Reading for Everybody.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2394, 8 January 1909, Page 9 (Supplement)

Reading for Everybody.

“THE DEVIL IN LONDON.” THE CORRESPONDENCE OF CLADIUS CLEAR. Tlife following blight criticism of Mr. George R. Sim’s new book,- “The Devil in London” appeared in the form of a letter in. a November issue of the “British Weekiv,” from which we reprint it:— Sir, —Some twenty years ago I was w in the City Temple on ia Sunday night. Dr. Parker was in his pul- | pit, and after he had given out his text, he said: “We are'all agreed that there is no devil” (long pause), “because” (long pause), “there is no devilry.” I remember the stillness and then the surprise of the immense crowd of listeners. He went on to tear in pieces tho idea that devilry had vanished from the earth. This is what Mr. George R. Sims has done in his new book, “The Devil in London.” There is perhaps no man living who knows London so well as Mr. Sims knows it. Perhaps also no one lias the same intense consciousness of the fact that London is unknowable. Mr. * Sims, though a genial man in temperament and charitable in his constructions, is under no illusions. He is not bitter as Ibsen is, but he does much the same work as Ibsen. He refuses to : allow the complacent in indulge in the luxury of supposing that things are right, or getting right. He tears away the veils, and breaks into the secret chambers, diagnoses tho disease. Ho does so without even trenching on forbidden ground. No man has pictured the dark side of life so effectively, and yet with so much reticence. It is needless to _say_ that his manner is that of a born journalist who, whatever his sins may he, does not fall into dulness. Clear, concise, accurate, and telling, he never fails to hold his audience. There is a very slight element of fiction. A well-meaning young millionaire makes acquaintance with the Prince of Darkness, and is guided by him into the knowledge of London’s dreadful secrets. Happily the Prince of Darkness is in this case no more than a showman, and when he has done his work he disappears. The little book is sure to be widely read, and I shall content myself bv-setting out some of the salient facts which have most impressed Mr. Sims, and which he seeks to impress upon his readers. I. Wherever we go in London, the great city attains its - aspect of mystery. We may live in it- for a. lifetime, land practically know nothing except the streets we pass to reach the homes of our friends of the place of our work. “The mother of cities lays her whole heart bare to none. There is no man living who has fathomed her depths. There ns no man living who has mastered - her mysteries.” Mr. Sims knows that within the four corners of the mighty capital there lies a land that a man might travel, all his life gleaning every day some new knowledge of its .strange humanity, peering far down into the gloom of its unfathomed depths, and waiting for the moment when favoring chance might reveal to him the mysteries that lie beyond the 11. The moment anyone approaches the social problem he is confronted with the evil of drunkenness that is everywhere. It is in the places which might seem the least likely to' be invaded by its curse. Mr. Sims shows it among the splendours of magnificent hotels. They are together in one of these, and the Prince says: “This is a drink case. The man in tho next room is an American millionaire. He has to be guarded night and day. He has tried to commit suicide tAvice. The family have gone to tho theatre. The nurse has left him for a minute — she thinks he is asleep. Hush!”. “A man of about fifty. ivith wild eyes and features that told their terrible tale, came creeping from the iroom. Ho had on a long dressinggown, and as he Aval kod lie trod on the front of it and stumbled. “He put out his hand and grasped ~ua chair to steady himself. ‘For a moment he stood trembling and gasping. Then, glancing ner--vously around, he ivent to the table on which -fche remains of the feafit ivere scattered. “Muttering incoherently, he picked lip glass after glass in ivhich a feAV dregs of Avino remained. “When the glasses ivere emptied he searched everywhere for more. Suddenly he saw that a liqueur glass dfood half hidden by. a serviette. “He seized it, looked at it, and saw that a feAV drops of brandy still remained in it. With a .shriek of joy that aauis hardly human, he .lifted the glass and let the few drops of spirit tricklo info his month. “Then ho shuffled feebly back into tho bedroom. . “‘That,’ said the" Devil, ‘is one of the richest men in America. He is a idipsomanic. To drink till he -oses his reason is all that he cares, for in life, and for his life’s sake the _drmk he madly craves for has.to be denied him. “ ‘There are several other cases of this kind in the Splendid at the present moment. There is one Nursing Institution Avhioli beeps a staff ol forty nurses constantly engaged on drink cases in the most fashionable and expensive hotels in London. Well may the investigator say that “this -accursed thing is the most poAverful Aveapon you have_ m your evil armoury. • As the madness ol drink reels in the streets and crowds the dram shops of the slums, and lies in the gutter, as , it stands m the dock, 1 knS\y it as ah linen know it.” But he is shown it «s ia hidden horror and its secret shame. “None of the people yon have seen begin in tho public-house. Thev begin in their homes, borne of them never enter a public-house until they are chronic inebriated Thousands of people-die every year,of drink Aviho never -entered a public-house in their livs. No, my friend, the good people who want to wrest mv chief weapon from me ‘have to do a, great deal more than fight me on licensed premises.” Most true,, and yet the devil has to be fought on licensed pie■also, c , ' ’ - . 111. . . _ • It is among women that drink works its worst havoc, and on tins point Mr. Sims has a practical sug-

gestion. “There ought to be respectable lodging houses in every part of London, Avhere friendless girls i\'illing to pay could get shelter at night ivithout being forced to mix Avith depraved and abandoned women of the loivest class. What we have heard band what avc saii r last night, the foulness, the vileness, the horror of it, ive shall remember all our lives, and in that house there are tAvo or three honest working ivomen. It is monstrous that in ia. great and Avealthy, and ivell-gov-ornecl city like London the only homes for homeless Avorking girls, or poor girls out of employment, should be houses of A character so notorious that the police look upon every Ayoman aa’lio lodges in one as a Avoman of bad character.” IV. We are taken into what Mr. Siijis calls a district in the West-End of London Avlrieh was known as “The Devil’s Acre.” It ivas there that a young clergyman died recently, Avorn out Avith the fierce fight he had Avaged for souls. I rather think that tho devil’s acre is not- in the West-End, but, I need not try to identify it. It*is there that the»criminal problem is most acute. One public-house is used by a little gang, all of AA-hom, in the expressive language of the -police, ‘•"have time behind them.” Whenever one of the gang comes out of prison he makes for that bar. There he finds some of his old pals aaLo Avill bring him -up-to-date in professional matters, and tell him aaTlo is out and who is in. These men can only earn their living by tlio ivork at which they are skilled—that- is thieving, and housebreaking. The system of turning convicts on license loose in their old haunts keeps them criminals all their lives. The moment they _ return they meet their old companions, and the only opportunities of AA-ork they get are offers of a job in their old line of business. In the devil’s acre the children are born damned. When they are little more than children they become gamblers, and lads and girls alike frequent gambling dens with a suggestion of something oven Avorse. We have to face tho problem of tlie boy-of fourteen, and ive have quite -as much to face the problem of the girl of fourteen. Something is to be done, but Mr. Sims holds that ive -have to establish lad’s clubs in every part of London, and to rouse the public conscience to the national necessity of a -revival of the old system of apprenticeship. V. I can only touch on what is peril aps the darkest feature in all the life of Londo'n. Mr. Sims tells us all he can safely tell. 'He is -a man to be believed, and knoAvs far more than ho says. There are in certain parts of London numerous agencies, sometimes as many as half a -dozen in one street, where the “ii'hite slave” trade goes on. That is, respectable, hardAvorking girls are sent into continental dens of depravity. The market is overcroAvded; a -good many girls depend upon their e’arnings for their livelihood. Some of them are the sole support of their parents. The touts for continental traffic —mostly women- —are always on the look-out for girls AA’ho, heart-sick Avith failure here, listen eagerly to the ehance.s of an engagement abroad. Something nas been accomplished. There are societies for the protection of girls. There is the Travellers’ Aid Society, there are the Sisters of the People, hut in spite of their efforts, and these efforts are efficient and successful, this devilish traffic goes on. I cannot imagine -anything more suggestive of an unseen diabolical -agency than the fact that many men who .pass as respectable-, earn livelihoods and even make fortunes by the systematic selling -and depravation of young girls. That is w-liat it comes to. Have we done enough in supporting those Avho, Avit-h scanty means and amid many discouragements, are trying to counter-work this truly infernal business? VI. Mr. Sims has many good and timely things to say about the' evils of private clubs. In one West-End parish of London there are 2000 men connected Avith the “Avhite slave” traffic, every one a foreigner, and every one ivith his private resort. These men are cunning, and many of them have means. They are an organised body. A good many of them belong to a syndicate which -has its officers, its secretary, and its legal advisers. They have -accomplices everyAvhere. Mr. Sims strongly condemns our Avay of alloAving these clubs to be formed. There are scores of clubs '•he members of which are principally men of bad reputation. The,.,, proprietor —a foreigner—registers his establishment by paying -a small fee. Then his place enjoys all the privileges of the 'Carlton Club or the Reform. The police can only enter the premises if they have good grounds to suppose that _ a breach of the IaAV is being committed. They arc most of them gambling dens, but the police cannot raid them till they get sufficient evidence. The proprietors are able “in this land of liberty to supply their interesting clients Avith as much strong drink as they want during the 'hours that the -pub-lic-houses are closed. London is full of such places, and if only the laivs could reach them, some of the foulest evils of our civilisation Avould disappear.” . I have only touched -a few passages in the vivid, pages. The book is closed appropriately with a chapter, “In the Shadoiv of St. Stephen’s.” Mr. Sims? design is evidently to organise a personally conducted tour of Members of, .Parliament through the district to Avhich they come day after day to make the laws of the land. Close by the Etouse-s of Parliament, he tells us, are women's. lodginghouses of the loAA'Cst description. In one of the alleys there is a colony of young thieves; in another the bulk of. the inhabitants arc professional beggars. There are in Westminster many houses that ought to have 'been closed for human ‘habitation Jong ago. Tho action of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners 'is severely condemned. It is charged that they have ruined (many of the smaller tradespeople by dishousing them, -and that they have left the land- lying idle. Nor docs Mr Sims approve of the -County Council. “There is no part of London in which. tho housing question has. been more acute.” here, -as elsewhere, writes with a P lll ' ,pose, -and whatever may be thought

of tho remedies he proposes for existing evils, none ivill doubt his earnestness or his knowledge. I am, yours, otc., CLADIUS CLEAR.