With ten thousand officers, trained to obey, and trained equally to

command, I do not feel that the organisation even of the disorganised,

sweated, hopeless, drink-sodden denizens of darkest England is

impossible. It is possible, because it has already been accomplished

in the case of thousands who, before they were saved, were even such as

those whose evil lot we are now attempting to deal with.

Our fifth credential is the extent and universality of the Army.

What a mighty agency for working out the Scheme is found in the Army in

this respect! This will be apparent when we consider that it has

already stretched itself through over thirty different Countries and

Colonies, with a permanent location in something like 4,000 different

places, that it has either soldiers or friends sufficiently in sympathy

with it to render assistance in almost every considerable population in

the civilised world, and in much of the uncivilised, that it has nearly

10,000 separated officers whose training, and leisure, and history

qualify them to become its enthusiastic and earnest co-workers.

In fact, our whole people will hail it as the missing link in the great

Scheme for the regeneration of mankind, enabling them to act out those

impulses of their hearts which are ever prompting them to do good to

the bodies as well as to the souls of men.

Take the meetings. With few exceptions, every one of these four

thousand centres has a Hall in which, on every evening in the week and

from early morning until nearly midnight on every Sabbath, services are

being held; that nearly every service held indoors is preceded by one

out of doors, the special purport of every one being the saving of

these wretched crowds. Indeed, when this Scheme is perfected and

fairly at work, every meeting and every procession will be looked upon

as an advertisement of the earthly as well as the heavenly conditions

of happiness. And every Barracks and Officer's quarters will become a

centre where poor sinful suffering men and women may find sympathy,

counsel, and practical assistance in every sorrow that can possibly

come upon them, and every Officer throughout our ranks in every quarter

of the globe will become a co-worker.

See how useful our people will be in the gathering in of this class.

They are in touch with them. They live in the same street, work in the

same shops and factories, and come in contact with them at every turn

and corner of life. If they don't live amongst them, they formerly did.

They know where to find them; they are their old chums, pot-house

companions, and pals in crime and mischief. This class is the

perpetual difficulty of a Salvationist's life. He feels that there is

no help for them in the conditions in which they are at present found.

They are so hopelessly weak, and their temptations are so terribly

strong, that they go down before them. The Salvationist feels this

when he attacks them in the tap-rooms, in the low lodging houses, or in

their own desolate homes. Hence, with many, the Crusader has lost all

heart. He has tried them so often. But this Scheme of taking them

right away from their old haunts and temptations will put new life into

him and he will gather up the poor social wrecks wholesale, pass them

along, and then go and hunt for more.

Then see how useful this army of Officers and Soldiers will be for the

regeneration of this festering mass of vice and crime when it is, so to

speak, in our possession. All the thousands of drunkards, and harlots,

and blasphemers, and idlers have to be made over again, to be renewed

in the spirit of their minds, that is--made good. What a host of

moral workers will be required to accomplish such a gigantic

transformation. In the Army we have a few thousands ready, anyway we

have as many as can be used at the outset, and the Scheme itself will

go on manufacturing more. Look at the qualifications of these warriors

for the work!

They have been trained themselves, brought into line and are examples

of the characters we want to produce.

They understand their pupils--having been dug out of the same pit.

Set a rogue to catch a rogue, they say, that is, we suppose, are formed

rogue. Anyway, it is so with us. These rough-and-ready warriors will

work shoulder to shoulder with them in the same manual employment.

They will engage in the task for love. This is a substantial part of

their religion, the moving instinct of the new heavenly nature that has

come upon them. They want to spend their lives in doing good.

Here will be an opportunity.

Then see how useful these Soldiers will be for distribution!

Every Salvation Officer and Soldier in every one of these 4,000

centres, scattered through these thirty odd countries and colonies,

with all their correspondents and friends and comrades living

elsewhere, will be ever on the watch-tower looking out for homes and

employments where these rescued men and women can be fixed up to

advantage, nursed into moral vigour, picked up again on stumbling,

and watched over generally until able to travel the rough and slippery

paths of life alone.

I am, therefore, not without warrant for my confidence in the

possibility of doing great things, if the problem so long deemed

hopeless be approached with intelligence and determination on a scale

corresponding to the magnitude of the evil with which we have to cope.

SECTION 2.--HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?

A considerable amount of money will be required to fairly launch this

Scheme, and some income may be necessary to sustain it for a season,

but, once fairly afloat, we think there is good reason to believe that

in all its branches it will be self-supporting, unless its area of

operation is largely extended, on which we fully rely. Of course,

the cost of the effort must depend very much upon its magnitude.

If anything is to be done commensurate with the extent of the evil,

it will necessarily require a proportionate outlay. If it is only the

drainage of a garden that is undertaken, a few pounds will meet the

cost, but if it is a great dismal swamp of many miles in area,

harbouring all manner of vermin, and breeding all kinds of deadly

malaria, that has to be reclaimed and cultivated, a very different sum

will not only be found necessary, but be deemed an economic investment.

Seeing that the country pays out something like Ten Millions per annum

in Poor Law and Charitable Relief without securing any real abatement

of the evil, I cannot doubt that the public will hasten to supply

one-tenth of that sum. If you reckon that of the submerged tenth we

have one million to deal with, this will only be one pound per head for

each of those whom it is sought to benefit, or say ONE MILLION STERLING

to give the present Scheme a fair chance of getting into practical

operation.

According to the amount furnished, must necessarily be the extent of

our operations. We have carefully calculated that with one hundred

thousand pounds the scheme can be successfully set in motion,

and that it can be kept going on an annual income of #30,000

which is about three and a-quarter per cent. on the balance of the

million sterling, for which I ask as an earnest that the public intend

to put its hand to this business with serious resolution; and our

judgment is based, not on any mere imaginings, but upon the actual

result of the experiments already made. Still it must be remembered

that so vast and desirable an end cannot be even practically

contemplated without a proportionate financial outlay. Supposing,

however, by the subscription of this amount the undertaking is fairly

set afloat. The question may be asked, "What further funds will be

required for its efficient maintenance?" This question we proceed to

answer. Let us look at the three Colonies apart, and then at some of

the circumstances which apply to the whole. To begin with, there is

THE FINANCIAL ASPECT OF THE CITY COLONY.

Here there will be, of course, a considerable outlay required for the

purchasing and fitting up of property, the acquisition of machinery,

furniture, tools, and the necessary plant for carrying forward all

these varied operations. These once acquired, no further outlay will

be needed except for the necessary reparations.

The Homes for the Destitute will be nearly, if not quite, self-sustaining.

The Superior Homes for both Single and Married people will not only pay

for themselves, but return some interest on the amount invested, which

would be devoted to the futherance of other parts of the Scheme.

The Refuges for Fallen Girls would require considerable funds to keep

them going. But the public has never been slow to practically express

its sympathy with this class of work.

The Criminal Homes and Prison Gate Operations would require continued

help, but not a very great deal. Then, the work in the Slums is

somewhat expensive. The eighty young women at present engaged in it

cost on an average 12s. per week each for personal maintenance,

inclusive of clothes and other little matters, and there are expenses

for Halls and some little relief which cannot in anyway be avoided,

bringing our present annual Slum outlay to over #4,000. But the poor

people amongst whom they work notwithstanding their extreme poverty,

are already contributing over #1,000 per annum towards this amount,

which income will increase. Still as by this Scheme we propose to add

at once a hundred to the number already engaged, money will be required

to keep th is department going.

The Inebriate Home, I calculate, will maintain itself. All its inmates

will have to engage in some kind of remunerative labour, and we

calculate, in addition, upon receiving money with a considerable number

of those availing themselves of its benefits. But to practically

assist the half-million slaves of the cup we must have money not only

to launch out but to keep our operations going.

The Food Depots, once fitted up, pay their own working expenses.

The Emigration, Advice, and Inquiry Bureaux must maintain themselves or

nearly so. The Labour Shops, Anti-Sweating, and other similar

operations will without question require money to make ends meet.

But on the whole, a very small sum of money, in proportion to the

immense amount of work done, will enable us to accomplish a vast deal

of good.

THE FARM COLONY FROM A FINANCIAL POINT OF VIEW.

Let us now turn to the Farm Colony, and consider it from a monetary

standpoint. Here also a certain amount of money will have to be

expended at the outset; some of the chief items of which will be the

purchase of land, the erection of buildings, the supply of stock, and

the production of first crops. There is an abundance of land in the

market, at the present time, at very low prices. It is rather

important for the initial experiment that an estate should be obtained

not too far from London, with land suitable for immediate cultivation.

Such an estate would beyond question be expensive. After a time,

I have no doubt, we shall be able to deal with land of almost any

quality (and that in almost any part of the country), in consequence of

the superabundance of labour we shall possess. There is no question if

the scheme goes forward, but that estates will be required in

connection with all our large towns and cities. I am not without hope

that a sufficient quantity of land will be given, or, in any way,

sold to us on very favourable terms.

When acquired and stocked, it is calculated that this land,

if cultivated by spade husbandry, will support at least two persons

per acre. The ordinary reckoning of those who have had experience

with allotments gives five persons to three acres.

But, even supposing that this calculation is a little too sanguine,

we can still reckon a farm of 500 acres supporting, without any

outside assistance, say, 750 persons. But, in this Scheme, we should

have many advantages not possessed by the simple peasant, such as

those resulting from combination, market gardening, and the other

forms of cultivation already referred to, and thus we should want to

place two or three times this number on that quantity of land.

By a combination of City and Town Colonies, there will be a market for

at least a large portion of the products. At the rate of our present

consumption in the London Food Depots and Homes for the Destitute

alone, at least 50 acres would be required for potatoes alone,

and every additional Colonist would be an additional consumer.

There will be no rent to pay, as it is proposed to buy the land right

out. In the event of a great rush being made for the allotment's

spoken of, further land might be rented, with option of purchase.

Of course, the continuous change of labourers would tell against the

profitableness of the undertaking. But this would be proportionally

beneficial to the country, seeing that everyone who passes through the

institution with credit makes one less in the helpless crowd.

The rent of Cottages and Allotments would constitute a small return,

and at least pay interest on the money invested in them.

The labour spent upon the Colony would be constantly increasing its

money value. Cottages would be built, orchards planted, land enriched,

factories run up, warehouses erected, while other improvements would be

continually going forward. All the labour and a large part of the

material would be provided by the Colonists themselves.

It may be suggested that the worker would nave to be maintained during

the progress of these erections and manufactures, the cost of which

would in itself amount to a considerable sum. Truer and for this the

first outlay would be required. But after this every cottage erected,

every road made, in short every structure and improvement, would be a

means of carrying forward the regenerating process, and in many cases

it is expected will become a source of income.

As the Scheme progresses, it is not irrational to expect that

Government, or some of the varied Local Authorities, will assist in the

working out of a plan which, in so marked a manner, will relieve the

rates and taxes or the country.

The salaries of Officers would be in keeping with those given in the

Salvation Army, which are very low.

No wages would be paid to Colonists, as has been described, beyond

pocket money and a trifle for extra service.

Although no permanent invalid would be knowingly taken into the

Colonies, it is fair to assume that there will be a certain number,

and also a considerable residuum of naturally indolent, half-witted

people, incapable of improvement, left upon our hands. Still, it is

thought that with reformed habits, variety of employment, and careful

oversight, such may be made to earn their own maintenance, at least,

especially when it is borne in mind that unless they work, so far as

they have ability, they cannot remain in the Colony.

If the Household Salvage Scheme which has been explained in Chapter II.

proves the success we anticipate, there can be no question that great

financial assistance will be rendered by it to the entire scheme when

once the whole thing has been brought into working order.

THE FINANCIAL ASPECT OF THE COLONY OVER-SEA.

Let us now turn to the Colony Over-Sea, and regard it also from the

financial standpoint. Here we must occupy ourselves chiefly with the

preliminary outlay, as we could not for a moment contemplate having to

find money to assist it when once fairly established. The initial

expense will, no doubt, be somewhat heavy, but not beyond a reasonable

amount.

The land required would probably be given, whether we go to Africa,

Canada, or elsewhere; anyway, it would be acquired on such easy terms

as would be a near approach to a gift.

A considerable sum would certainly be necessary for effecting the first

settlements. There would be temporary buildings to erect, land to

break up and crop; stock, farm implements, and furniture to purchase,

and other similar expenses. But this would not be undertaken on a

large scale, as we should rely, to some extent, on the successive

batches of Colonists more or less providing for themselves, and in this

respect working out their own salvation.

The amount advanced for passages, outfit money, and settlement would be

repaid by instalments by the Colonists, which would in turn serve to

pay the cost of conveying others to the same destination.

Passage and outfit money would, no doubt, continue to be some

difficulty. #8 per head, say to Africa--#5 passage money, and #3 for

the journey across the country--is a large sum when a considerable

number are involved; and I am afraid no Colony would be reached at a

much lower rate. But I am not without hope that the Government might

assist us in this direction.

Taking up the entire question, that is of the three Colonies, we are

satisfied that the sum named will suffice to set to work an agency

which will probably rescue from lives of degradation and immorality an

immense number of people, and that an income of something like #30,000

will keep it afloat. But supposing that a much larger amount should be

required, by operations greatly in advance of those here spoken of,

which we think exceedingly probable, it is not unreasonable to expect

that it will be forthcoming, seeing that caring for the poor is not

only a duty of universal obligation, a root principle of all religion,

but an instinct of humanity not likely to be abolished in our time.

We are not opposed to charity as such, but to the mode of its

administration, which, instead of permanently relieving, only

demoralises and plunges the recipients lower in the mire, and so

defeats its own purpose.

"What!" I think I hear some say, "a million sterling! how can any man

out of Bedlam dream of raising such a sum?" Stop a little! A million

may be a great deal to pay for a diamond or a palace, but it is a mere

trifle compared with the sums which Britain lavishes whenever Britons

are in need of deliverance if they happen to be imprisoned abroad.

The King of Ashantee had captive some British subjects--not even of

English birth--in 1869. John Bull despatched General Wolseley with

the pick of the British army, who smashed Koffee Kalkallee, liberated

the captives, and burnt Coomassie, and never winced when the bill came

in for #750,000. But that was a mere trifle. When King Theodore,

of Abyssinia, made captives of a couple of British representatives,

Lord Napier was despatched to rescue. He marched his army to Magdala,

brought back the prisoners, and left King Theodore dead.

The cost of that expedition was over nine millions sterling.

The Egyptian Campaign, that smashed Arabi, cost nearly five millions.

The rush to Khartoum, that arrived too late to rescue General Gordon,

cost at least as much. The Afghan war cost twenty-one millions

sterling. Who dares then to say that Britain cannot provide a million

sterling to rescue, not one or two captives, but a million, whose lot

is quite as doleful as that of the prisoners of savage kings, but who

are to be found, not in the land of the Soudan, or in the swamps of

Ashantee, or in the Mountains of the Moon, but here at our very doors?

Don't talk to me about the impossibility of raising the million.

Nothing is impossible when Britain is in earnest. All talk of

impossibility only means that you don't believe that the nation cares

to enter upon a serious campaign against the enemy at our gates.

When John Bull goes to the wars he does not count the cost. And who

dare deny that the time has fully come for a declaration of war against

the Social Evils which seem to shut out God from this our world?

SECTION 3.--SOME ADVANTAGES STATED.

This Scheme takes into its embrace all kinds and classes of men who may

be in destitute circumstances, irrespective of their character or

conduct, and charges itself with supplying at once their temporal

needs; and then aims at placing them in a permanent position of

comparative comfort, the only stipulation made being a willingness to

work and to conform to discipline on the part of those receiving its

benefit.

While at the commencement, we must impose some limits with respect to

age and sickness, we hope, when fairly at work, to be able to dispense

with even these restrictions, and to receive any unfortunate individual

who has only his misery to recommend him and an honest desire to get

out of it.

It will be seen that, in this respect, the Scheme stands head and

shoulders above any plan that has ever been mooted before, seeing that

nearly all the other charitable and remedial proposals more or less

confess their utter inability to benefit any but what they term the

"decent" working man.

This Scheme seeks out by all manner of agencies, marvellously adapted

for the task, the classes whose welfare it contemplates, and, by varied

measures and motives adapted to their circumstances, compels them to

accept its benefits.

Our Plan contemplates nothing short of revolutionising the character of

those whose faults are the reason for their destitution. We have seen

that with fully fifty per cent. of these their own evil conduct is the

cause of their wretchedness. To stop short with them of anything less

than a real change of heart will be to invite and ensure failure.

But this we are confident of effecting--anyway, in the great majority

of cases, by reasonings and persuasions, concerning both earthly and

heavenly advantages, by the power of man, and by the power of God.

By this Scheme any man, no matter how deeply he may have fallen in

self-respect and the esteem of all about him, may re-enter life afresh,

with the prospect of re-establishing his character when lost,

or perhaps of establishing a character for the first time, and so

obtaining an introduction to decent employment, and a claim for

admission into Society as a good citizen. While many of this crowd are

absolutely without a decent friend, others will have, on that higher

level of respectability they once occupied, some relative, or friend,

or employer, who occasionally thinks of them, and who, if only

satisfied that a real change has taken place in the prodigal, will not

only be willing, but delighted, to help them once more.

By this Scheme, we believe we shall be able to teach habits of economy,

household management, thrift, and the like. There are numbers of men

who, although suffering the direst pangs of poverty, know little or

nothing about the value of money, or the prudent use of it; and there

are hundreds of poor women who do not know what a decently-managed home

is, and who could not make one if they had the most ample means and

tried ever so hard to accomplish it, having never seen anything but

dirt, disorder, and misery in their domestic history. They could not

cook a dinner or prepare a meal decently if their lives were dependent

on it, never having had a chance of learning how to do it. But by this

Scheme hope to teach these things.

By this Plan, habits of cleanliness will be created, and some

knowledge of sanitary questions in general will be imparted.

This Scheme changes the circumstances of those whose poverty is caused

by their misfortune. To begin with, it finds work for the unemployed.

This is the chief need. The great problem that has for ages been

puzzling the brains of the political economist and philanthropist has

been "How can we find these people work?" No matter what other helps

are discovered, without work there is no real ground for hope.

Charity and all the other ten thousand devices are only temporary

expedients, altogether insufficient to meet the necessity. Work, apart

from the fact that it is God's method of supplying the wants of man's

composite nature, is an essential to his well-being in every way--

and on this Plan there is work, honourable work--none of your

demoralising stone-breaking, or oakum-picking business, which

tantalises and insults poverty, Every worker will feel that he is not

only occupied for his own benefit, but that any advantage reaped over

and above that which he gains himself will serve to lift some other

poor wretch out of the gutter.

There would be work within the capacity of all. Every gift could be

employed. For instance, take five persons on the Farm--a baker,

a tailor, a shoemaker, a cook, and an agriculturist. The baker would

make bread for all, the tailor garments for all, the shoemaker shoes

for all, the cook would cook for all, and the agriculturist dig for all.

Those who know anything which would be useful to the inhabitants of

the Colony will be set to do it, and those who are ignorant of any

trade or profession will be taught one.

This Scheme removes the vicious and criminal classes out of the sphere

of those temptations before which they have invariably fallen in the

past. Our experience goes to show that when you have, by Divine grace,

or by any consideration of the advantages of a good life, or the

disadvantages of a bad one, produced in a man circumstanced as those

whom we have been describing, the resolution to turn over a new leaf,

the temptations and difficulties he has to encounter will ordinarily

master him, and undo all that has been done, if he still continues to

be surrounded by old companions and allurements to sin.

Now, look at the force of the temptations this class has to fight

against. What is it that leads people to do wrong--people of all

classes, rich as well as poor? Not the desire to sin. They do not want

to sin; many of them do not know what sin is, but they have certain

appetites or natural likings, the indulgence of which is pleasant to

them, and when the desire for their unlawful gratification is aroused,

regardless of the claims of God, their own highest interests, or the

well-being of their fellows, they are carried away by them; and thus

all the good resolutions they have made in the past come to grief.

For instance, take the temptation which comes through the natural

appetite, hunger. Here is a man who has been at a religious meeting,

or received some good advice, or, perhaps, just come out of prison,

with the memories of the hardships he has suffered fresh upon him, or

the advice of the chaplain ringing in his ears. He has made up his

mind to steal no more, but he has no means of earning a livelihood.

He becomes hungry. What is he to do? A loaf of bread tempts him, or,

more likely, a gold chain which he can turn into bread. An inward

struggle commences, he tries to stick to his bargain, but the hunger

goes on gnawing within, and it may be there is a wife and children

hungry as well as himself; so he yields to the temptation, takes the

chain, and in turn the policeman takes him.

Now this man does not want to do wrong, and still less does he want to

go to prison. In a sincere, dreamy way he desires to be good,

and if the path were easier for him he would probably walk in it.

Again, there is the appetite for drink. That man has no thought of

sinning when he takes his first glass. Much less does he want to get

drunk. He may have still a vivid recollection of the unpleasant

consequences that followed his last spree, but the craving is on him;

the public-house is there handy; his companions press him; he yields,

and falls, and, perhaps, falls to rise no more.

We might amplify, but our Scheme proposes to take the poor slave right

away from the public-houses, the drink, and the companions that allure

him to it, and therefore we think the chances of reformation in him are

far greater.

Then think of the great boon this Scheme will be to the children,

bringing them out of the slums, wretched hovels, and filthy surroundings

in which they are being reared for lives of abomination of every

description, into the fields, amongst the green trees and cottage homes,

where they can grow up with a chance of saving both body and soul.

Think again of the change this Scheme will make for these poor

creatures from the depressing, demoralising surroundings, of the

unsightly, filthy quarters in which they are huddled together, to the

pure air and sights and sounds of the country. There is much talk

about the beneficial influence of pictures, music and literature upon

the multitudes. Money, like water, is being poured forth to supply

such attractions in Museums, People's Palaces, and the like, for the

edification and amelioration of the social condition of the masses.

But "God made the country, man made the town," and if we take the

people to the pictures of divine manufacture, that must be the superior

plan.

Again, the Scheme is capable of illimitable application. The plaister

can be made as large as the wound. The wound is certainly a very

extensive one, and it seems at first sight almost ridiculous for any

private enterprise to attempt dealing with it. Three millions of

people, living in little short of perpetual misery have to be reached

and rescued out of this terrible condition. But it can be done, and

this Scheme will do it, if it is allowed a fair chance. Not all at

once? True! It will take time, but it will begin to tell on the

restering mass straight away. Within a measurable distance we ought

to be able to take out of this black sea at least a hundred individuals

a week, and there is no reason why this number should not go on

increasing.

An appreciable impression on this gulf of misery would be immediately

made, not only for those who are rescued from its dark waters,

but for those who are left behind, seeing that for every hundred

individuals removed, there is just the additional work which they

performed for those who remain. It might not be much, but still it

would soon count up. Supposing three carpenters are starving on

employment which covered one-third of their time, if you take two away,

the one left will have full employment. But it will be for the public

to fix, by their contributions, the extent of our operations.

The benefits bestowed by this Scheme will be permanent in duration.

It will be seen that this is no temporary expedient, such as, alas!

nearly every effort hitherto made on behalf of these classes has been.

Relief Works, Soup Kitchens, Enquiries into Character, Emigration

Schemes, of which none will avail themselves, Charity in its hundred

forms, Casual Wards, the Union, and a hundred other Nostrums may serve

for the hour, but they are only at the best palliations. But this

Scheme, I am bold to say, offers a substantial and permanent remedy.

In relieving one section of the community, our plan involves no

interference with the well-being of any other.

(See Chapter VII. Section 4, "Objections.")

This Scheme removes the all but insuperable barrier to an industrious

and godly life. It means not only the leading of these lost multitudes

out of the "City of Destruction" into the Canaan of plenty, but the

lifting of them up to the same level of advantage with the more

favoured of mankind for securing the salvation of their souls.

Look at the circumstances of hundreds and thousands of the classes of

whom we are speaking. From the cradle to the grave, might not their

influence in the direction of Religious Belief be summarised in one

sentence, "Atheism made easy." Let my readers imagine theirs to have

been a similar lot. Is it not possible that, under such circumstances,

they might have entertained some serious doubts as to the existence of

a benevolent God who would thus allow His creatures to starve, or that

they would have been so preoccupied with their temporal miseries as to

have no heart for any concern about the next life?

Take a man, hungry and cold, who does not know where his next meal is

coming from; nay, who thinks it problematical whether it will come at

all. We know his thoughts will be taken up entirely with the bread he

needs for his body. What he wants is a dinner. The interests of his

soul must wait.

Take a woman with a starving family, who knows that as soon as Monday

comes round the rent must be paid, or else she and her children must

go into the street, and her little belongings be impounded.

At the present moment she is without it. Are not her thoughts likely

to wander in that direction if she slips into a Church or Mission Hall,

or Salvation Army Barracks?

I have had some experience on this subject, and have been making

observations with respect to it ever since the day I made my first

attempt to reach these starving, hungry, crowds--just over forty-five

years ago--and I am quite satisfied that these multitudes will not be

saved in their present circumstances. All the Clergymen.

Home Missionaries, Tract Distributors, Sick Visitors, and everyone else

who care about the Salvation of the poor, may make up their minds as to

that. If these people are to believe in Jesus Christ, become the

Servants of God, and escape the miseries of the wrath to come, they

must be helped out of their present social miseries. They must be put

into a position in which they can work and eat, and have a decent room

to live and sleep in, and see something before them besides a long,

weary, monotonous, grinding round of toil, and anxious care to keep

themselves and those they love barely alive, with nothing at the

further end but the Hospital, the Union, or the Madhouse. If Christian

Workers and Philanthropists will join hands to effect this change it

will be accomplished, and the people will rise up and bless them, and

be saved; if they will not, the people will curse them and perish.

SECTION 4.--SOME OBJECTIONS MET.

Objections must be expected. They are a necessity with regard to any

Scheme that has not yet been reduced to practice, and simply signify

foreseen difficulties in the working of it. We freely admit that there

are abundance of difficulties in the way of working out the plan

smoothly and successfully that has been laid down. But many of these

we imagine will vanish when we come to close quarters, and the

remainder will be surmounted by courage and patience. Should, however,

this plan prove the success we predict, it must eventually

revolutionise the condition of the starving sections of Society,

not only in this great metropolis, but throughout the whole range of

civilisation. It must therefore be worthy not only of a careful

consideration but of persevering trial.

Some of these difficulties at first sight appear rather serious.

Let us look at them.

Objection I.--It is suggested that the class of people for whose

benefit the Scheme is designed would not avail themselves of it.

When the feast was prepared and the invitation had gone forth,

it is said that the starving multitudes would not come; that though

labour was offered them in the City, or prepared for them on the Farm,

they would prefer to rot in their present miseries rather than avail

themselves of the benefit provided.

In order to gather the opinions of those most concerned, we consulted

one evening, by a Census in our London Shelters, two hundred and fifty

men out of work, and all suffering severely in consequence.

We furnished a set of questions, and obtained answers from the whole.

Now, it must be borne in mind that these men were under no obligation

whatever to make any reply to our enquiries, much less to answer them

favourably to our plan, of which they knew next to nothing.

These two hundred and fifty men were mostly in the prime of life,

the greater portion of them being skilled workmen; an examination of

the return papers showing that out of the entire number two hundred and

seven were able to work at their trades had they the opportunity.

The number of trades naturally varied. There were some of all kinds:

Engineers, Custom House Officers, Schoolmasters, Watch and Clockmakers,

Sailors, and men of the different branches of the Building trade;

also a number of men who have been in business on their own account.

The average amount of wages earned by the skilled mechanics when

regularly employed was 33s. per week; the money earned by the

unskilled averaged 22s. per week.

They could not be accounted lazy, as most of them; when not employed

at their own trade or occupation, had proved their willingness to work

by getting jobs at anything that turned up. On looking over the list

we saw that one who had been a Custom House Officer had recently acted

as Carpenter's Labourer; a Type-founder had been glad to work at

Chimney Sweeping; the Schoolmaster, able to speak five languages, who

in his prosperous days had owned a farm, was glad to do odd jobs as a

Bricklayer's Labourer; a Gentleman's Valet, who once earned #5 a week,

had come so low down in the world that he was glad to act as Sandwich

man for the magnificent sum of fourteenpence a day, and that, only as

an occasional affair.

In the list was a dyer and cleaner, married, with a wife and nine

children, who had been able to earn 40s. a week, but had done no

regular work for three years out of the last ten.

We put the following question to the entire number: -- "If you were put

on a farm, and set to work at anything you could do, and supplied with

food, lodging, and clothing, with a view to getting you on to your

feet, would you be willing to do all you could?"

In response, the whole 250 replied in the affirmative, with one

exception, and on enquiry we elicited that, being a sailor, the man was

afraid he would not know how to do the work.

On being interrogated as to their willingness to grapple with the hard

labour on the land, they said: "Why should we not? Look at us.

Can any plight be more miserable than ours?" Why not, indeed?

A glance at them would certainly make it impossible for any thoughtful

person to assign a rational reason for their refusal--in rags,

swarming with vermin, hungry, many of them living on scraps of food,

begged or earned in the most haphazard fashion, without sufficient

clothing to cover their poor gaunt limbs, most of them without a shirt.

They had to start out the next morning, uncertain which way to turn to

earn a crust for dinner, or the fourpence necessary to supply them

again with the humble shelter they had enjoyed that night. The idea of

their refusing employment which would supply abundantly the necessaries

of life, and give the prospect of becoming, in process of time,

the owner of a home, with its comforts and companionships, is beyond

conception. There is not much question that this class will not only

accept the Scheme we want to set before them, but gratefully do all in

their power to make it a success.

II.--Too many would come. This would be very probable.

There would certainly be too many apply. But we should be under no

obligation to take more than was convenient. The larger the number of

applications the wider the field for selection, and the greater the

necessity for the enlargement of our operations.

III.--They would run away. It is further objected that if they did

come, the monotony of the life, the strangeness of the work, together

with the absence of the excitements and amusements with which they had

been entertained in the cities and towns, would render their existence

unbearable. Even when left to the streets, there is an amount of life

and action in the city which is very attractive. Doubtless some would

run away, but I don't think this would be a large proportion.

The change would be so great, and so palpably advantageous, that I

think they would find in it ample compensation for the deprivation of

any little pleasureable excitement they had left behind them in the

city. For instance, there would be--

A Sufficiency of Food.

The friendliness and sympathy of their new associates. There would

be abundance of companions of similar tastes and circumstances--

not all pious. It would be quite another matter to going

single-handed on to a farm, or into a melancholy family.

Then there would be the prospect of doing well for themselves in

the future, together with all the religious life, meetings, music,

and freedom of the Salvation Army.

But what says our experience?

If there be one class which is the despair of the social reformer,

it is that which is variously described, but which we may term the lost

women of our streets. From the point of view of the industrial

organiser, they suffer from almost every fault that human material can

possess. They are, with some exceptions, untrained to labour,

demoralised by a life of debauchery, accustomed to the wildest license,

emancipated from all discipline but that of starvation, given to drink,

and, for the most part, impaired in health. If, therefore,

any considerable number of this class can be shown to be ready to

submit themselves voluntarily to discipline, to endure deprivation of

drink, and to apply themselves steadily to industry, then example will

go a long way towards proving that even the worst description of

humanity, when intelligently, thoroughly handled, is amenable to

discipline and willing to work. In our British Rescue Homes we receive

considerably over a thousand unfortunates every year; while all over

the world, our annual average is two thousand. The work has been in

progress for three years--long enough to enable us to test very fully

the capacity of the class in question to reform.

With us there is no compulsion. If any girl wishes to remain, she

remains. If she wishes to go, she goes. No one is detained a day or

an hour longer than they choose to stay. Yet our experience shows

that, as a rule, they do not run away. Much more restless and

thoughtless and given to change, as a class, than men, the girls do

not, in any considerable numbers, desert. The average of our London

Homes, for the last three years, gives only 14 per cent. as leaving on

their own account, while for the year 1889 only 5 per cent. And the

entire number, who have either left or been dismissed during that year,

amounts only to 13 per cent. on the whole.

IV.--They would not work.

Of course, to such as had for years been leading idle lives, anything

like work and exhaustive labour would be very trying and wearisome,

and a little patience and coaxing might be required to get them into

the way of it. Perhaps some would be hopelessly beyond salvation in

this respect, and, until the time comes, if it ever does arrive,

when the Government will make it a crime for an abled-bodied man to beg

when there is an opportunity for him to engage in remunerative work,

this class will wander abroad preying upon a generous public. It will,

however, only need to be known that any man can obtain work if he wants

it, for those who have by their liberality maintained men and women in

idleness to cease doing so. And when it comes to this pass, that a man

cannot eat without working, of the two evils he will choose the latter,

preferring labour, however unpleasant it may be to his tastes, to

actual starvation.

It must be borne in mind that the penalty of certain expulsion, which

all would be given to understand would be strictly enforced would have

a good influence in inducing the idlest to give work a fair trial,

and once at it should not despair of conquering the aversion

altogether, and eventually being able to transform and pass these once

lazy loafers as real industrious members of Society.

Again, any who have fears on this point may be encouraged by

contrasting the varied and ever-changing methods of labour we should

pursue, with the monotonous and uninteresting grind of many of the

ordinary employments of the poor, and the circumstances by which they

are surrounded.

Here, again, we fall back upon our actual experience in reclamation

work. In our Homes for Saving the Lost Women we have no difficulty of

getting them to work. The idleness of this section of the social

strata has been before referred to; it is not for a moment denied,

and there can be no question, as to its being the cause of much of

their poverty and distress. But from early morn until the lights are

out at night, all is a round of busy, and, to a great extent, very

uninteresting labour; while the girls have, as a human inducement,

only domestic service to look forward to--of which they are in no way

particularly enamoured--and yet here is no mutiny, no objection,

no unwillingness to work; in fact they appear well pleased to be kept

continually at it. Here is a report that teaches the same lesson.

A small Bookbinding Factory is worked in connection with the Rescue

Homes in London. The folders and stitchers are girls saved from the

streets, but who, for various reasons, were found unsuitable for

domestic service. The Factory has solved the problem of employment for

some of the most difficult cases. Two of the girls at present employed

there are crippled, while one is supporting herself and two young

children.

While learning the work they live in the Rescue Homes, and the few

shillings they are able to earn are paid into the Home funds.

As soon as they are able to earn 12s. a week, a lodging is found for

them (with Salvationists, if possible), and they are placed entirely

upon their own resources. The majority of girls working at this trade

in London are living in the family, and 6s., 7s., and 8s. a week make

an acceptable addition to the Home income; but our girls who are

entirely dependent upon their own earnings must make an average wage of

12s. a week at least. In order that they may do this we are obliged to

pay higher wages than other employers. For instance, we give from

2 1/2d. to 3d. a thousand more than the trade for binding small

pamphlets; nevertheless, after the Manager, a married man, is paid, and

a man for the superintendence of the machines, a profit of about #500

has been made, and the work is improving. They are all paid piecework.

Eighteen women are supporting themselves in this way at present, and

conducting themselves most admirably. One of their number acts as

forewoman, and conducts the Prayer Meeting at 12.30, the Two-minutes'

Prayer after meals, etc. Their continuance in the factory is subject

to their good behaviour--both at home as well as at work.

In one instance only have we had any trouble at all, and in this

solitary case the girl was so penitent she was forgiven, and has done

well ever since. I think that, without exception, they are Salvation

Soldiers, and will be found at nearly every meeting on the Sabbath,

etc. The binding of Salvation Army publications-- "The Deliverer,"

"All the World," the Penny Song Books, etc., almost keep us going.

A little outside work for the end of the months is taken, but we are

not able to make any profit generally, it is so badly paid.

It will be seen that this is a miniature factory, but still it is a

factory, and worked on principles that will admit of illimitable

extension, and may, I think, be justly regarded as an encouragement and

an exemplification of what may be accomplished in endless variations.

V.--Again, it is objected that the class whose benefit we

contemplate would not have physical ability to work on a farm, or in

the open air.

How, it is asked, would tailors, clerks, weavers, seamstresses,

and the destitute people, born and reared in the slums and

poverty-hovels of the towns and cities, do farm or any other work that

has to do with the land? The employment in the open air, with exposure

to every kind of weather which accompanies it, would, it is said, kill

them off right away.

We reply, that the division of labour before described would render it

as unnecessary as it would be undesirable and uneconomical, to put many

of these people to dig or to plant. Neither is it any part of our plan

to do so. On our Scheme we have shown how each one would be appointed

to that kind of work for which his previous knowledge and experience

and strength best adapted him. Moreover, there can be no possible

comparison between the conditions of health enjoyed by men and women

wandering about homeless, sleeping in the streets or in the

fever-haunted lodging-houses, or living huddled up in a single room,

and toiling twelve and fourteen hours in a sweater's den, and living in

comparative comfort in well-warmed and ventilated houses, situated in

the open country, with abundance of good, healthy food.

Take a man or a woman out into the fresh air, give them proper

exercise, and substantial food. Supply them with a comfortable home,

cheerful companions, and a fair prospect of reaching a position of

independence in this or some other land, and a complete renewal of

health and careful increase of vigour will, we expect, be one of the

first great benefits that will ensue.

VI.--It is objected that we should be left with a considerable

residuum of half-witted, helpless people.

Doubtless this would be a real difficulty, and we should have to

prepare for it. We certainly, at the outset, should have to guard

against too many of this class being left upon our hands, although we

should not be compelled to keep anyone. It would, how ever, be painful

to have to send them back to the dreadful life from which we had

rescued them. Still, however, this would not be so ruinous a risk,

looked at financially, as some would imagine. We could, we think,

maintain them for 4s. per week, and they would be very weak indeed in

body, and very wanting in mental, strength if they were not able to

earn that amount in some one of the many forms of employment which the

Colony would open up.

VII.--Again, it will be objected that some efforts of a similar

character have failed. For instance, co-operative enterprises in

farming have not succeeded.

True, but so far as I can ascertain, nothing of the character I am

describing has ever been attempted. A large number of Socialistic

communities have been established and come to grief in the United

States, in Germany, and elsewhere, but they have all, both in principle

and practice, strikingly differed from what we are proposing here:

Take one particular alone, the great bulk of these societies have not

only been fashioned without any regard to the principles of

Christianity, but, in the vast majority of instances, have been in

direct opposition to them; and the only communities based on

co-operative principles that have survived the first few months of

their existence have been based upon Christian truth. If not absolute

successes, there have been some very remarkable results obtained by

efforts partaking somewhat of the nature of the one I am setting forth.

(See that of Ralahine, described in Appendix.)

VIII.--It is further objected that it would be impossible to maintain

order and enforce good discipline amongst this class of people.

We are of just the opposite opinion. We think that it would --nay,

we are certain of it, and we speak as those who have had considerable

experience in dealing with the lower classes of Society.

We have already dealt with this difficulty. We may say further--

That we do not propose to commence with a thousand people in a wild,

untamed state, either at home or abroad. To the Colony Over-Sea we

should send none but those who have had a long period of training in

this country. The bulk of those sent to the Provincial Farm would have

had some sort of trial in the different City Establishments. We should

only draft them on to the Estate in small numbers, as we were prepared

to deal with them, and I am quite satisfied that without the legal

methods of maintaining order that are acted upon so freely in

workhouses and other similar institutions, we should have as perfect

obedience to Law, as great respect for authority, and as strong a

spirit of kindness pervading all ranks throughout the whole of the

community as could be found in any other institution in the land.

It will be borne in mind that our Army system of government largely

prepares us, if it does not qualify us, for this task. Anyway, it

gives us a good start. All our people are trained in habits of

obedience, and all our Officers are educated in the exercise of

authority. The Officers throughout the Colony would be almost

exclusively recruited from the ranks of the Army, and everyone of them

would go to the work, both theoretically and practically, familiar with

those principles which are the essence of good discipline.

Then we can argue, and that very forcibly, from the actual experience

we have already had in dealing with this class. Take our experience in

the Army itself. Look at the order of our Soldiers. Here are men and

women, who have no temporal interest whatever at stake, receiving no

remuneration, often sacrificing their earthly interests by their union

with us, and yet see how they fall into line, and obey orders in the

promptest manner, even when such orders go right in the teeth of their

temporal interests.

"Yes," it will be replied by some, "this is all very excellent so far

as it relates to those who are altogether of your own way of thinking.

You can command them as you please, and they will obey, but what proof

have you given of your ability to control and discipline those who are

not of your way of thinking?

"You can do that with your Salvationists because they are saved, as you

call it. When men are born again you can do anything with them.

But unless you convert all the denizens of Darkest England, what chance

is there that they will be docile to your discipline? If they were

soundly saved no doubt something might be done. But they are not

saved, soundly or otherwise; they are lost. What reason have you for

believing that they will be amenable to discipline?"

I admit the force of this objection; but I have an answer, and an

answer which seems to me complete. Discipline, and that of the most

merciless description, is enforced upon multitudes of these people even

now. Nothing that the most authoritative organisation of industry

could devise in the excess of absolute power, could for a moment

compare with the slavery enforced to-day in the dens of the sweater.

It is not a choice between liberty and discipline that confronts these

unfortunates, but between discipline mercilessly enforced by starvation

and inspired by futile greed, and discipline accompanied with regular

rations and administered solely for their own benefit. What liberty is

there for the tailors who have to sew for sixteen to twenty hours a

day, in a pest-hole, in order to earn ten shillings a week?

There is no discipline so brutal as that of the sweater; there is no

slavery so relentless as that from which we seek to deliver the

victims. Compared with their normal condition of existence, the most

rigorous discipline which would be needed to secure the complete

success of any new individual organisation would be an escape from

slavery into freedom.

You may reply, "that it might be so, if people understood their own

interest. But as a matter of fact they do not understand it, and that

they will never have sufficient far-sightedness to appreciate the

advantages that are offered them."

To this I answer, that here also I do not speak from theory.

I lay before you the ascertained results of years of experience.

More than two years ago, moved by the misery and despair of the

unemployed, I opened the Food and Shelter Depots in London already

described. Here are a large number of men every night, many of them of

the lowest type of casuals who crawl about the streets, a certain

proportion criminals, and about as difficult a class to manage as I

should think could be got together, and while there will be 200 of them

in a single building night after night, from the first opening of the

doors in the evening until the last man has departed in the morning,

there shall scarcely be a word of dissatisfaction; anyway, nothing in

the shape of angry temper or bad language. No policemen are required;

indeed two or three nights' experience will be sufficient to turn the

regular frequenters of the place of their own free will into Officers

of Order, glad not only to keep the regulations of the place, but to

enforce its discipline upon others.

Again, every Colonist, whether in the City or elsewhere, would know

that those who took the interests of the Colony to heart, were loyal to

its authority and principles, and laboured industriously in promoting

its interests, would be rewarded accordingly by promotion to positions

of influence and authority, which would also carry with them temporal

advantages, present and prospective.

But one of our main hopes would be in the apprehension by the Colonists

of the fact that all our efforts were put forth on their behalf.

Every man and woman on the place would know that this enterprise was

begun and carried on solely for their benefit, and that of the other

members of their class, and that only their own good behaviour and

co-operation would ensure their reaping a personal share in such

benefit. Still our expectations would be largely based on the creation

of a spirit of unselfish interest in the community.

IX. Again, it is objected that the Scheme is too vast to be attempted

by voluntary enterprise; it ought to be taken up and carried out by the

Government itself.

Perhaps so, but there is no very near probability of Government

undertaking it, and we are not quite sure whether such an attempt would

prove a success if it were made. But seeing that neither Governments,

nor Society, nor individuals have stood forward to undertake what God

has made appear to us to be so vitally important a work, and as He has

given us the willingness, and in many important senses the ability,

we are prepared, if the financial help is furnished, to make a

determined effort, not only to undertake but to carry it forward to a

triumphant success.

X.--It is objected that the classes we seek to benefit are too

ignorant and depraved for Christian effort, or for effort of any kind,

to reach and reform.--

Look at the tramps, the drunkards, the harlots, the criminals.

How confirmed they are in their idle and vicious habits. It will be

said, indeed has been already said by those with whom I have conversed,

that I don't know them; which statement cannot, I think, be maintained,

for if I don't know them, who does?

I admit, however, that thousands of this class are very far gone from

every sentiment, principle and practice of right conduct. But I argue

that these poor people cannot be much more unfavourable subjects for

the work of regeneration than are many of the savages and heathen

tribes, in the conversion of whom Christians universally believe;

for whom they beg large sums of money, and to whom they send their best

and bravest people.

These poor people are certainly embraced in the Divine plan of mercy.

To their class, the Saviour especially gave His attention when he was

on the earth, and for them He most certainly died on the Cross.

Some of the best examples of Christian faith and practice, and some of

the most successful workers for the benefit of mankind, have sprung

from this class, of which we have instances recorded in the Bible,

and any number in the history of the Church and of the Salvation Army.

It may be objected that while this Scheme would undoubtedly assist one

class of the community by making steady, industrious workmen, it must

thereby injure another class by introducing so many new hands into the

labour market, already so seriously overstocked.

To this we reply that there is certainly an appearance of force in this

objection; but it has, I think, been already answered in the foregoing

pages. Further, if the increase of workers, which this Scheme will

certainly bring about, was the beginning and the end of it, it would

certainly present a somewhat serious aspect. But, even on that

supposition, I don't see how the skilled worker could leave his

brothers to rot in their present wretchedness, though their rescue

should involve the sharing of a portion of his wages.

(1) But there is no such danger, seeing that the number of extra

hands thrown on the British Labour Market must be necessarily

inconsiderable.

(2) The increased production of food in our Farm and Colonial

operations must indirectly benefit the working man.

(3) The taking out of the labour market of a large number of

individuals who at present have only partial work, while benefiting

them, must of necessity afford increased labour to those left

behind.

(4) While every poor workless individual made into a wage earner will

of necessity have increased requirements in proportion.

For instance, the drunkard who has had to manage with a few bricks,

a soap box, and a bundle of rags, will want a chair, a table,

a bed, and at least the other necessary adjuncts to a furnished home,

however sparely fitted up it may be.

There is no question but that when our Colonisation Scheme is fairly

afloat it will drain off, not only many of those who are in the morass,

but a large number who are on the verge of it. Nay, even artisans,

earning what are considered good wages, will be drawn by the desire to

improve their circumstances, or to raise their children under more

favourable surroundings, or from still nobler motives, to leave the old

country. Then it is expected that the agricultural labourer and the

village artisan, who are ever migrating to the great towns and cities,

will give the preference to the Colony Over-Sea, and so prevent that

accumulation of cheap labour which is considered to interfere so

materially with the maintenance of a high wages standard.

SECTION 5. RECAPITULATION.

I have now passed in review the leading features of the Scheme, which I

put forward as one that is calculated to considerably contribute to the

amelioration of the condition of the lowest stratum of our Society.

It in no way professes to be complete in all its details.

Anyone may at any point lay his finger on this, that, or the other

feature of the Scheme, and show some void that must be filled in if it

is to work with effect. There is one thing, however, that can be

safely said in excuse for the short comings of the Scheme, and that is

that if you wait until you get an ideally perfect plan you will have to

wait until the Millennium, and then you will not need it.

My suggestions, crude though they may be, have, nevertheless, one

element that will in time supply all deficiencies. There is life in

them, with life there is the promise and power of adaptation to all the

innumerable and varying circumstances of the class with which we have

to deal. Where there is life there is infinite power of adjustment.

This is no cast-iron Scheme, forged in a single brain and then set up

as a standard to which all must conform. It is a sturdy plant,

which has its roots deep down in the nature and circumstances of men.

Nay, I believe in the very heart of God Himself. It has already grown

much, and will, if duly nurtured and tended, grow still further, until

from it, as from the grain of mustard-seed in the parable, there shall

spring up a great tree whose branches shall overshadow all the earth.

Once more let me say, I claim no patent rights in any part of this

Scheme. Indeed, I do not know what in it is original and what is not.

Since formulating some of the plans, which I had thought were new under

the sun, I have discovered that they have been already tried in

different parts of the world, and that with great promise. It may be

so with others, and in this I rejoice. I plead for no exclusiveness.

The question is much too serious for such fooling as that. Here are

millions of our fellow-creatures perishing amidst the breakers of the

sea of life, dashed to pieces on sharp rocks, sucked under by eddying

whirlpools, suffocated even when they think they have reached land by

treacherous quicksands; to save them from this imminent destruction I

suggest that these things should be done. If you have any better plan

than mine for effecting this purpose, in God's name bring it to the

light and get it carried out quickly. If you have not, then lend me a

hand with mine, as I would be only too glad to lend you a hand with

yours if it had in it greater promise of successful action than mine.

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 shipwrecked 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 pass 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 ass, 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 pass 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 pass the

whole Scheme in its more salient features in review once more.

The Scheme will seek to convey benefit to the destitute classes 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 circumstanced 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 assistance to

help them out of the deep gulf in which they are struggling.

Those who need permanent assistance will be passed 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

assist 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 passed on

to the Over-Sea Colony.

All in circumstances of destitution, vice, or criminality will receive

casual assistance 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 circumstances, 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 aptitude 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

destitution 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 assistance, 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 destitution 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

classes: the 1st, the class 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 class, until sufficiently

improved for advancement, or are pronounced so hopeless as to

justify expulsion.

The 2nd class 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 class 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 masses 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 masses 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 classes 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 Assembly,

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 perishing. 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 assistance 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 institution 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-class 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

pronoun 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 God 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 God, 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

compassion 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 circumstances.

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 morass 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 Pass of Thermopylae.

But the millions of Midas are capable of accomplishing 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 fashion,

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 God 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 tithe, and count

it boredom when we ask only for the crumbs that fall from their tables.

Those who have followed me thus far will decide for themselves to what

extent they ought to help me to carry out this Project, or whether they

ought to help me at all. I do not think that any sectarian differences

or religious feelings whatever ought to be imported into this question.

Supposing you do not like my Salvationism, surely it is better for

these miserable, wretched crowds to have food to eat, clothes to wear,

and a home in which to lay their weary bones after their day's toil is

done, even though the change is accompanied by some peculiar religious

notions and practices, than it would be for them to be hungry,

and naked, and homeless, and possess no religion at all. It must be

infinitely preferable that they should speak the truth, and be

virtuous, industrious, and contented, even if they do pray to God,

sing Psalms, and go about with red jerseys, fanatically, as you call

it, "seeking for the millennium"--than that they should remain

thieves or harlots, with no belief in God at all, a burden to the

Municipality, a curse to Society, and a danger to the State.

That you do not like the Salvation Army, I venture to say, is no

justification for withholding your sympathy and practical co-operation

in carrying out a Scheme which promises so much blessedness to your

fellow-men. You may not like our government, our methods, our faith.

Your feeling towards us might perhaps be duly described by an

observation that slipped unwittingly from the tongue of a somewhat

celebrated leader in the evangelistic world sometime ago, who,

when asked what he thought of the Salvation Army, replied that

"He did not like it at all, but he believed that God Almighty did."

Perhaps, as an agency, we may not be exactly of your way of thinking,

but that is hardly the question. Look at that dark ocean, full of

human wrecks, writhing in anguish and despair. How to rescue those

unfortunates is the question. The particular character of the methods

employed, the peculiar uniforms worn by the lifeboat crew, the noises

made by the rocket apparatus, and the mingled shoutings of the rescued

and the rescuers, may all be contrary to your taste and traditions.

But all these objections and antipathies, I submit, are as nothing

compared with the delivering of the people out of that dark sea.