WHAT SHALL WE DO? 347 



I make a few extracts, showing the earnings and 

 condition of the laborers there employed. The ex- 

 tracts will be necessarily brief, but instructive. The 

 first relates to the great iron industries near Birming- 

 ham ; the region examined having a population of 

 about 135,000, of which 24,000 are engaged in making 

 nails, rivets, etc. Mr. Porter says, writing from : 



" LYE WASTE, Worcestershire, March 5th. 

 " The inhabitants of this desolate district are among 

 the most industrious, and yet the most wretched, in 

 England. They are engaged in making all kinds of 

 nails, rivets, and chains. The work is done in little 

 c smithys ' attached to the hovels in which the workers 

 reside, and for which the usual rent seems to be about 

 2s. 4d. to 2s. 6d. a week, a trifle over fifty cents. 

 These houses, as a rule, contain little or no furniture. 

 They are filthy and wretched beyond description. 

 What spare time the unhappy nailer's wife gets from 

 nursing the baby and preparing the meagre meals, is 

 spent at the smithy fire pounding away at the anvil 

 until late at night. But the extra work that the 

 woman does, combined with that of one child say a 

 girl of fourteen will barely keep the family from 

 starvation. For example : An expert nailer, working 

 steadily from Monday morning to Friday night, can 

 only make two and a half bundles of iron rods into 

 nails, for which he gets 6s. 7Jd. per bundle, or for his 

 week's work, 16s. 8d., exactly $4. Now, his Wife, by 

 working every moment of her spare time and late into 

 the night neglecting the wretched little children 

 can make a bundle of commoner nails, for which she 



