SUPPLEMENTARY BRANCHES OF THE COUNTRY COLONY.
(1.) _Public Works_--
While the central idea of the entire system will be that of providing
permanent, as contrasted with temporary work for the destitute, there is
no reason why the former should not be supplemented by the latter. The
great public works which at present afford occasional relief for
thousands would still be possible, only provision would be made for the
redistribution of the masses of labour thus withdrawn from the ordinary
channels as soon as the public work in question was completed.
For this again we possess a scriptural parallel in the "levy out of all
Israel" raised by King Solomon, consisting of thirty thousand men who
were sent "to Lebanon ten thousand a month by courses; a month they were
in Lebanon and two months at home." In addition to the above we find
that he employed seventy thousand "that bare burdens" and eighty
thousand "hewers in the mountains, beside the officers which were over
the work, three thousand and three hundred, which ruled over the people
that wrought in the work." It was the elaborate organisation of these
laborers, and the provision for their spending a certain proportion of
their time at home, which enabled Solomon to carry out his great public
works without seriously deranging the labor market, or hindering the
prosperity of the nation. I have selected this instance because it is
from well authenticated sources, goes fully into details and refers to a
nation and country very much resembling India. Indeed it is almost
identical with the familiar Indian institution known as "begar" or
forced labour.
The weak point of such special efforts is that they tend to leave
things in a worse position than ever when they are concluded. Nobody
sits down to calculate what is to become of the thousands who have been
drawn together, often hundreds of miles from their homes, when the time
comes for them to be paid off. They are thrown bodily upon the labor
market and left to shift for themselves as best they can, without any
means of informing themselves where they ought to go, or into what other
channels they can most profitably direct their labor.
This evil we hope to obviate by means of our Labor Bureaux, which will
be planted in every city and district, and will keep such elaborate
returns as will enable to watch all the fluctuations of the labor
market.
For instance let us be informed of the fact that a railway is to be
opened, a canal dug, or some other public work constructed in a
particular district, we should be able to calculate from our returns the
amount of labor that could conveniently be withdrawn from existing
channels, and the amount that would have to be imported.
We should be able to constitute a Solomon's levy (voluntary of course),
and the laborers would have the assurance that when the work on which
they were engaged was concluded, sufficient provision would be made for
their reemployment elsewhere, or for their restoration to their ordinary
occupation. Our Labor Bureau would thus do for the laborer what is at
present impossible for him to do for himself, and would economise his
time to the utmost.
(2.) _Off to the Tea Gardens_--
We should be able again to supply the Tea and Coffee Districts with
gangs of laborers, and should guard the interests of both employer and
employed. The former would be supplied with picked laborers at the
ordinary market rate, without the worry, delay and expense of having to
procure them for themselves. The latter would be kept in communication
with their families, and could be worked in "courses" on Solomon's plan.
(3.) _Land along the Railways_--
Among other proposals General Booth suggests that the land along the
Railway lines might well be utilised for the purpose of spade husbandry.
There seems no reason why these extensive strips of often fertile soil
should be left to go to waste, conveniently situated as they are on
borders of the main arteries of commerce and in close vicinity to
stations.
(4.) _Improved methods of Agriculture_--
This is a subject which deserves a chapter to itself in a country like
India. If it be true that there are millions of acres of waste land that
are only waiting to be cultivated to yield a rich return, it is equally
notorious that by improved methods of agriculture the present produce of
the soil may be doubled and trebled. To this subject we intend to pay
the full attention that it deserves, making the best possible use of
Native experience and European science. We shall be in a peculiarly
favorable situation for experiments on a large scale. But this is a
subject on which we cannot at present do more than touch, reserving for
a future period the elaboration of schemes which will doubtless have an
enormous reflexive effect upon the whole of India, and thus materially
increase the wealth of the entire country and the revenue of the
Government.