago was held in Victoria-park yesterday afternoon. The trouble that was anticipated through the refusal of the Metropolitan Board of Works to allow the vans intended for platforms to enter the park was avoided by the submission of the Board at the last moment. The demonstration was largely attended, and Mrs. Lucy Parsons, Mr. William Morris, and Mr. Cuninghame Graham spoke. Mr. Graham said he would hold a meeting in Trafalgar-square before many more months were over.
Considerable excitement was caused in London yesterday by the circulation of a report that a medical man had been arrested at Euston, upon arrival from Birmingham, on a charge of suspected complicity in the Whitechapel murders. It was stated that the accused had been staying at a common lodging-house in Birmingham since Monday last, and the theory was that if, as was supposed by the police, he was connected with the East-end crimes, he left the metropolis by an early train on the morning of the tragedies. The suspected man was of gentlemanly appearance and manners, and somewhat resembled the description of the person declared by witnesses at the inquest to have been
early on the morning that she was murdered. Upon being minutely questioned as to his whereabouts at the time of the murders, the suspect was able to furnish a satisfactory account of himself, and was accordingly liberated. It has since transpired that he has been watched by Birmingham police for the last five days, and when he left that town on Saturday the Metropolitan police were advised to continue to "watch" him, not to arrest him. But, in spite of this warning, the London police seem to have stupidly warned the man that he was suspected.
A Star man made a round of the police-stations this morning, and received everywhere the report of a very quiet night. Neither at Commercial-street nor Leman-street was anyone detained. Expectation of another murder being discovered this morning was the only cause of stir, and the detectives were mustered at the stations in readiness for any emergency. Up to twelve o'clock, however, nothing had turned up. Late last night there was some little excitement consequent on the arrest in a Flower and Dean-street tenement house of a young man named Charles Akehurst, of Canterbury-road, Ball's Pond-road, N. He accompanied a woman to her room, and there had the misfortune to make use of expressions which caused her to jump to the conclusion that
She ran trembling to a policeman, who arrested the man. He satisfied the detective, however, and was released after a short detention. Full inquiries have been made into the movements of the Swede Nikaner. (sic) A Benelius, remanded by Mr. Bushby on a charge of being on private premises for an unlawful purpose. Inspector Reid states that the man's innocence of any hand in the murders has been fully established. The man, who has been lodging at a German lodging-house at 90, Great Eastern-street, has been preaching in the streets, and behaving in a manner which suggests that he is not so fully responsible for his actions as he might be. It was therefore thought advisable to make the fullest inquiries, which, however, have quite cleared him. He was arrested on suspicion in connection with the Berners-street murder, and is likely to be arrested every time the public attention is strained to the point of suspecting every man of odd behavior. Dorset-street has still its knot of loungers, although it is more than a week since it achieved notoriety.
We are on the track of the murderer at last! No one will be surprised to hear that all those who ought to know - police, journalists, doctors, and the rest - are on a false scent. It has been reserved for a lowly Scotch "Meenister" to evolve the truly new and the newly true theory from his inspired cranium. "The
says this ingenious scribe, "were thwarted in all their efforts to terrorise London with dynamite, &c., but no one who knows their creed and aims is likely to believe that they have abandoned their fiendish schemes. May it not be possible that one of their most dare-devil agents has taken this plan to annoy and engross the Metropolis? By waging war on a class of practically helpless and unknown waifs, he is more likely to accomplish his work with impunity, needing only the inevitable knife, which can be easily concealed." This worth Scotch cleric considers the fact that "Jack the Ripper" carries a black bag, wears a black moustache and a wideawake hat (if it be a fact), suspicious, and triumphantly declares that there are several Americanisms in the letters attributed to him. Here is some ground for Warren's successor to work on, and if he wants the name of the author of the theory the editor of the (of course) Unionist Scotsman will no doubt give it him.
The Radicals of Southampton gave Mr. Henry George and Mr. William Saunders a hearty welcome. A deputation proceeded down the Southampton Water on board the tender, consisting of members of the Radical Association, and accompanied by Mr. T. P. Waad, representing the Land Restoration League, Mr. Thos. Briggs, author of "Poverty and its Remedy," Mr. Saml. Saunders, of Market Lavington, and Mr. W. Warren, of The Democrat. On approaching the vessel hearty cheers were raised by those on board the tender, and responded to by the passengers on the Eider. Members of the deputation then held up some large posters on which were printed in large type, "Welcome to Henry George," and on another
Both Mr. George and Mr. Saunders looked extremely well, and had had a pleasant journey. Mr. George stated that he had come over for ten days' rest. In parting company with the passengers on board the Eider Mr. George was cheered. Speaking of the Presidential campaign: "We single tax men, as we call ourselves, went in for absolute free trade, without any restrictions or deductions of any kind, and in the full literal sense of the word. We have begun to fight, and have done good work. We are now
in which I hope we English speaking people will go forward shoulder to shoulder. (Applause.) What does good in one country will suit in all others, in Canada and Australia, as well as in England and the United States. It only remains for us to vie with each other in emulation as to which county progresses furthest and fastest."
Henry George had a "reception" at Waterloo Station. Walworth Radicals went there with the band of the Westminster Branch of the Irish National League, and a crowd of followers. The railway police, with a touch of Warrenism, forbade the band admittance. On the platform were gathered all the leading local politicians. The Rev. Stewart Headlam, with H. W. Lawson, M.P., were prominent in the crowd. At the time Henry George should have arrived a telegram was received saying the boat had been delayed by fog. So there was a long wait. As the crowd grew the police had orders to clear the platform, which they did civilly enough, telling the people that Messrs. Saunders and George would certainly arrive about nine p.m. But the train did not arrive until a quarter-past ten p.m. But late though it was there was a big crowd. And it was enthusiastic too. Cheer rose upon cheer and hand-shaking seemed as if it would never cease. Mr. Saunders was almost carried out of the station, where a cab was turned into a temporary platform, and from this Mr. Saunders and Mr. George addressed the people. The cab at last drove off, amid the cheering of a crowd in which figured notable members from nearly every Radical club in London.
NEWS OF ALL SORTS. Wife, Husband, and Baby Strangled. At two o'clock yesterday morning the inhabitants of a house in Church-street, Manningham, a suburb of Bradford, heard a woman's cries, accompanied by a crash of glass, proceeding from a house occupied by James Arthur Kirkby and his wife and two little children. No notice was taken of the disturbance at the time, and nothing more transpired until about nine o'clock last night. About that time some of the neighbors heard a child crying, and as the door was looked (sic) and nobody appeared to be within, a policeman was called, and he broke open the door. On entering the house he found a baby lying dead in a cradle, and the dead body of Kirkby suspended from the ceiling. Proceeding into the bedroom he next discovered the dead body of Mrs. Kirkby lying on the bed. She had evidently been strangled, as also had the infant.
Mr. Stuart Cumberland gave illustrations of thought-reading on Saturday night, as it might, he suggested, be applied to the detection of crime. The company which assembled at the Hotel Victoria included magistrates, diplomatists, lawyers, authors, novelists, &c. Mr. Cumberland prefaced his experiments by stating that thought reading was the observation of the involuntary physical indications which corresponded to the thought or feeling that was predominant in the mind. Mr. W. Lumley communicated to Mr. Vaughan, the magistrate, his intention to murder Mr. Milner, Mr. Cumberland being out of the room at the time; and then Mr. Cumberland, blindfolded and holding Mr. Lumley's hand, walked about among the company, and shortly fixed upon Mr. Milner as the gentleman who had been designated. Mr. P. Callan was then good enough to slay Sir W. Charley, and a gentleman from the Russian Embassy took and secreted his watch. Mr. Cumberland, holding the hand of the supposed criminal, soon selected the victim from amongst the company, and found the watch. It should be added that not only did Mr. Cumberland discover imaginary victims, but he repeated the manner in which the pretended crimes had been committed.
