Nevertheless, such a book would be of enormous use. It would serve to establish a concrete basis from which useful economic and sociological deductions might be made, however disagreeable some of the disclosures might be incidentally. It would not be an invitation to the masses to spoil and rob the rich any more than the books on Poverty are an invitation to the rich to largess more of their wealth among the poor. Indeed, there is no question of spoliation, it is all a matter of adjustment. The blame cast on the rich would no doubt be heavy because they have the power of initiative, education, and free choice to act differently, while the poor are merely the slaves of the overwhelming force of circumstances and the victims of a system which they have neither the intelligence to understand nor the power to resist.
The following authentic information, based on actual facts and not hearsay, will give some small idea of what this suggested investigation might produce. Extracts are also given from reports on the state of the poor for the sake of completeness rather than contrast.
For instance, we read a brief description of the household of a man of “no occupation”:
“Married. Two rooms; two children; parish relief; ill, incapable. Two little girls, one consumptive. The rooms are miserable, badly ventilated and damp. This house shares one closet with six other houses, and one water tap with three others.”
Or of a “regular loafer”:
“Married. Two rooms; one child. Wife sews. House very dark on account of high buildings opposite. Kept tidy and clean. This house shares one closet with two other houses, and one water tap with six others.”[20]
Surely we ought to know the description, though it cannot be so brief, of the household of another man of “no occupation”:
“Married. Two children. Four houses. London house, —— Street, W. Sixty-two rooms; one of the country houses considerably larger. Thirty-six indoor servants:
1 house steward.
2 grooms of the chamber.
1 valet.
2 under butlers.
3 footmen.
2 steward’s room footmen.
1 gate porter.
1 hall porter.
1 usher of the servants’ hall.
2 odd men.
1 house carpenter.
1 chef.
1 kitchen porter.
4 kitchen and scullery maids.
2 still-room maids.
6 housemaids.
1 linen maid.
1 lady’s maid.
1 housekeeper.
2 nurses.Owns about 20,000 acres of land. (A larger staff of servants than this could be quoted. In one country house as many as ten housemaids are kept.)”
Or let us take the inhabitants of a six-roomed house:
“Ground floor, in the front room lives a widow who does repairing and is very poor. The back room is occupied by two prostitutes. On the first floor front room live man and wife with seven children. He loafs and she washes. They are very dirty and miserably poor. At the back live a man and woman with two children. He is consumptive and does nothing in particular. She goes out begging with the children. On the top floor in two rooms are man and wife with eight children. He spends his time about the public-houses. She does anything she can. The eldest boy, a decent lad, is at a chemist’s shop, but he is consumptive. Six rooms; twenty-six people.”[21]