RESULTS OF FISCAL MALADMINISTRATION 67 



people awake to the losses actually incurred by them in 

 consequence of the high tariffs imposed by Germany and 

 other foreign countries, that it is necessary for the pro- 

 tection of the English workmen, that the foreigners 

 should pay for the use of the English market." 



Some extracts from the general body of the Report 

 bear with singular significance on the case we are con- 

 sidering. 



Crefeld, the seat of the German velvet and silk in- Comparative 



Poverty of 



dustry, was the first great town visited by the Commis- England and 

 sion, and what the delegates found there may be taken ^'■™a°y 

 as the keynote of the entire question respecting the 

 COMPARATIVE POVERTY of Great Britain and Germany. 



" There is no penury to be seen in the streets of 

 Crefeld," said the delegates on visiting that place, and 

 they saw no reason to change this note during their 

 extended tour through industrial Germany. 



" The general condition of the working classes in the 

 industrial town of Crefeld impressed us. Wherever we 

 came into contact with them we were struck by their 

 genial character, general physical health, cheerfulness 

 of demeanour and freshness about their work. No sign 

 of extreme poverty meets the eye; the problem of the 

 unemployed obviously does not weigh upon the munici- 

 pal authorities at the present juncture." 



In Rheinhausen and Essen, Bechum, Dortmund; in 

 Selingen, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Frankfort-on-Maine ; in 

 Bavaria and Saxony; in Leipzig, Hamburg, Berlin, the 

 same experiences are met with. 



" Widespread, pinching poverty, in the worst sense of 



5« 



