In Darkest England and the Way Out Part 10

E. G.--Came to England in the service of a family of position, and afterwards was butler and upper servant in several houses of the n.o.bility. His health broke down, and for a long time he was altogether unfit for work. He had saved a considerable sum of money, but the cost of doctors and the necessaries of a sick man soon played havoc with his little store, and he became reduced to penury and absolute want.

For some time he was in the Workhouse, and, being discharged, he was advised to go to the Shelter. He was low in health as well as in circ.u.mstances, and broken in spirit, almost despairing. He was lovingly advised to cast his care upon G.o.d, and eventually he was converted. After some time work was obtained as porter in a City warehouse. a.s.siduity and faithfulness in a year raised him to the position of traveller. Today he prospers in body and soul, retaining the respect and confidence of all a.s.sociated with him.

We might multiply these records, but those given show the kind of results attained.

There's no reason to think that influences which have been blessed of G.o.d to the salvation of these poor fellows will not be equally efficacious if applied on a wider scale and over a vaster area.

The thing to be noted in all these cases is that it was not the mere feeding which effected the result; it was the combination of the feeding with the personal labour for the individual soul. Still, if we had not fed them, we should never have come near enough to gain any hold upon their hearts. If we had merely fed them, they would have gone away next day to resume, with increased energy, the predatory and vagrant life which they had been leading. But when our feeding and Shelter Depots brought them to close quarters, our officers were literally able to put their arms round their necks and plead with them as brethren who had gone astray. We told them that their sins and sorrows had not shut them out from the love of the Everlasting Father, who had sent us to them to help them with all the power of our strong Organisation, of the Divine authority of which we never feel so sure as when it is going forth to seek and to save the lost.

SECTION 2.--WORK FOR THE OUT-OF-WORKS.--THE FACTORY.

The foregoing, it will be said, is all very well for your outcast when he has got fourpence in his pocket, but what if he has not got his fourpence? What if you are confronted with a crowd of hungry desperate wretches, without even a penny in their pouch, demanding food and shelter? This objection is natural enough, and has been duly considered from the first.

I propose to establish in connection with every Food and Shelter Depot a Workshop or Labour Yard, in which any person who comes dest.i.tute and starving will be supplied with sufficient work to enable him to earn the fourpence needed for his bed and board. This is a fundamental feature of the Scheme, and one which I think will commend it to all those who are anxious to benefit the poor by enabling them to help themselves without the demoralising intervention of charitable relief.

Let us take our stand for a moment at the door of one of our Shelters.

There comes along a grimy, ragged, footsore tramp, his feet bursting out from the sides of his shoes, his clothes all rags, with filthy shirt and towselled hair. He has been, he tells you, on the tramp for the last three weeks, seeking work and finding none, slept last night on the Embankment, and wants to know if you can give him a bite and a sup, and shelter for the night. Has he any money? Not he; he probably spent the last penny he begged or earned in a pipe of tobacco, with which to dull the cravings of his hungry stomach. What are you to do with this man?

Remember this is no fancy sketch--it is a typical case. There are hundreds and thousands of such applicants. Any one who is at all familiar with life in London and our other large towns, will recognise that gaunt figure standing there asking for bread and shelter or for work by which he can obtain both. What can we do with him? Before him Society stands paralysed, quieting its conscience every now and then by an occasional dole of bread and soup, varied with the semi-criminal treatment of the Casual Ward, until the manhood is crushed out of the man and you have in your hands a reckless, despairing, spirit-broken creature, with not even an aspiration to rise above his miserable circ.u.mstances, covered with vermin and filth, sinking ever lower and lower, until at last he is hurried out of sight in the rough sh.e.l.l which carries him to a pauper's grave.

I propose to take that man, put a strong arm round him, and extricate him from the mire in which he is all but suffocated. As a first step we will say to him, "You are hungry, here is food; you are homeless, here is a shelter for your head; but remember you must work for your rations. This is not charity; it is work for the workless, help for those who cannot help themselves. There is the labour shed, go and earn your fourpence, and then come in out of the cold and the wet into the warm shelter; here is your mug of coffee and your great chunk of bread, and after you have finished these there is a meeting going on in full swing with its joyful music and hearty human intercourse. There are those who pray for you and with you, and will make you feel yourself a brother among men. There is your shake-down on the floor, where you will have your warm, quiet bed, undisturbed by the ribaldry and curses with which you have been familiar too long. There is the wash-house, where you can have a thorough wash-up at last, after all these days of unwashedness. There is plenty of soap and warm water and clean towels; there, too, you can wash your shirt and have it dried while you sleep.

In the morning when you get up there will be breakfast for you, and your shirt will be dry and clean. Then when you are washed and rested, and are no longer faint with hunger, you can go and seek a job, or go back to the Labour shop until something better turns up."

But where and how?

Now let me introduce you to our Labour Yard. Here is no pretence of charity beyond the charity which gives a man remunerative labour.

It is not our business to pay men wages. What we propose is to enable those, male or female, who are dest.i.tute, to earn their rations and do enough work to pay for their lodging until they are able to go out into the world and earn wages for themselves. There is no compulsion upon any one to resort to our shelter, but if a penniless man wants food he must, as a rule, do work sufficient to pay for what he has of that and of other accommodation. I say as a rule because, of course, our Officers will be allowed to make exceptions in extreme cases, but the rule will be first work then eat. And that amount of work will be exacted rigorously. It is that which distinguishes this Scheme from mere charitable relief.

I do not wish to have any hand in establishing a new centre of demoralisation. I do not want my customers to be pauperised by being treated to anything which they do not earn. To develop self-respect in the man, to make him feel that at last he has go this foot planted on the first rung of the ladder which leads upwards, is vitally important, and this cannot be done unless the bargain between him and me is strictly carried out. So much coffee, so much bread, so much shelter, so much warmth and light from me, but so much labour in return from him.

What labour? it is asked. For answer to this question I would like to take you down to our Industrial Workshops in Whitechapel. There you will see the Scheme in experimental operation. What we are doing there we propose to do everywhere up to the extent of the necessity, and there is no reason why we should fail elsewhere if we can succeed there.

Our Industrial Factory at Whitechapel was established this Spring.

We opened it on a very small scale. It has developed until we have nearly ninety men at work. Some of these are skilled workmen who are engaged in carpentry. The particular job they have now in hand is the making of benches for the Salvation Army. Others are engaged in mat-making, some are cobblers, others painters, and so forth.

This trial effort has, so far, answered admirably. No one who is taken on comes for a permanency. So long as he is willing to work for his rations he is supplied with materials and provided with skilled superintendents. The hours of work are eight per day. Here are the rules and regulations under which the work is carried on at present:-

THE SALVATION ARMY SOCIAL REFORM WING.

Temporary Headquarters-- 36, UPPER THAMES STREET, LONDON, E.C,

CITY INDUSTRIAL WORKSHOPS.

OBJECTS.--These workshops are open for the relief of the unemployed and dest.i.tute, the object being to make it unnecessary for the homeless or workless to be compelled to go to the Workhouse or Casual Ward, food and shelter being provided for them in exchange for work done by them, until they can procure work for themselves, or it can be found for them elsewhere.

PLAN OF OPERATION.--All those applying for a.s.sistance will be placed in what is termed the first cla.s.s. They must be willing to do any kind of work allotted to them. While they remain in the first cla.s.s, they shall be ent.i.tled to three meals a day, and shelter for the night, and will be expected in return to cheerfully perform the work allotted to them.

Promotions will be made from this first-cla.s.s to the second-cla.s.s of all those considered eligible by the Labour Directors. They will, in addition to the food and shelter above mentioned, receive sums of money up to 5s. at the end of the week, for the purpose of a.s.sisting them to provide themselves with tools, to get work outside.

REGULATIONS.--No smoking, drinking, bad language, or conduct calculated to demoralize will be permitted on the factory premises.

No one under the influence of drink will be admitted. Any one refusing to work, or guilty of bad conduct, will be required to leave the premises.

HOURS OF WORK.--7 a.m. to 8.30 a.m.; 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; 2 p.m. to 5.30 p.m, Doors will be closed 5 minutes after 7, 9, and 2 p.m. Food Checks will be given to all as they pa.s.s out at each meal time. Meals and Shelter provided at 272, Whitechapel Road.

Our practical experience shows that we can provide work by which a man can earn his rations. We shall be careful not to sell the goods so manufactured at less than the market prices. In firewood, for instance, we have endeavoured to be rather above the average than below it.

As stated elsewhere, we are firmly opposed to injuring one cla.s.s of workmen while helping another.

Attempts on somewhat similar lines to those now being described have hitherto excited the liveliest feelings of jealousy on the part of the Trade Unions, and representatives of labour. They rightly consider it unfair that labour partly paid for out of the Rates and Taxes, or by Charitable Contributions, should be put upon the market at less than market value, and so compete unjustly with the production of those who have in the first instance to furnish an important quota of the funds by which these Criminal or Pauper workers are supported. No such jealousy can justly exist in relation to our Scheme, seeing that we are endeavouring to raise the standard of labour and are pledged to a war to the death against sweating in every shape and form.

But, it will be asked, how do these Out-of-Works conduct themselves when you get them into the Factory? Upon this point I have a very satisfactory report to render. Many, no doubt, are below par, under-fed, and suffering from ill health, or the consequence of their intemperance. Many also are old men, who have been crowded out of the labour market by their younger generation. But, without making too many allowances on these grounds, I may fairly say that these men have shown themselves not only anxious and willing, but able to work.

Our Factory Superintendent reports:-

Of loss or time there has practically been none since the opening, June 29th. Each man during his stay, with hardly an exception, has presented himself punctually at opening time and worked more or less a.s.siduously the whole of the labour hours. The morals of the men have been good, in not more than three instances has there been an overt act of disobedience, insubordination, or mischief. The men, as a whole, are uniformly civil, willing, and satisfied; they are all fairly industrious, some, and that not a few, are a.s.siduous and energetic.

The Foremen have had no serious complaints to make or delinquencies to report.

On the 15th of August I had a return made of the names and trades and mode of employment of the men at work. Of the forty in the shops at that moment, eight were carpenters, twelve labourers, two tailors, two sailors, three clerks, two engineers, while among the rest was a shoemaker, two grocers, a cooper, a sailmaker, a musician, a painter, and a stonemason. Nineteen of these were employed in sawing, cutting and tying up firewood, six were making mats, seven making sacks, and the rest were employed in various odd jobs. Among them was a Russian carpenter who could not speak a word of English. The whole place is a hive of industry which fills the hearts of those who go to see it with hope that something is about to be done to solve the difficulty of the unemployed.

Although our Factories will be permanent inst.i.tutions they will not be anything more than temporary resting-places to those who avail themselves of their advantages. They are harbours of refuge into which the storm-tossed workman may run and re-fit, so that he may again push out to the ordinary sea of labour and earn his living.

The establishment of these Industrial Factories seems to be one of the most obvious duties of those who would effectually deal with the Social Problem. They are as indispensable a link in the chain of deliverance as the Shelters, but they are only a link and not a stopping-place.

And we do not propose that they should be regarded as anything but stepping-stones to better things.

These Shops will also be of service for men and women temporarily unemployed who have families, and who possess some sort of a home.

In numerous instances, if by any means these unfortunates could find bread and rent for a few weeks, they would tide over their difficulties, and an untold amount of misery would be averted, In such cases Work would be supplied at their own homes where preferred, especially for the women and children, and such remuneration would be aimed at as would supply the immediate necessities of the hour.

To those who have rent to pay and families to support something beyond rations would be indispensable.

The Labour Shops will enable us to work out our Anti-Sweating experiments. For instance, we propose at once to commence manufacturing match boxes, for which we shall aim at giving nearly treble the amount at present paid to the poor starving creatures engaged in this work.

In all these workshops our success will depend upon the extent to which we are able to establish and maintain in the minds of the workers sound moral sentiments and to cultivate a spirit of hopefulness and aspiration. We shall continually seek to impress upon them the fact that while we desire to feed the hungry, and clothe the naked, and provide shelter for the shelterless, we are still more anxious to bring about that regeneration of heart and life which is essential to their future happiness and well-being.

But no compulsion will for a moment be allowed with respect to religion.

The man who professes to love and serve G.o.d will be helped because of such profession, and the man who does not will be helped in the hope that he will, sooner or later, in grat.i.tude to G.o.d, do the same; but there will be no melancholy misery-making for any. There is no sanctimonious long face in the Army. We talk freely about Salvation, because it is to us the very light and joy of our existence.

We are happy, and we wish others to share our joy. We know by our own experience that life is a very different thing when we have found the peace of G.o.d, and are working together with Him for the salvation of the world, instead of toiling for the realisation of worldly ambition or the ama.s.sing of earthly gain.

SECTION 3.--THE REGIMENTATION OF THE UNEMPLOYED.

When we have got the homeless, penniless tramp washed, and housed, and fed at the Shelter, and have secured him the means of earning his fourpence by chopping firewood, or making mats or cobbling the shoes of his fellow-labourers at the Factory, we have next to seriously address ourselves to the problem of how to help him to get back into the regular ranks of industry. The Shelter and the Factory are but stepping-stones, which have this advantage, they give us time to look round and to see what there is in a man and what we can make of him.

The first and most obvious thing to do is to ascertain whether there is any demand in the regular market for the labour which is thus thrown upon our hands. In order to ascertain this I have already established a Labour Bureau, the operations of which I shall at once largely extend, at which employers can register their needs, and workmen can register their names and the kind of work they can do.

At present there is no labour exchange in existence in this country.

The columns of the daily newspaper are the only subst.i.tute for this much needed register. It is one of the many painful consequences arising from the overgrowth of cities. In a village where everybody knows everybody else this necessity does not exist. If a farmer wants a couple of extra men for mowing or some more women for binding at harvest time, he runs over in his mind the names of every available person in the parish. Even in a small town there is little difficulty in knowing who wants employment. But in the cities this knowledge is not available; hence we constantly hear of persons who would be very glad to employ labour for odd jobs in an occasional stress of work while at the same time hundreds of persons are starving for want of work at another end of the town. To meet this evil the laws of Supply and Demand have created the Sweating Middlemen, who farm out the unfortunates and charge so heavy a commission for their share that the poor wretches who do the work receive hardly enough to keep body and soul together. I propose to change all this by establishing Registers which will enable us to lay our hands at a moment's notice upon all the unemployed men in a district in any particular trade. In this way we should become the universal intermediary between those who have no employment and those who want workmen.

In this we do not propose to supersede or interfere with the regular Trade Unions. Where Unions exist we should place ourselves in every case in communication with their officials. But the most helpless ma.s.s of misery is to be found among the unorganised labourers who have no Union, and who are, therefore, the natural prey of the middleman.

Take, for instance, one of the most wretched cla.s.ses of the community, the poor fellows who perambulate the streets as Sandwich Men. These are farmed out by certain firms. If you wish to send fifty or a hundred men through London carrying boards announcing the excellence of your goods, you go to an advertising firm who will undertake to supply you with as many sandwich men as you want for two shillings or half a crown a day. The men are forthcoming, your goods are advertised, you pay your money, but how much of that goes to the men? About one shilling, or one shilling and threepence; the rest goes to the middleman. I propose to supersede this middleman by forming a Co-operative a.s.sociation of Sandwich Men. At every Shelter there would be a Sandwich Brigade ready in any numbers when wanted. The cost of registration and organisation, which the men would gladly pay, need not certainly amount to more than a penny in the shilling.

All that is needed is to establish a trustworthy and disinterested centre round which the unemployed can group themselves, and which will form the nucleus of a great Co-operative Self-helping a.s.sociation. The advantages of such a Bureau are obvious. But in this, also, I do not speak from theory. I have behind me the experience of seven months of labour both in England and Australia. In London we have a registration office in Upper Thames Street, where the unemployed come every morning in droves to register their names and to see whether they can obtain situations. In Australia, I see, it was stated in the House of a.s.sembly that our Officers had been instrumental in finding situations for no less than one hundred and thirty-two "Out-of-Works" in a few days. Here, in London, we have succeeded in obtaining employment for a great number, although, of course, it is beyond our power to help all those who apply. We have sent hay-makers down to the country and there is every reason to believe that when our Organisation is better known, and in more extended operation, we shall have a great labour exchange between town and country, so that when there is scarcity in one place and congestion in another, there will be information immediately sent, so that the surplus labour can be drafted into those districts where labour is wanted. For instance, in the harvest seasons, with changeable weather, it is quite a common occurrence for the crops to be seriously damaged for want of labourers, while at the same time there will be thousands wandering about in the big towns and cities seeking work, but finding no one to hire them. Extend this system all over the world, and make it not only applicable to the transfer of workers between the towns and the provinces, but between Country and Country, and it is impossible to exaggerate the enormous advantages which would result. The officer in charge of our experimental Labour Bureau sends me the following notes as to what has already been done through the agency of the Upper Thames Street office:

SALVATION ARMY SOCIAL REFORM WING.