Free trade and poverty are Siamese
twins.
In free trade England there were
1,317,104 paupers, exclusive of lunafltes
and vagrants in the year 1890-91.
They included persons of all ages.
There were 315,457 under 16 years at
age, or about three in every hundred of
the total population of similar age.
Between 16 and 60 years, there were
591,796, or about four to every hun
dred of same age.
Eight in each hundred of those be
tween 60 and 65 years, or 65,889 in all,
are paupers.
Over 65 years, twenty-six out of
every hundred, or more than one m
four, depend on public charity, of
whom the total amounts to 343,962.
These are the estimates made by
Gen. Booth of the Salvation army in
his recently issued book, “Pauperism,
A Picture.”
While strength and health last, tbe
sturdy Briton, as a rule, bears up
somehow, no mutter how U>w hl®;
wages, against the burdens of his
miserable free trade existence.
But when old age draws near he is
forced to the poorhouse to end his
days.
Here are Gen. Booth’s own pathetic
comments on the sad facts he sets
forth:
“Old age fares hardly in our times.”
“Life runs more intensely than it
did, and the old tend to lie thrown
out.”
“The community gains by this, but
the old suffer.”
“They suffer beyond any measure of
actual incapacity, for the fact that a
man is old is often in itself enough to
debar him from obtaining work, and it
is in vain he makes pretense by dyeing
his hair or wearing false teeth.”
It will be a sad day for America
when we experience such conditions
here, as we surely would under free,
trade.—American Economist.
The Force Hill.
