ABSTRACT
Using the sheer weight of shocking statistics, this chapter discharges the duty of laying out the extent of the calamity amongst workers and leaves a question in the minds of readers about whether enough had been done by the State and private charity to prove society’s good will towards their labouring brethren. In Stalybridge and Dukinfield, in the same parochial union, the destitution is not quite so great but it will be seen that the average of the three towns, which form the bulk of the union, is 47.57 per cent. The relative position of Ashton and Blackburn, as to the amount of poverty and suffering which the crisis has brought to them, is thus completely reversed, and Blackburn is shown to have distanced all competitors, and to stand pre-eminently the severest sufferer by the common calamity.
