In Darkest England and the Way Out Part 29

In a Scheme for the working out of social salvation the great, the only, test that is worth anything is the success with which they attain the object for which they are devised. An ugly old tub of a boat that will land a s.h.i.+pwrecked sailor safe on the beach is worth more to him than the finest yacht that ever left a slip-way incapable of effecting the same object. The superfine votaries of culture may recoil in disgust from the rough-and-ready suggestions which I have made for dealing with the Sunken Tenth, but mere recoiling is no solution. If the cultured and the respectable and the orthodox and the established dignitaries and conventionalities of Society pa.s.s by on the other side we cannot follow their example.

We may not be priests and Levites, but we can at least play the part of the Good Samaritan. The man who went down to Jericho and fell among thieves was probably a very improvident, reckless individual, who ought to have known better than to go roaming alone through defiles haunted by banditti, whom he even led into temptation by the careless way in which he exposed himself and his goods to their avaricious gaze.

It was, no doubt, largely his own fault that he lay there bruised and senseless, and ready to perish, just as it is largely the fault of those whom we seek to help that they lie in the helpless plight in which we find them. But for all that, let us bind up their wounds with such balm as we can procure, and, setting them on our a.s.s, let us take them to our Colony, where they may have time to recover, and once more set forth on the journey of life.

And now, having said this much by way of reply to some of my critics, I will recapitulate the salient features of the Scheme. I laid down at the beginning certain points to be kept in view as embodying those invariable laws or principles of political economy, without due regard to which no Scheme can hope for even a chance of success.

Subject to these conditions, I think my Scheme will pa.s.s muster.

It is large enough to cope with the evils that will confront us; it is practicable, for it is already in course of application, and it is capable of indefinite expansion. But it would be better to pa.s.s the whole Scheme in its more salient features in review once more.

The Scheme will seek to convey benefit to the dest.i.tute cla.s.ses in various ways altogether apart from their entering the Colonies.

Men and women maybe very poor and in very great sorrow, nay, on the verge of actual starvation, and yet be so circ.u.mstanced as to be unable to enrol themselves in the Colonial ranks. To these our cheap Food Depots, our Advice Bureau, Labour Shops, and other agencies will prove an unspeakable boon, and will be likely by such temporary a.s.sistance to help them out of the deep gulf in which they are struggling.

Those who need permanent a.s.sistance will be pa.s.sed on to the City Colony, and taken directly under our control. Here they will be employed as before described. Many will be sent off to friends; work will be found for others in the City or elsewhere, while the great bulk, after reasonable testing as to their sincerity and willingness to a.s.sist in their own salvation, will be sent on to the Farm Colonies, where the same process of reformation and training will be continued, and unless employment is otherwise obtained they will then be pa.s.sed on to the Over-Sea Colony.

All in circ.u.mstances of dest.i.tution, vice, or criminality will receive casual a.s.sistance or be taken into the Colony, on the sole conditions of their being anxious for deliverance, and willing to work for it, and to conform to discipline, altogether irrespective of character, ability, religious opinions, or anything else.

No benefit will be conferred upon any individual except under extraordinary circ.u.mstances, without some return being made in labour.

Even where relatives and friends supply money to the Colonists, the latter must take their share of work with their comrades.

We shall not have room for a single idler throughout all our borders.

The labour allotted to each individual will be chosen in view of his past employment or ability. Those who have any knowledge of agriculture will naturally be put to work on the land; the shoemaker will make shoes, the weaver cloth, and so on. And when there is no knowledge of any handicraft, the apt.i.tude of the individual and the necessities of the hour will suggest the sort of work it would be most profitable for such an one to learn.

Work of all descriptions will be executed as far as possible by hand labour. The present rage for machinery has tended to produce much dest.i.tution by supplanting hand labour so exclusively that the rush has been from the human to the machine. We want, as far as is practicable, to travel back from the machine to the human.

Each member of the Colony would receive food, clothing, lodging, medicine, and all necessary care in case of sickness.

No wages would be paid, except a trifle by way of encouragement for good behaviour and industry, or to those occupying positions of trust, part of which will be saved in view of exigencies in our Colonial Bank, and the remainder used for pocket money.

The whole Scheme of the three Colonies will for all practical purposes be regarded as one; hence the training will have in view the qualification of the Colonists for ultimately earning their livelihood in the world altogether independently of our a.s.sistance, or, failing this, fit them for taking some permanent work within our borders either at home or abroad.

Another result of this unity of the Town and Country Colonies will be the removal of one of the difficulties ever connected with the disposal of the products of unemployed labour. The food from the Farm would be consumed by the City, while many of the things manufactured in the City would be consumed on the Farm.

The continued effort of all concerned in the reformation of these people will be to inspire and cultivate those habits, the want of which has been so largely the cause of the dest.i.tution and vice of the past.

Strict discipline, involving careful and continuous oversight, would be necessary to the maintenance of order amongst so large a number of people, many of whom had hitherto lived a wild and licentious life.

Our chief reliance in this respect would be upon the spirit of mutual interest that would prevail.

The entire Colony would probably be divided into sections, each under the supervision of a sergeant--one of themselves--working side by side with them, yet responsible for the behaviour of all.

The chief Officers of the Colony would be individuals who had given themselves to the work, not for a livelihood, but from a desire to be useful to the suffering poor. They would be selected at the outset from the Army, and that on the ground of their possessing certain capabilities for the position, such as knowledge of the particular kind of work they had to superintend, or their being good disciplinarians and having the faculty for controlling men and being themselves influenced by a spirit of love. Ultimately the Officers, we have no doubt, would be, as is the case in all our other operations, men and women raised up from the Colonists themselves, and who will consequently, possess some special qualifications for dealing with those they have to superintend. The Colonists will be divided into two cla.s.ses: the 1st, the cla.s.s which receives no wages will consist of: --

(a) The new arrivals, whose ability, character, and habits are as yet unknown.

(b) The less capable in strength, mental calibre, or other capacity.

(c) The indolent, and those whose conduct and character appeared doubtful. These would remain in this cla.s.s, until sufficiently improved for advancement, or are p.r.o.nounced so hopeless as to justify expulsion.

The 2nd cla.s.s would have a small extra allowance, a part of which would be given to the workers for private use, and a part reserved for future contingencies, the payment of travelling expenses, etc.

From this cla.s.s we should obtain our petty officers, send out hired labourers, emigrants, etc., etc.

Such is the Scheme as I have conceived it. Intelligently applied, and resolutely persevered in, I cannot doubt that it will produce a great and salutary change in the condition of many of the most hopeless of our fellow countrymen. Nor is it only our fellow countrymen to whom it is capable of application. In its salient features, with such alterations as are necessary, owing to differences of climate and of race, it is capable of adoption in every city in the world, for it is an attempt to restore to the ma.s.ses of humanity that are crowded together in cities, the human and natural elements of life which they possessed when they lived in the smaller unit of the village or the market town. Of the extent of the need there can be no question.

It is, perhaps, greatest in London, where the ma.s.ses of population are denser than those of any other city; but it exists equally in the chief centres of population in the new Englands that have sprung up beyond the sea, as well as in the larger cities of Europe. It is a remarkable fact that up to the present moment the most eager welcome that has been extended to this Scheme reaches us from Melbourne, where our officers have been compelled to begin operations by the pressure of public opinion and in compliance with the urgent entreaties of the Government on one side and the leaders of the working cla.s.ses on the other before the plan had been elaborated, or instructions could be sent out for their guidance.

It is rather strange to hear of distress reaching starvation point in a city like Melbourne, the capital of a great new country which teems with natural wealth of every kind. But Melbourne, too, has its unemployed, and in no city in the Empire have we been more successful in dealing with the social problem than in the capital of Victoria.

The Australian papers for some weeks back have been filled with reports of the dealings of the Salvation Army with the unemployed of Melbourne.

This was before the great Strike. The Government of Victoria practically threw upon our officers the task of dealing with the unemployed. The subject was debated in the House of a.s.sembly, and at the close of the debate a subscription was taken up by one of those who had been our most strenuous opponents, and a sum of #400 was handed over to our officers to dispense in keeping the starving from peris.h.i.+ng. Our people have found situations for no fewer than 1,776 persons, and are dispensing meals at the rate of 700 a day.

The Government of Victoria has long been taking the lead in recognising the secular uses of the Salvation Army. The following letter addressed by the Minister of the Interior to the Officer charged with the oversight of this part of our operations, indicates the estimation in which we are held: --

Government of Victoria, Chief Secretary's Office, Melbourne.

July 4th, 1889.

Superintendent Salvation Army Rescue Work.

Sir,--in compliance with your request for a letter of introduction which may be of use to you in England, I have much pleasure in stating from reports furnished by Officers of my Department, I am convinced that the work you have been engaged on during the past six years has been of material advantage to the community. You have rescued from crime some who, but for the counsel and a.s.sistance rendered them, might have been a permanent tax upon the State, and you have restrained from further criminal courses others who had already suffered legal punishment for their misdeeds. It has given me pleasure to obtain from the Executive Council authority for you to apprehend children found in Brothels, and to take charge of such children after formal committal.

Of the great value of this branch of your work there can be no question. It is evident that the attendance of yourself and your Officers at the police-courts and lock-ups has been attended with beneficial results, and your invitation to our largest jails has been highly approved by the head of the Department. Generally speaking, I may say that your policy and procedure have been commended by the Chief Officers of the Government of this Colony, who have observed your work.

I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient Servant,

(Signed) ALFRED DEAKIN.

The Victorian Parliament has voted an annual grant to our funds, not as a religious endowment, but in recognition of the service which we render in the reclamation of criminals, and what may be called, if I may use a word which has been so depraved by Continental abuse, the moral police of the city. Our Officer in Melbourne has an official position which opens to him almost every State inst.i.tution and all the haunts of vice where it may be necessary for him to make his way in the search for girls that have been decoyed from home or who have fallen into evil courses.

It is in Victoria also that a system prevails of handing over first offenders to the care of the Salvation Army Officers, placing them in recognizance to come up when called for. An Officer of the Army attends at every Police Court, and the Prison Brigade is always on guard at the gaol doors when the prisoners are discharged.

Our Officers also have free access to the prisons, where they can conduct services and labour with the inmates for their Salvation.

As Victoria is probably the most democratic of our colonies, and the one in which the working-cla.s.s has supreme control, the extent to which it has by its government recognised the value of our operations is sufficient to indicate that we have nothing to fear from the opposition of the democracy. In the neighbouring colony of New South Wales a lady has already given us a farm of three hundred acres fully stocked, on which to begin operations with a Farm Colony, and there seems some prospect that the Scheme will get itself into active shape at the other end of the world before it is set agoing in London. The eager welcome which has thus forced the initiative upon our Officers in Melbourne tends to encourage the expectation that the Scheme will be regarded as no quack application, but will be generally taken up and quickly set in operation all round the world.

CHAPTER 8. A PRACTICAL CONCLUSION.

Throughout this book I have more constantly used the first personal p.r.o.noun than ever before in anything I have written. I have done this deliberately, not from egotism, but in order to make it more clearly manifest that here is a definite proposal made by an individual who is prepared, if the means are furnished him, to carry it out. At the same time I want it to be clearly understood that it is not in my own strength, nor at my own charge, that I purpose to embark upon this great undertaking. Unless G.o.d wills that I should work out the idea of which I believe He has given me the conception, nothing can come of any attempt at its execution but confusion, disaster, and disappointment.

But if it be His will--and whether it is or not, visible and manifest tokens will soon be forthcoming--who is there that can stand against it?

Trusting in Him for guidance, encouragement, and support, I propose at once to enter upon this formidable campaign.

I do not run without being called. I do not press forward to fill this breach without being urgently pushed from behind. Whether or not, I am called of G.o.d, as well as by the agonising cries of suffering men and women and children, He will make plain to me, and to us all; for as Gideon looked for a sign before he, at the bidding of the heavenly messenger, undertook the leading of the chosen people against the hosts of Midian, even so do I look for a sign. Gideon's sign was arbitrary. He selected it. He dictated his own terms; and out of compa.s.sion for his halting faith, a sign was given to him, and that twice over. First, his fleece was dry when all the country round was drenched with dew; and, secondly, his fleece was drenched with dew when all the country round was dry.

The sign for which I ask to embolden me to go forwards is single, not double. It is necessary and not arbitrary, and it is one which the veriest sceptic or the most cynical materialist will recognise as sufficient. If I am to work out the Scheme I have outlined in this book, I must have ample means for doing so. How much would be required to establish this Plan of Campaign in all its fulness, overshadowing all the land with its branches laden with all manner of pleasant fruit, I cannot even venture to form a conception. But I have a definite idea as to how much would be required to set it fairly in operation.

Why do I talk about commencing? We have already begun, and that with considerable effect. Our hand has been forced by circ.u.mstances.

The mere rumour of our undertaking reaching the Antipodes, as before described, called forth such a demonstration of approval that my Officers there were compelled to begin action without waiting orders from home. In this country we have been working on the verge of the deadly mora.s.s for some years gone by, and not without marvellous effect. We have our Shelters, our Labour Bureau, our Factory, our Inquiry Officers, our Rescue Homes, our Slum Sisters, and other kindred agencies, all in good going order. The sphere of these operations may be a limited one; still, what we have done already is ample proof that when I propose to do much more I am not speaking without my book; and though the sign I ask for may not be given, I shall go struggling forward on the same lines; still, to seriously take in hand the work which I have sketched out--to establish this triple Colony, with all its affiliated agencies, I must have, at least, a hundred thousand pounds.

A hundred thousand pounds! That is the dew on my fleece. It is not much considering the money that is raised by my poor people for the work of the Salvation Army. The proceeds of the Self-denial Week alone last year brought us in #20,000. This year it will not fall short of #25,000. If our poor people can do so much out of their poverty, I do not think I am making an extravagant demand when I ask that out of the millions of the wealth of the world I raise, as a first instalment, a hundred thousand pounds, and say that I cannot consider myself effectually called to undertake this work unless it is forthcoming.

It is in no spirit of dictation or arrogance that I ask the sign.

It is a necessity. Even Moses could not have taken the Children of Israel dry-shod through the Red Sea unless the waves had divided.

That was the sign which marked out his duty, aided his faith, and determined his action. The sign which I seek is somewhat similar.

Money is not everything. It is not by any means the main thing.

Midas, with all his millions, could no more do the work than he could win the battle of Waterloo, or hold the Pa.s.s of Thermopylae.

But the millions of Midas are capable of accomplis.h.i.+ng great and mighty things, if they be sent about doing good under the direction of Divine wisdom and Christ-like love.

How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! It is easier to make a hundred poor men sacrifice their lives than it is to induce one rich man to sacrifice his fortune, or even a portion of it, to a cause in which, in his half-hearted fas.h.i.+on, he seems to believe. When I look over the roll of men and women who have given up friends, parents, home prospects, and everything they possess in order to walk bare-footed beneath a burning sun in distant India, to live on a handful of rice, and die in the midst of the dark heathen for G.o.d and the Salvation Army, I sometimes marvel how it is that they should be so eager to give up all, even life itself, in a cause which has not power enough in it to induce any reasonable number of wealthy men to give to it the mere superfluities and luxuries of their existence. From those to whom much is given much is expected; but, alas, alas, how little is realised! It is still the widow who casts her all into the Lord's treasury--the wealthy deem it a preposterous suggestion when we allude to the Lord's t.i.the, and count it boredom when we ask only for the crumbs that fall from their tables.