[The People of the Abyss by Jack London]@TWC D-Link bookThe People of the Abyss CHAPTER XXI--THE PRECARIOUSNESS OF LIFE 11/18
Here, in the heart of peace, is where the blood is being shed; and here not even the civilised rules of warfare obtain, for the women and children and babes in the arms are killed just as ferociously as the men are killed.
War! In England, every year, 500,000 men, women, and children, engaged in the various industries, are killed and disabled, or are injured to disablement by disease. In the West End eighteen per cent.
of the children die before five years of age; in the East End fifty-five per cent.
of the children die before five years of age.
And there are streets in London where out of every one hundred children born in a year, fifty die during the next year; and of the fifty that remain, twenty-five die before they are five years old. Slaughter! Herod did not do quite so badly. That industry causes greater havoc with human life than battle does no better substantiation can be given than the following extract from a recent report of the Liverpool Medical Officer, which is not applicable to Liverpool alone:- In many instances little if any sunlight could get to the courts, and the atmosphere within the dwellings was always foul, owing largely to the saturated condition of the walls and ceilings, which for so many years had absorbed the exhalations of the occupants into their porous material.
<<Back Index Next>> D-Link book Top TWC mobile books
|