BOOKS.

LIFE AND LABOUR OF THE PEOPLE IN LONDON.*

IT is not too much to say that Mr. Charles Booth has done more to help the solution of the social problem than any man, or, indeed, than any institution or agency of his time. Before he began his investigations, men ex- plored the cavern of London poverty with the aid of farthing dips, and naturally enough brought back ridi- culously exaggerated stories of its size and blackness, and of the grim and terrible things to be found therein. Crane ignolum pro magnifica is a principle which largely pre- vails in the region of philanthropy. Mr. Charles Booth was fortunately a practical man, and when he turned his attention to the study and to the alleviation of London poverty, he saw at once that the first thing needful was more light. Instead of listening to the people who said it was impossible to get more or better light than that afforded by plenty of dips and rash-lights, and who advised 'tackling the misery that lay nearest," rather than "fiddling with statistics," be deter- mined that he would get enough light to see not merely this or that slum, but London life and labour as a whole. By dint of ceaseless labour and untiring devotion he has succeeded in his self-imposed task, and has managed to make the true nature and extent of London poverty visible to all who desire to see. His is a splendid achievement, both in conception and in carrying out ; and if any man deserves the thanks of the public, it is the author of the, work before us. He has let us see exactly how we stand, and that is the essential preliminary to finding a remedy for any ill in the body politic.

The first thing to do in attempting a criticism of Mr. Charles Booth's Doomsday-Book of London Laborar—that is what it really is—is to set out the net results of his investigations as to the condition of the London poor. It will be remembered that, as the result of his inquiries in the East End, the population was divided into five chief classes. This method of survey has since been applied to the rest of London, and we have in the present work the whole of his conclusions presented in a single table. Mr. Booth's five classes are as follows :—

"A. The lowest class—occasional labourers, loafers, and semi- criminals.

B. The very poor—casual labour, hand-to-mouth existence, chronic want.

C and D. The poor—including alike those whose earnings are small, because of irregularity of employment, and those whose work, though regular, is ill-paid. E and F. The regularly employed and fairly paid working class of all grades. and H. Lower and upper middle class and all above this level."

The fact that certain classes have two indicating letters, merely means that, for purposes of employment, though not for economic status, they are capable of sub-division. Not included in these classes are the inmates of institutions, and, finally, a few persons "who, having no shelter, or no recognised shelter, for the night, elude official enumeration."

• Lift and Labour of tho People in London. Edited by Charles Booth. London; Macmillan and Co. 1892.

The proportions of the different classes for all London are as follows :— or '9 per cent. In poverty,

,,7.5 per cent. I per

} N

„ 223 per cent, cont. 51.5 per cent. In,aeuifort, ,,ea 6 per ,,17-8 per cent. cent.

4,209,170 100 per cent.

Inmates of Institutions 99,830 4,309,000 To realise the full significance of these figures, it is, of course, necessary to read Mr. Booth's book as a whole; but we may point out generally that he has been careful to use the word "comfort" in no technical sense of his own, but in the sense which every intelligent person attaches to it. All in this class are people with possessions,—people who hold a certain definite stake in the country, and who have (materially) given hostages

to society, people, in a word, who cannot be reckoned as in any sense among the "have-nots." Even the members of Classes C and D are not in what could be regarded as a condition of poverty dangerous to the State. Perhaps the best way

of realising what the figures mean broadly is to con- sider them in this way. Half the population, Classes E and F, are in a position of genuine comfort. Above them are a fifth of the whole population, who are living in varying degrees of what, for want of a better word, we may term luxu- rious comfort. Below the comfortable half of the population, are another fifth of the whole, Classes 0 and D, who are living in poverty, though not in abject poverty ; and below them again is the residual tenth, formed of Class A and Class B,—persons who are in a state of abject poverty. Now, as long as such conditions prevail, it is absurd to talk of three-quarters of the population being "plunged in hopeless misery," in order that the other quarter may "roll "—what- ever that is—" in criminal luxury." That may be excellent rhetoric, but it bears no sort of relation to the facts. No doubt it would be unwise to take too optimistic a view of the figures, or to talk as if no amendment were needed. A great deal is needed to be done in the case of a third of the population, but the figures entirely justify the assertion that society, organised as it is at present,—that is, on an individualistic basis—is not a car of Juggernaut, but a fairly efficient piece of machinery for securing the greatest (material) hap- pittess of the greatest number. What we chiefly want is a police machinery which will strain out any good elements there may be in Class A, and will "harry ' the remainder Of that class till they are forced to adopt

better habits in self-defence. For Class B we may do a good deal in the way of civilising and " raising " agencies. For bettering the position of Classes C and D, we must look to an improvement in the general condition of the country. If we can avoid war and those costly Socialistic experiments which are even more destructive of national wealth than war, this improvement is but a question of time. The 70 per cent. of the population who belong to the classes in comfort only want to be let alone. They are, and ought to be allowed to remain, masters of their own fate. Before leaving Mr. Booth's classes, we will quote the following passage from his book. It shows what is the nature of the lines drawn by him in his work of social classification :— "The Standard of Life.—Omitting Class A, which rather involves. the question of disorder, we have in Classes B, C, and D the problem of poverty. In the population under review the 300,000 of very poor (Class B) are at all times more or less in want.* They are ill-nourished and poorly clad. But of them only a per- centage—and not, I think, a large per-centage—would be said by themselves, or by any one else, to be in distress.' From day to day and from band to mouth they get along; sometimes suffering,. sometimes helped, but not always unfortunate, and very ready to enjoy any good luck that may come in their wayi. They are, very likely, improvident, spending what they make as they make it ; but the improvidence of the poor has its bright side. Life would indeed be intolerable were they always contemplating the gulf of destitution on whose brink they hang.' Some may be semi-paupers, going into the 'house' at certain seasons, and some few receive out-door relief, but on the whole they manage to avoid' the workhouse. On the other hand, the 1,000,000 of 'poor' (Classes C and D), though they would be much the better for more of everything, are not in want.' They are neither iii,. nourished nor ill-clad, according to any standard that cam reasonably be used. Their lives are an unending strug0.?,, and lack comfort, but I do not know that they lack happine:,4, With a book packed full of facts of the mmi- deeply in-

I (lowest)

B (very poor) C and D (poor)

E and F (working class, comfortable) and H (middle class and above) 37,610 316,834 938,293 2,166,503 749,930

teresting kind, as is Mr. Booth's, the best thing the reviewer can do is to stand aside and let the audience he addresses see as much as they can of the book itself. We shall tlerefore quote without preface the following very significant and in- teresting passage on the relation of the public-house to East- End poverty. Mr. Booth's remarks do not tally with pre- conceived notions, we admit, but that makes them all the more interesting and remarkable.

"A most horrible and true picture may be drawn of the trade in drink, of the wickedness and misery that goes with it. So horrible that one cannot wonder that some eyes are blinded to all else, and there is a cry of away with this accursed abomination. There is, however, much more to be said. Anyone who frequents public-houses knows that actual drunkenness is very much the exception. At the worst houses in the worst neighbourhoods many, or perhaps most, of those who stand at the bars, whether men or women, are stamped with the effects of drink, and, if orderly at the moment, are perhaps at other times mad or in- capable under its influence ; but at the hundreds of respectable public-houses, scattered plentifully all through the district, this is not the case. It could not be. They live by supplying the wants of the bulk of the people, and it is not possible that they should be much worse than the people they serve. Go into any of these houses—the ordinary public-house at the corner of any ordinary East End street—there, standing at the counter, or seated on the benches against wall or partition, will be perhaps half-a- dozen people, men and women, chatting together over their beer— more often beer than spirits—or you may see a few men come in with no time to lose, briskly drink their glass and go. Behind the bar will be a decent middle-aged woman, something above her customers in class, very neatly dressed, respecting herself and respected by them. The whole scene comfortable, quiet, and orderly. To these houses those who live near send their children with a jug as readily as they would send them to any other shop. I do not want to press this more cheerful point of view further than is necessary to relieve the darker shades of the picture. I would rather admit the evils and try to show how they may be lessened and what the tendencies are that make for improvement. It is evident that publicans, like all the rest of us, are feeling the stress of competition. Walk through the streets and everywhere it may be seen that the public-houses are put to it to please their customers. Placards announcing change of management fre- quently meet the eye, while almost every house vigorously announces its reduced prices. 'So much the worse,' some will say. But no It is a good thing that they should be considering how to make themselves more attractive. Undermined by the increasing temperance of the people, and subject to direct attack from the cocoa rooms on the one aide and the clubs on the other, the licensed victuallers begin to see that they cannot live by drink alone. Look more closely at the signs in their windows. There is hardly a window that does not show the necessity felt to

eater for other wants besides drink In such a situation it would be a fatal mistake to decrease the number of the houses in the cause of temperance. To encourage the decent and re- spectable publican by making existence difficult to the disre- putable is the better policy, but let us on no account interfere with a natural development, which, if I am right, is making it every day more difficult to make a livelihood by the simple sale of drink."

We must leave unnoticed not only the wonderful house-by- house descriptions of " black " streets, which are some of the most fascinating pieces of realism we have ever read, but also the essays on the Influx of Population and on Elementary Education, which are to be found in the third volume. We have only room to say in conclusion that we trust Mr. Booth will apply his method to some typical agricultural county. It would be of the utmost interest to know what is the pro- portionate position of his classes in Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, or Norfolk. We fear that Classes C and D would show a much larger per- centagethan in London, or than they ought to show in any healthy community. Before we touch the rural labour question, we most emphatically want a "County Doomsday- Book" on Mr. Booth's model.