THE DEMON OF GREED. 357 



therefore still largely used ; and its effect on the workers 

 is terrible, rotting away the jaws with the agonizing 

 pain of cancer often followed by death. Will it be be- 

 lieved in future ages that this horrible and unnecessary- 

 manufacture, the evils of which were thoroughly known, 

 was yet allowed to be carried on to the very end of this 

 century, which claims so many great and beneficent dis- 

 coveries, and prides itself on the height of civilization it 

 has attained? To what a depth of helplessness must the 

 poor be brought, when young girls eagerly throng to 

 these deadly trades, rather than face the struggle for 

 food and life by other means! 



And in the midst of this very pandemonium of want 

 and suffering, the rich are ever becoming more rich, and 

 boast of it. The City Press tells us that the increased 

 profits in the City of London during the ten years from 

 1880 to 1890 were no less than 30,755,283, and it adds: 

 " This is the best evidence that can be furnished of our 

 commercial prosperity." A million people in London 

 without sufficient food and clothing and fire for a healthy 

 life but great commercial prosperity! Thousands 

 maimed or racked and tortured to death by dangerous 

 trades but great commercial prosperity! Those who 

 die paupers' deaths increasing in the ten years from 21 

 to 26 per cent, of the total deaths but what of that, 

 when we have great commercial prosperity! The aver- 

 age lives of the lower class of artisans and workers in the 

 unwholesome trades being only 29 years, while that of 

 the upper classes is 55 years millions thus killed 25 

 years before their time; but then we have " Great Com- 

 mercial Prosperity " ! 



With remarkable foresight Professor Cairnes, in 



