this scheme is put forward by me from any interested motives by all
means let them refuse to contribute even by a single penny to what
would be, at least, one of the most shameless of shams. There may be
those who are able to imagine that men who have been literally martyred
in this cause have faced their death for the sake of the paltry coppers
they collected to keep body and soul together. Such may possibly find
no difficulty in persuading themselves that this is but another attempt
to raise money to augment that mythical fortune which I, who never yet
drew a penny beyond mere out-of-pocket expenses from the Salvation Army
funds, am supposed to be accumulating. From all such I ask only the
tribute of their abuse, assured that the worst they say of me is too
mild to describe the infamy of my conduct if they are correct in this
interpretation of my motives.
There appears to me to be only two reasons that will justify any man,
with a heart in his bosom, in refusing to co-operate with me in this
Scheme: --
1. That he should have an honest and intelligent conviction that it
cannot be carried out with any reasonable measure of success; or,
2. That he (the objector) is prepared with some other plan which will
as effectually accomplish the end it contemplates.
Let me consider the second reason first. If it be that you have some
plan that promises more directly to accomplish the deliverance of these
multitudes than mine, I implore you at once to bring it out.
Let it see the light of day. Let us not only hear your theory,
but see the evidences which prove its practical character and assure
its success. If your plan will bear investigation, I shall then
consider you to be relieved from the obligation to assist me--nay,
if after full consideration of your plan I find it better than mine,
I will give up mine, turn to, and help you with all my might.
But if you have nothing to offer, I demand your help in the name of
those whose cause I plead.
Now, then, for your first objection, which I suppose can be expressed
in one word--"impossible." This, if well founded, is equally fatal to
my proposals. But, in reply, I may say--How do you know?
Have you inquired? I will assume that you have read the book, and duly
considered it. Surely you would not dismiss so important a theme
without some thought. And though my arguments may not have sufficient
weight to carry conviction, you must admit them to be of sufficient
importance to warrant investigation. Will you therefore come and see
for yourself what has been done already, or, rather, what we are doing
to-day. Failing this, will you send someone capable of judging on your
behalf. I do not care very much whom you send. It is true the things
of the Spirit are spiritually discerned, but the things of humanity any
man can judge, whether saint or sinner, if he only possess average
intelligence and ordinary bowels of compassion.
I should, however, if I had a choice, prefer an investigator who has
some practical knowledge of social economics, and much more should I be
pleased if he had spent some of his own time and a little of his own
money in trying to do the work himself. After such investigation I am
confident there could be only one result.
There is one more plea I have to offer to those who might seek to
excuse themselves from rendering any financial assistance to the
Scheme. Is it not worthy at least of being tried as an experiment?
Tens of thousands of pounds are yearly spent in "trying" for minerals,
boring for coals, sinking for water, and I believe there are those who
think it worth while, at an expenditure of hundreds of thousands of
pounds, to experiment in order to test the possibility of making a
tunnel under the sea between this country and France. Should these
adventurers fail in their varied operations, they have, at least, the
satisfaction of knowing, though hundreds of thousands of pounds have
been expended, that they have not been wasted, and they will not
complain; because they have at least attempted the accomplishment of
that which they felt ought to be done; and it must be better to attempt
a duty, though we fail, than never to attempt it at all. In this book
we do think we have presented a sufficient reason to justify the
expenditure of the money and effort involved in the making of this
experiment. And though the effort should not terminate in the grand
success which I so confidently predict, and which we all must so
ardently desire, still there is bound to be, not only the satisfaction
of having attempted some sort of deliverance for these wretched people,
but certain results which will amply repay every farthing expended in
the experiment.
I am now sixty-one years of age. The last eighteen months, during
which the continual partner of all my activities for now nearly forty
years has laid in the arms of unspeakable suffering, has added more
than many many former ones, to the exhaustion of my term of service.
I feel already something of the pressure which led the dying Emperor of
Germany to say, "I have no time to be weary." If I am to see the
accomplishment in any considerable degree of these life-long hopes,
I must be enabled to embark up on the enterprise without delay, and
with the world-wide burden constantly upon me in connection with the
universal mission of our Army I cannot be expected to struggle in this
matter alone.
But I trust that the upper and middle classes are at last being
awakened out of their long slumber with regard to the permanent
improvement of the lot of those who have hitherto been regarded as
being for ever abandoned and hopeless. Shame indeed upon England if,
with the example presented to us nowadays by the Emperor and Government
of Germany, we simply shrug our shoulders, and pass on again to our
business or our pleasure leaving these wretched multitudes in the
gutters where they have lain so long. No, no, no; time is short.
Let us arise in the name of God and humanity, and wipe away the sad
stigma from the British banner that our horses are better treated than
our labourers.
It will be seen that this Scheme contains many branches.
It is probable that some of my readers may not be able to endorse the
plan as a whole, while heartily approving of some of its features and
to the support of what they do not heartily approve they may not be
willing to subscribe. Where this is so, we shall be glad for them to
assist us in carrying out those portions of the undertaking which more
especially command their sympathy and commend themselves to their
judgment. For instance, one man may believe in the Over-Sea Colony,
but feel no interest in the Inebriates' Home; another, who may not care
for emigration, may desire to furnish a Factory or Rescue Home; a third
may wish to give us an estate, assist in the Food and Shelter work, or
the extension of the Slum Brigade. Now, although I regard the Scheme
as one and indivisible--from which you cannot take away any portion
without impairing the prospect of the whole--it is quite practicable
to administer the money subscribed so that the wishes of each donor may
be carried out. Subscriptions may, therefore, be sent in for the
general fund of the Social Scheme, or they can be devoted to any of the
following distinct funds: --
1. The City Colony.
2. The Farm Colony.
3. The Colony Over-sea.
4. The Household Salvage Brigade.
5. The Rescue Homes for Fallen Women.
6. Deliverance for the Drunkard.
7. The Prison Gate Brigade.
8. The Poor Man's Bank.
9. The Poor Man's Lawyer.
10. Whitechapel-by-the-Sea.
Or any other department suggested by the foregoing. In making this
appeal I have, so far, addressed myself chiefly to those who have
money; but money, indispensable as it is, has never been the thing most
needful. Money is the sinews of war; and, as society is at present
constituted, neither carnal nor spiritual wars can be carried on
without money. But there is something more necessary still.
War cannot be waged without soldiers. A Wellington can do far more in
a campaign than a Rothschild. More than money--a long, long way--
I want men; and when I say men, I mean women also--men of experience,
men of brains, men of heart, and men of God.
In this great expedition, though I am starting for territory which is
familiar enough, I am, in a certain sense, entering an unknown land.
My people will be new at it. We have trained our soldiers to the
saving of souls, we have taught them Knee-drill, we have instructed
them in the art and mystery of dealing with the consciences and hearts
of men; and that will ever continue the main business of their lives.
To save the soul, to regenerate the life, and to inspire the spirit
with the undying love of Christ is the work to which all other duties
must ever be strictly subordinate in the Soldiers of the Salvation
Army. But the new sphere on which we are entering will call for
faculties other than those which have hitherto been cultivated,
and for knowledge of a different character; and those who have these
gifts, and who are possessed of this practical information, will be
sorely needed.
Already our world-wide Salvation work engrosses the energies of every
Officer whom we command. With its extension we have the greatest
difficulty to keep pace; and, when this Scheme has to be practically
grappled with, we shall be in greater straits than ever. True, it will
find employment for a multitude of energies and talents which are now
lying dormant, but, nevertheless, this extension will tax our resources
to the very utmost. In view of this, reinforcements will be
indispensable. We shall need the best brains, the largest experience,
and the most undaunted energy of the community.
I want Recruits, but I cannot soften the conditions in order to attract
men to the Colours. I want no comrades on these terms, but those who
know our rules and are prepared to submit to our discipline: who are
one with us on the great principles which determine our action,
and whose hearts are in this great work for the amelioration of the
hard lot of the lapsed and lost. These I will welcome to the service.
It may be that you cannot deliver an open-air address, or conduct an
indoor meeting. Public labour for souls has hitherto been outside your
practice. In the Lord's vineyard, however, are many labourers,
and all are not needed to do the same thing. If you have a practical
acquaintance with any of the varied operations of which I have spoken
in this book; if you are familiar with agriculture, understand the
building trade, or have a practical knowledge of almost any form of
manufacture, there is a place for you.
We cannot offer you great pay, social position, or any glitter and
tinsel of man's glory; in fact, we can promise little more than
rations, plenty of hard work, and probably no little of worldly scorn;
but if on the whole you believe you can in no other way help your Lord
so well and bless humanity so much, you will brave the opposition of
friends, abandon earthly prospects, trample pride under foot, and come
out and follow Him in this New Crusade.
To you who believe in the remedy here proposed, and the soundness of
these plans, and have the ability to assist me, I now confidently
appeal for practical evidence of the faith that is in you.
The responsibility is no longer mine alone. It is yours as much as
mine. It is yours even more than mine if you withhold the means by
which I may carry out the Scheme. I give what I have.
If you give what you have the work will be done. If it is not done,
and the dark river of wretchedness rolls on, as wide and deep as ever,
the consequences will lie at the door of him who holds back.
I am only one man among my fellows, the same as you. The obligation to
care for these lost and perishing multitudes does not rest on me any
more than it does on you. To me has been given the idea, but to you
the means by which it may be realised. The Plan has now been published
to the world; it is for you to say whether it is to remain barren,
or whether it is to bear fruit in unnumbered blessings to all the
children of men.
APPENDIX
1. The Salvation Army--A Sketch--The Position of the Forces,
October, 1890.
2. Circular, Registration Forms, and Notices now issued by the
Labour Bureau.
3. Count Rumford's Bavarian Experience.
4. The Co-operative Experiment at Ralahine.
5. Mr Carlyle on the Regimenation of the Out-of-Works.
6. "Christianity and Civilization," by the Rev. Dr. Barry.
THE SALVATION ARMY
The position of our forces. October, 1890.
Corps or Outposts Officers or persons
Societies wholly engaged in
the work.
The United Kingdom ... 1375 --- 4506
France ... ... ) 106 72 352
Switzerland ... )
Sweden ... ... ... 103 41 328
United States ... ... 363 57 1066
Canada ... ... ... 317 78 1021
Australia--
Victoria ... ...)
South Australia )
New South Wales ) 270 465 903
Tasmania ... ...)
Queensland ...)
New Zeland ... ... 65 99 186
India ... ... ...) 80 51 419
Ceylon ... ...)
Holland ... ... 40 8 131
Denmark ... ... 33 -- 87
Norway ... ... 45 7 132
Germany ... ... 16 6 75
Belgium ... ... 4 -- 21
Finland ... ... 3 -- 12
The Argentine Republic 2 -- 15
South Africa & St Helena 52 12 162
---- ---- ----
Total abroad 1499 896 4910
---- ---- ----
Grand total 2874 896 9416
THE SUPPLY ("TRADE") DEPARTMENT At Home. Abroad
Buildings occupied ... ... ... 8 22
Officers ... ... ... ... ... 53 15
Employes ... ... ... ... ... 207 55
--- ---
Total 260 70
THE PROPERTY DEPARTMENT.
Property now Vested in the Army;--
The United Kingdom ... ... ... #377,500
France and Switzerland ... ... 10,000
Sweden ... ... ... ... ... 13,598
Norway ... ... ... ... ... 11,676
The United States ... ... ... 6,601
Canada ... ... ... ... ... 98,728
Australia ... ... ... ... ... 86,251
New Zealand ... ... ... ... 14,798
India ... ... ... ... ... 5,537
Holland ... ... ... ... ... 7,188
Denmark ... ... ... ... ... 2,340
South Africa ... ... ... ... 10,401
--------
Total #644,618
--------
Value of trade effects, stock, machinery, and goods on hand,
#130,000 additional.
SOCIAL WORK OF THE ARMY.
Rescue homes (fallen women) ... ... 33
Slum Posts ... ... ... ... ... 33
Prison Gate Brigades ... ... ... 10
Food Depots ... ... ... ... ... 4
Shelters for the Destitute ... ... 5
Inebriates Home ... ... ... ... 1
Factory for the "out of work" ... 1
Labour Bureaux ... ... ... ... 2
Officers and others managing those branches 384
SALVATION AND SOCIAL REFORM LITERATURE
At home. Abroad Circulation
Weekly Newspapers ... 3 24 31,000,000
Monthly Magazines ... 3 12 2,400,000
-- --- -----------
Total 6 36 33,400,000
-- --- -----------
Total annual circulation of the above 33,400,000
Total annual circulation of other publications 4,000,000
-----------
Total annual circulation of Army literature 37,400,000
-----------
The United Kingdom--
"The War Cry" 300,000 weekly
"The Young Soldier" 126,750 weekly
"All the World" 50,000 monthly
"The Deliverer" 48,000 monthly
GENERAL STATEMENTS AND STATISTICS.
Accommodation Annual cost.
Training Garrisons for Officers
(United Kingdom) 28 #11,500
(Abroad) 38 760
Large Vans for Evangelising the Villages
(known as Cavalry Forts)
Homes of Rest for Officers 24 240 10,000
Indoor Meetings, held weekly 28,351
Open-air Meetings held weekly
(chiefly in England and Colonies) 21,467
-------
Total Meetings held weekly 49,818
-------
Number of Houses visited weekly
(Great Britain only) 54,000
Number of Countries and Colonies occupied
Number of Languages in which Literature is issued 15
Number of Languages in which Salvation is preached
by the Officers 29
Number of Local (Non-Commissioned Officers)
and Bandsman 23,069
Number of Scribes and Office Employes 471
Average weekly reception of telegrams, 600
and letters, 5,400 at the London Headquarters
Sum raised annually from all sources by the Army #750,000
Balance Sheets, duly audited by chartered accountants, are issued
annually in connection with the International Headquarters.
See the Annual Report of 1889--"Apostolic Warfare."
Balance Sheets are also produced quarterly at every Corps in the world,
audited and signed by the Local Officers. Divisional Balance Sheets
issued monthly and audited by a Special Department at Headquarters.
Duly and independently audited Balance Sheets are also issued annually
from every Territorial Headquarters.
THE AUXILIARY LEAGUE.
1.--Of persons who, without necessarily endorsing or approving of
every single method used by thee Salvation Army, are sufficiently in
sympathy with its great work of reclaiming drunkards, rescuing the
fallen--in a word, saving the lost--as to give it their PRAYERS,
INFLUENCE, AND MONEY.
2.--Of persons who, although seeing eye to eye with the Army, yet are
unable to join it, owing to being actively engaged in the work of their
own denominations, or by reason of bad health or other infirmities,
which forbid their taking any active part in Christian work.
Persons are enrolled either as Subscribing or Collecting Auxiliaries.
The League comprises persons of influence and position, members of
nearly all denominations, and many ministers.
PAMPHLETS.--Auxiliaries will always be supplied gratis with copies of
our Annual Report and Balance Sheet and other pamphlets for
distribution on application to Headquarters. Some of our Auxiliaries
have materially helped us in this way by distributing our literature at
the seaside and elsewhere, and by making arrangements for the regular
supply of waiting rooms, hydropathics, and hotels, thus helping to
dispel the prejudice under which many persons unacquainted with the
Army are found to labour.
"All The World" posted free regularly each month to Auxiliaries.
For further information, and for full particulars of the work of The
Salvation Army, apply personally or by letter to GENERAL BOOTH,.
or to the Financial Secretary at International Headquarters,
101, Queen Victoria St., London, E.C., to whom also contributions
should be sent.
Cheques and Postal Orders crossed "City Bank."
THE SALVATION ARMY: A SKETCH.
BY AN OFFICER OF SEVENTEEN YEARS' STANDING. What is the Salvation Army?
It is an Organisation existing to effect a radical revolution in the
spiritual condition of the enormous majority of the people of all
lands. Its aim is to produce a change not only in the opinions,
feelings, and principles of these vast populations, but to alter the
whole course of their lives, so that instead of spending their time in
frivolity and pleasure-seeking, if not in the grossest forms of vice,
they shall spend it in the service of their generation and in the
worship of God. So far it has mainly operated in professedly Christian
countries, where the overwhelming majority of the people have ceased,
publicly, at any rate, to worship Jesus Christ, or to submit themselves
in any way to His authority. To what extent has the Army succeeded?
Its flag is now flying in 34 countries or colonies, where under the
leadership of nearly 10,000 men and women, whose lives are entirely
given up to the work, it is holding some 49,800 religious meetings
every week, attended by millions of persons, who ten years ago would
have laughed at the idea of praying.
And these operations are but the means for further extension,
as will be seen, especially when it is remembered that the Army has
its 27 weekly newspapers, of which no less than 31,000,000 copies are
sold in the streets, public houses, and popular resorts of the
godless majority. From its, ranks it is therefore certain that an
ever-increasing multitude of men and women must eventually be won.
That all this has not amounted to the creation of a mere passing gust
of feeling, may best be demonstrated perhaps from the fact that the
Army has accumulated no less than #775,000 worth of property,
pays rentals amounting to #220,000 per annum for its meeting places,
and has a total income from all sources of three-quarters of a million
per annum. Now consider from whence all this has sprung.
It is only twenty-five years since the author of this volume stood
absolutely alone in the East of London, to endeavour to Christianise
its irreligious multitudes, without the remotest conception in his own
mind of the possibility of any such Organisation being created.
Consider, moreover, through what opposition the Salvation Army has ever
had to make its way.
In each country it has to face universal prejudice, distrust,
and contempt, and often stronger antipathy still. This opposition has
generally found expression in systematic, Governmental, and Police
restriction, followed in too many cases by imprisonment, and by the
condemnatory outpourings of Bishops, Clergy, Pressmen and others,
naturally followed in too many instances by the oaths and curses,
the blows and insults of the populace. Through all this, in country
after country, the Army makes its way to the position of universal
respect, that respect, at any rate, which is shown to those who have
conquered. And of what material has this conquering host been made?
Wherever the Army goes it gathers into its meetings, in the first
instance, a crowd of the most debased, brutal, blasphemous elements
that can be found who, if permitted, interrupt the services,
and if they see the slightest sign of police tolerance for their
misconduct, frequently fall upon the Army officers or their property
with violence. Yet a couple of Officers face such an audience with the
absolute certainty of recruiting out of it an Army Corps.
Many thousands of those who are now most prominent in the ranks of the
Army never knew what it was to pray before they attended its services;
and large numbers of them had settled into a profound conviction that
everything connected with religion was utterly false. It is out of such
material that God has constructed what is admitted to be one of the
most fervid bodies of believers ever seen on the face of the earth.
Many persons in looking at the progress of the Army have shown a
strange want of discernment in talking and writing as though all this
had been done in a most haphazard fashion, or as though an individual
could by the mere effort of his will produce such changes in the lives
of others as he chose. The slightest reflection will be sufficient we
are sure to convince any impartial individual that the gigantic results
attained by the Salvation Army could only be reached by steady
unaltering processes adapted to this end. And what are the processes by
which this great Army has been made?
1. The foundation of all the Army's success, looked at apart from its
divine source of strength, is its continued direct attack upon those
whom it seeks to bring under the influence of the Gospel.
The Salvation Army Officer, instead of standing upon some dignified
pedestal, to describe the fallen condition of his fellow men, in the
hope that though far from him, they may thus, by some mysterious
process, come to a better life, goes down into the street, and from
door to door, and from room to room, lays his hands on those who are
spiritually sick, and leads them to the Almighty Healer. In its forms of
speech and writing the Army constantly exhibits this same characteristic.
Instead of propounding religious theories or pretending to teach a
system of theology, it speaks much after the fashion of the old Prophet
or Apostle, to each individual, about his or her sin and duty, thus
bringing to bear upon each heart and conscience the light and power
from heaven, by which alone the world can be transformed.
2. And step by step, along with this human contact goes unmistakably
something that is not human.
The puzzlement and self-contradiction of most critics of the Army
springs undoubtedly from the fact that they are bound to account for
its success without admitting that any superhuman power attends its
ministry, yet day after day, and night after night, the wonderful facts
go on multiplying. The man who last night was drunk in a London slum,
is to-night standing up for Christ on an Army platform. The clever
sceptic, who a few weeks ago was interrupting the speakers in Berlin,
and pouring contempt upon their claims to a personal knowledge of the
unseen Saviour, is to-day as thorough a believer as any of them.
The poor girl, lost to shame and hope, who a month ago was an outcast
of Paris, is to-day a modest devoted follower of Christ, working in a
humble situation. To those who admit we are right in saying
"this is the Lord's doing," all is simple enough, and our certainty
that the dregs of Society can become its ornaments requires no further
explanation.
3. All these modern miracles would, however, have been comparatively
useless but for the Army's system of utilising the gifts and energy of
our converts to the uttermost. Suppose that without any claim to Divine
power the Army had succeeded in raising up tens of thousands of
persons, formerly unknown and unseen in the community, and made them
into Singers, Speakers, Musicians, and Orderlies, that would surely in
itself have been a remarkable fact. But not only have these engaged in
various labours for the benefit of the community. They have been filled
with a burning ambition to attain the highest possible degree of
usefulness. No one can wonder that we expect to see the same process
carried on successfully amongst our new friends of the Casual Ward and
the Slum. And if the Army has been able to accomplish all this
utilisation of human talents for the highest purposes, in spite of an
almost universally prevailing contrary practice amongst the Churches,
what may not its Social Wing be expected to do, with the example of the
Army before it?
4. The maintenance of all this system has, of course, been largely due
to the unqualified acceptance of military government and discipline.
But for this we cannot be blind to the fact that even in our own ranks
difficulties would every day arise as to the exaltation to front seats
of those who were formerly persecutors and injurious. The old feeling
which would have kept Paul suspected, in the background, after his
conversion is, unfortunately, a part of the conservative groundwork of
human nature that continues to exist everywhere, and which has to be
overcome by rigid discipline in order to secure that everywhere and
always, the new convert should be made the most of for Christ.
But our Army system is a great indisputable fact, so much so that our
enemies sometimes reproach us with it. That it should be possible to
create an Army Organisation, and to secure faithful execution of duty
daily is indeed a wonder, but a wonder accomplished, just as completely
amongst the Republicans of America and France, as amongst the
militarily trained Germans, or the subjects of the British monarchy.
It is notorious that we can send an officer from London, possessed of
no extraordinary ability, to take command of any corps in the world,
with a certainty that he will find soldiers eager to do his bidding,
and without a thought of disputing his commands, so long as he
continues faithful to the orders and regulations under which his men
are enlisted.
5. But those show a curious ignorance who set down our successes to
this discipline, as though it were something of the prison order,
although enforced without any of the power lying either behind the
prison warder or the Catholic priest. On the contrary, wherever the
discipline of the Army has been endangered, and its regular success for
a time interrupted, it has been through an attempt to enforce it
without enough of that joyous, cheerful spirit of love which is its
main spring. Nobody can become acquainted with our soldiers in any
land, without being almost immediately struck with their extraordinary
gladness, and this joy is in itself one of the most infectious and
influential elements of the Army's success. But if this be so, amid the
comparatively well to do, judge of what its results are likely to be
amongst the poorest and most wretched! To those who have never known
bright days, the mere sight of a happy face is as it were a revelation
and inspiration in one.
6. But the Army's success does not come with magical rapidity;
it depends, like that of all real work, upon infinite perseverance.
To say nothing of the perseverance of the Officer who has made the
saving of men his life work, and who, occupied and absorbed with this
great pursuit, may naturally enough be expected to remain faithful,
there are multitudes of our Soldiers who, after a hard day's toil for
their daily bread, have but a few hours of leisure, but devote it
ungrudgingly to the service of the War. Again and again, when the
remains of some Soldier are laid to rest, amid the almost universal
respect of a town, which once knew him only as an evil-doer, we hear it
said that this man, since the date of his conversion, from five to ten
years ago, has seldom been absent from his post, and never without good
reason for it. His duty may have been comparatively insignificant,
"only a door-keeper," "only a War Cry seller," yet Sunday after Sunday,
evening after evening, he would be present, no matter who the
commanding officer might be, to do his part, bearing with the unruly,
breathing hope into the distressed, and showing unwavering faithfulness
to all. The continuance of these processes of mercy depends largely
upon leadership, and the creation and maintenance of this leadership
has been one of the marvels of the Movement. We have men to-day looked
up to and reverenced over wide areas of country, arousing multitudes to
the most devoted service, who a few years ago were champions of
iniquity, notorious in nearly every form of vice, and some of them
ringleaders in violent opposition to the Army. We have a right to
believe that on the same lines God is going to raise up just such
leaders without measure and without end.
Beneath, behind, and pervading all the successes of the Salvation Army
is a force against which the world may sneer, but without which the
world's miseries cannot be removed, the force of that Divine love which
breathed on Calvary, and which God is able to communicate by His spirit
to human hearts to-day.
It is pitiful to see intelligent men attempting to account, without the
admission of this great fact, for the self-sacrifice and success of
Salvation Officers and Soldiers. If those who wish to understand the
Army would only take the trouble to spend as much as twenty-four hours
with its people, how different in almost every instance would be the
conclusions arrived at. Half-an-hour spent in the rooms inhabited by
many of our officers would be sufficient to convince, even a well-to-do
working man, that life could not be lived happily in such circumstances
without some superhuman power, which alike sustains and gladdens the
soul, altogether independently of earthly surroundings.
The Scheme that has been propounded in this volume would, we are quite
satisfied, have no chance of success were it not for the fact that we
have such a vast supply of men and women who, through the love of
Christ ruling in their hearts, are prepared to look upon a life of
self-sacrificing effort for the benefit of the vilest and roughest as
the highest of privileges. With such a force at command, we dare to say
that the accomplishment of this stupendous undertaking is a foregone
conclusion, if the material assistance which the Army does not possess
is forthcoming.
THE SALVATION ARMY SOCIAL REFORM WING.
Temporary Headquarters 36, UPPER THAMES STREET, LONDON, E.C.
OBJECTS.--The bringing together of employers and workers for their
mutual advantage. Making known the wants of each to each by providing a
ready method of communication.
PLAN OF OPERATION.--The Opening of a Central Registry Office,
which for the present will be located at the above address,
and where registers will be kept free of charge wherein the wants of
both employers and workers will be recorded, the registers being open
for consultation by all interested.
Public Waiting Rooms (for male and female), to which the unemployed may
come for the purpose of scanning the newspapers, the insertion of
advertisements for employment in all newspapers at lowest rates.
Writing tables, &c., provided for their use to enable them to write
applications for situations on work. The receiving of letters
(replies to applications for employment) for unemployed workers.
The Waiting Rooms will also act as Houses-of-Call, where employers
can meet and enter into engagements with Workers of all kinds,
by appointment or otherwise, thus doing away with the snare
that awaits many of the unemployed, who have no place to wait other
than the Public House, which at present is almost the only
"house-of-call" for Out-of-Work men.
By making known to the public generally the wants of the unemployed
by means of advertisements, by circulars, and direct application to
employers, the issue of labour statistics with information as to the
number of unemployed who are anxious for work, the various trades and
occupations they represent, &c., &c.
The opening of branches of the Labour Bureau as fast as funds and
opportunities permit, in all the large towns and centres of industry
throughout Great Britain.
In connection with the Labour Bureau, we propose to deal with both
skilled and unskilled workers, amongst the latter forming such agencies
as "Sandwich" Board Men's Society, Shoe Black, Carpet Beating,
White-washing, Window Cleaning, Wood Chopping, and other Brigades,
all of which will, with many others, be put into operation as far as
the assistance of the public (in the shape of applying for workers of
all kinds) will afford us the opportunity.
A Domestic Servants' Agency will also be a branch of the Bureau,
and a Home For Domestic Servants out of situation is also in
contemplation. In this and other matters funds alone are required to
commence operations. All communications, donations, etc., should be
addressed as above, marked "Labour Bureau," etc.
CENTRAL LABOUR BUREAU. LOCAL AGENTS AND CORRESPONDENTS' DEPARTMENT.
Dear Comrade,--The enclosed letter, which has been sent to our
Officers throughout the Field, will explain the object we have in view.
Your name has been suggested to us as one whose heart is thoroughly in
sympathy with any effort on behalf of poor suffering humanity.
We are anxious to have in connection with each of our Corps,
and in every locality throughout the Kingdom, some sympathetic,
level-headed comrade, acting as our Agent or local Correspondent,
to whom we could refer at all times for reliable information,
and who would take it as work of love to regularly communicate useful
information respecting the social condition of things generally in
their neighbourhood.
Kindly reply, giving us your views and feelings on the subject as soon
as possible, as we are anxious to organise at once. The first business
on hand is for us to get information of those out of work and employers
requiring workers, so that we can place them upon our registers,
and make known the wants both of employers and employes.
We shall be glad of a communication from you, giving us some facts as
to the condition of things in your locality, or any ideas or
suggestions you would like to give, calculated to help us in connection
with this good work.
I may say that the Social Wing not only comprehends the labour
question, but also prison rescue and other branches of Salvation work,
dealing with broken-down humanity generally, so that you can see what a
great blessing you may be to the work of God by co-operating with us.
Believe me to be, Yours affectionately for the Suffering and Lost, etc.
LOCAL AGENTS AND CORRESPONDENTS DEPARTMENT.
Proposition for local agent, correspondent, etc.
Name...................................................................
Address................................................................
Occupation.............................................................
If a Soldier, what Corps?..............................................
If not a Soldier, what Denomination?...................................
If spoken to on the subject, what reply they have made?................
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
Signed.....................................................
Corps......................................................
Date............................ 189 .
Kindly return this as soon as possible, and we will then place
ourselves in communication with the Comrade you propose for this
position.
TO EMPLOYERS OF LABOUR.
We beg to bring to your notice the fact that the Salvation Army has
opened at the above address (in connection with the Social Reform Wing),
a Labour Bureau for the Registration of the wants of all classes
of Labour, for both employer and employe in London and throughout the
Kingdom, our object being to place in communication with each other,
for mutual advantage, those who want workers and those who want work.
Arrangements have been made at the above address for waiting rooms,
where employers can see unemployed men and women, and where the latter
may have accommodation to write letters, see the advertisements in the
papers, &c., &c.
If you are in want of workers of any kind, will you kindly fill up the
enclosed form and return it to us? We will then have the particulars
entered up, and endeavour to have your wants supplied.
All applications, I need hardly assure you, will have our best attention,
whether they refer to work of a permanent or temporary character.
We shall also be glad, through the information office of Labour
Department, to give you any further information as to our plans, &c.,
or an Officer will wait upon you to receive instructions for the supply
of workers, if requested.
As no charge will be made for registration of either the wants of
employers or the wants of the unemployed, it will be obvious that a
considerable outlay will be necessary to sustain these operations in
active usefulness, and that therefore financial help will be greatly
needed.
We shall gratefully receive donations, from the smallest coin up,
to help to cover the cost of working this department. We think it right
to say that only in special cases shall we feel at liberty to give
personal recommendations. This however, will no doubt be understood,
seeing that we shall have to deal with very large numbers who are
total strangers to us. Please address all communications or donations
as above, marked "Central Labour Bureau," etc.
WE PROPOSE TO ENTER UPON A CRUSADE AGAINST "SWEATING." WILL YOU HELP US?
Dear Sir,--in connection with the Social Reform Wing a Central Labour
Bureau has been opened, one department of which will deal especially
with that class of labour termed "unskilled," from amongst whom are
drawn BOARDMEN, MESSENGERS, BILL DISTRIBUTORS, CIRCULAR ADDRESSERS,
WINDOW CLEANERS, WHITE-WASHERS, CARPET BEATERS, &C., &C.
It is very important that work given to these workers and others not
enumerated, should be taxed as little as possible by the Contractor,
or those who act between the employer and the worker.
In all our operations in this capacity we do not propose to make profit
out of those we benefit; paying over the whole amount received, less
say one halfpenny in the shilling, or some such small sum which will go
towards the expense of providing boards for "sandwich" boardmen, the
hire of barrows, purchase of necessary tools, &c., &c.
We are very anxious to help that most needy class, the "boardmen," many
of whom are "sweated" out of their miserable earnings; receiving often
as low as one shilling for a day's toil.
WE APPEAL TO ALL WHO SYMPATHISE WITH SUFFERING HUMANITY, especially
Religious and Philanthropic individuals and Societies, to assist us in
our efforts, by placing orders for the supply of Boardmen, Messengers,
Bill-distributors, Window-cleaners and other kinds of labour in our
hands. Our charge for "boardmen" will be 2s. 2d., including boards, the
placing and proper supervision of the men, &c. Two shillings, at least,
will go direct to the men; most of the hirers of boardmen pay this, and
some even more, but often not more than one-half reaches the men.
We shall be glad to forward you further information of our plans,
or will send a representative to further explain, or to take orders,
on receiving notice from you to that effect.
Believe me to be,
Yours faithfully, etc.
CENTRAL LABOUR BUREAU.
TO THE UNEMPLOYED.--MALE AND FEMALE.
NOTICE.
A Free Registry, for all kinds of unemployed labour, has been opened at
the above address. If you want work, call and make yourself and your
wants known. Enter your name and address and wants on the Registers, or
fill up form below, and hand it in at above address. Look over the
advertising pages of the papers provided. Tables with pens and ink are
provided for you to write for situations. If you live at a distance,
fill up this form giving all particulars, or references, and forward to
Commissioner Smith, care of the Labour Bureau.
Name.......................................................
Address....................................................
...........................................................
Kind of work wanted........................................
Wages you ask..............................................
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HOW BEGGARY WAS ABOLISHED IN BAVARIA BY COUNT RUMFORD.
Count Rumford was an American officer who served with considerable
distinction in the Revolutionary War in that country, and afterwards
settled in England. From thence he went to Bavaria, where he was
promoted to the chief command of its army, and also was energetically
employed in the Civil Government. Bavaria at this time literally
swarmed with beggars, who were not only an eyesore and discredit to the
nation, but a positive injury to the State. The Count resolved upon the
extinction of this miserable profession, and the following extracts
from his writings describe the method by which he accomplished it: --
"Bavaria, by the neglect of the Government, and the abuse of the
kindness and charity of its amiable people, had become infested with
beggars, with whom mingled vagabonds and thieves. They were to the body
politic what parasites and vermin are to people and dwellings--
breeding by the same lazy neglect."--(Page 14.)
"In Bavaria there were laws which made provision for the poor, but they
suffered them to fall into neglect. Beggary had become general."--
(Page 15.)
"In short," says Count Rumford, "these detestable vermin swarmed
everywhere; and not only their impudence and clamorous importunity were
boundless, but they had recourse to the most diabolical arts and the
most horrid crimes in the prosecution of their infamous trade.
They exposed and tortured their own children, and those they stole for
the purpose, to extort contributions from the charitable."--(Page 15.)
"In the large towns beggary was an organised imposture, with a sort of
government and police of its own. Each beggar had his beat, with
orderly successions and promotions, as with other governments.
There were battles to decide conflicting claims, and a good beat was
not unfreguently a marriage portion or a thumping legacy."--(Page 16.)
"He saw that it was not enough to forbid beggary by law or to punish it
by imprisonment. The beggars cared for neither. The energetic Yankee
Statesman attacked the question as he did problems in physical science.
He studied beggary and beggars. How would he deal with one individual
beggar? Send him for a month to prison to beg again as soon as he came
out? That is no remedy. The evident course was to forbid him to beg,
but at the same time to give him the opportunity to labor; to teach him
to work, to encourage him to honest industry. And the wise ruler sets
himself to provide food, comfort, and work for every beggar and
vagabond in Bavaria, and did it."--(Page 17.)
"Count Rumford, wise and just, sets himself to reform the whole class
of beggars and vagabonds, and convert them into useful citizens, even
those who had sunk into vice and crime.
"'What,' he asked himself, 'is, after the necessaries of life, the
first condition of comfort?' Cleanliness, which animals and insects
prize, which in man affects his moral character, and which is akin to
godliness. The idea that the soul is defiled and depraved by what is
unclean has long prevailed in all ages. Virtue never dwelt long with
filth. Our bodies are at war with everything that defiles them.
"His first step, after a thorough study and consideration of the
subject, was to provide in Munich, and at all necessary points, large,
airy, and even elegant Houses of Industry, and store them with the
tools and materials of such manufactures as were most needed, and would
be most useful. Each house was provided with a large dining-room and a
cooking apparatus sufficient to furnish an economical dinner to every
worker. Teachers were engaged for each kind of labour. Warmth, light,
comfort, neatness, and order, in and around these houses, made them
attractive. The dinner every day was gratis, provided at first by the
Government, later by the contributions of the citizens. Bakers brought
stale bread; butchers, refuse meat; citizens, their broken victuals--
all rejoicing in being freed from the nuisance of beggary. The teachers
of handicrafts were provided by the Government. And while all this was
free, everyone was paid the full value for his labour. You shall not
beg; but here is comfort, food, work, pay. There was no ill-usage, no
harsh language; in five years not a blow was given even to a child by
his instructor.
"When the preparations for this great experiment had been silently
completed, the army--the right arm of the governing power, which had
been prepared tor the work by its own thorough reformation--was
called into action in aid of the police and the civil magistrates.
Regiments of cavalry were so disposed as to furnish every town with a
detachment, with patrols on every highway, and squads in the villages,
keeping the strictest order and discipline, paying the utmost deference
to the civil authorities, and avoiding all offence to the people;
instructed when the order was given to arrest every beggar, vagrant,
and deserter and bring them before the magistrates. This military
police cost nothing extra to the country beyond a few cantonments,
and this expense to the whole country was less than #3,000 a-year.
"The 1st of January, 1790--New Year's Day, from time immemorial
the beggars' holiday, when they swarmed in the streets, expecting
everyone to give--the commissioned and non-commissioned officers of
three regiments of infantry were distributed early in the morning at
different points of Munich to wait for orders. Lieutenant-General Count
Rumford assembled at his residence the chief officers of the army and
principal magistrates of the city, and communicated to them his plans
for the campaign. Then, dressed in the uniform of his rank, with his
orders and decorations glittering on his breast, setting an example to
the humblest soldier, he led them into the street, and had scarcely
reached it before a beggar approached wished him a 'Happy New Year,'
and waited for the expected aims. 'I went up to him, says Count Rumford,
'and laying my hand gently on his shoulder, told him that henceforth
begging would not be permitted in Munich; that if he was in need,
assistance would be given him; and if detected begging again, he would
be severely punished.' He was then sent to the Town Hall, his name and
residence inscribed upon the register, and he was directed to repair to
the Military House of Industry next morning, where he would find
dinner, work, and wages. Every officer, every magistrate, every
soldier, followed the example set them; every beggar was arrested,
and in one day a stop was put to beggary in Bavaria. It was banished
out of the kingdom.
"And now let us see what was the progress and success of this
experiment. It seemed a risk to trust the raw materials of industry--
wool, flax, hemp, etc.--to the hands of common beggars; to render
debauched and depraved class orderly and useful, was an arduous
enterprise. Of course the greater number made bad work at the
beginning. For months they cost more than they came to. They spoiled
more horns than they made spoons. Employed first in the coarser and
ruder manufactures, they were advanced as they improved, and were for
some time paid more than they earned--paid to encourage good will,
effort, and perseverance. These were worth any sum. The poor people saw
that they were treated with more than justice--with kindness. It was
very evident that it was all for their good. At first there was
confusion, but no insubordination. They were awkward, but not
insensible to kindness. The aged, the weak, and the children were put
to the easiest tasks. The younger children were paid simply to look on
until they begged to join in the work, which seemed to them like play.
Everything around them was made clean, quiet, orderly, and pleasant.
Living at their own homes, they came at a fixed hour in the morning.
They had at noon a hot, nourishing dinner of soup and bread. Provisions
were either contributed or bought wholesale, and the economies of
cookery were carried to the last point of perfection. Count Rumford had
so planned the cooking apparatus that three women cooked a dinner for
one thousand persons at a cost though wood was used, of 4 1/2d. for
fuel; and the entire cost of the dinner for 1,200 was only #1 7s 6 1/2d.,
or about one-third of a penny for each person! Perfect order was kept
--at work, at meals, and everywhere. As soon as a company took its
place at table, the food having been previously served, all repeated a
short prayer. 'Perhaps,' says Count Rumford, 'I ought to ask pardon for
mentioning so old-fashioned a custom, but I own I am old-fashioned
enough myself to like such things.'
"These poor people were generously paid for their labour, but something
more than cash payment was necessary. There was needed the feeling of
emulation, the desire to excel, the sense of honour, the love of glory.
Not only pay, but rewards, prizes, distinctions, were given to the more
deserving. Peculiar care was taken with the children. They were first
paid simply for being present, idle lookers-on, until they begged with
tears to be allowed to work. 'How sweet those tears were to me,' says
Count Rumford, 'can easily be imagined.' Certain hours were spent by
them in a school, for which teachers were provided.
"The effect of these measures was very remarkable. Awkward as the
people were, they were not stupid, and learned to work with unexpected
rapidity. More wonderful was the change in their manners, appearances
and the very expression of their countenances. Cheerfulness and
gratitude replaced the gloom of misery and the sullenness of despair.
Their hearts were softened; they were most grateful to their benefactor
for themselves, still more for their children. These worked with their
parents, forming little industrial groups, whose affection excited the
interest of every visitor. Parents were happy in the industry and
growing intelligence of their children, and the children were proud of
their own achievements.
"The great experiment was a complete and triumphant success. When Count
Rumford wrote his account of it, it had been five years in operation;
it was, financially, a paying speculation, and had not only banished
beggary, but had wrought an entire change in the manners, habits, and
very appearance of the most abandoned and degraded people in the
kingdom."--("Count Rumford," pages 18-24.)
"Are the poor ungrateful? Count Rumford did not find them so. When,
from the exhaustion of his great labours, he fell dangerously ill,
these poor people whom he had rescued from lives of shame and misery,
spontaneously assembled, formed a procession, and went in a body to the
Cathedral to offer their united prayers for his recovery. When he was
absent in Italy, and supposed to be dangerously ill in Naples, they set
apart a certain time every day, after work hours, to pray for their
benefactor. After an absence of fifteen months, Count Rumford returned
with renewed health to Munich--a city where there was work for everyone,
and not one person whose wants were not provided for. When he visited
the military workhouse, the reception given him by these poor people
drew tears from the eyes of all present. A few days after he
entertained eighteen hundred of them in the English garden--a festival
at which 30,000 of the citizens of Munich assisted."
("Count Rumford," pages 24-25.)
THE CO-OPERATIVE EXPERIMENT AT RALAHINE,
"The outrages of the 'Whitefeet,' 'Lady Clare Boys,' and 'Terry Alts'
(labourers) far exceeded those of recent occurrence; yet no remedy but
force was attempted, except by one Irish landlord, Mr. John Scott
Vandeleur, of Ralahine, county Clare, late high sheriff of his county.
Early in 1831 his family had been obliged to take flight, in charge of
an armed police force, and his steward had been murdered by one of the
labourers, having been chosen by lot at a meeting held to decide who
should perpetrate the deed. Mr. Vandeleur came to England to seek
someone who would aid him in organising the labourers into an
agricultural and manufacturing association, to be conducted on
co-operative principles, and he was recommended to Mr. Craig, who, at
great sacrifice of his position and prospects, consented to give his
services.
"No one but a man of rare zeal and courage would have attempted so
apparently hopeless a task as that which Mr. Craig undertook. Both the
men whom he had to manage--the Terry Alts who had murdered their
master's steward--and their surroundings were as little calculated to
give confidence in the success of the scheme as they well could be.
The men spoke generally the Irish language, which Mr. Craig did not
understand, and they looked upon him with suspicion as one sent to worm
out of them the secret of the murder recently committed. He was
consequently treated with coldness, and worse than that. On one
occasion the outline of his grave was cut out of the pasture near his
dwelling, and he carried his life in his hand. After a time, however,
he won the confidence of these men, rendered savage as they had been by
ill-treatment.
"The farm was let by Mr. Vandeleur at a fixed rent, to be paid in fixed
quantities of farm produce, which, at the prices ruling in 1830-31,
would bring in #900, which included interest on buildings, machinery,
and live stock provided by Mr. Vandeleur. The rent alone was #700.
As the farm consisted of 618 acres, only 268 of which were under
tillage, this rent was a very high one--a fact which was acknowledged
by the landlord. All profits after payment of rent and interest
belonged to the members, divisible at the end of the year if desired.
They started a co-operative store to supply themselves with food and
clothing, and the estate was managed by a committee of the members,
who paid every male and female member wages for their labour in labour
notes which were exchangeable at the store for goods or cash.
Intoxicating drink or tobacco were prohibited. The committee each day
allotted each man his duties. The members worked the land partly as
kitchen garden and fruit orchards, and partly as dairy farm, stall
feeding being encouraged and root crops grown for the cattle. Pigs,
poultry, &c., were reared. Wages at the time were only 8d per day for
men and 5d. for women, and the members were paid at these rates.
Yet, as they lived chiefly on potatoes and milk produced on the farm,
which, as well as mutton and pork, were sold to them at extremely low
prices, they saved money or rather notes. Their health and appearance
quickly improved, so much so that, with disease raging round them,
there was no case of death or serious illness among them while the
experiment lasted. The single men lived together in a large building,
and the families in cottages. Assisted by Mrs. Craig, the secretary
carried out the most enlightened system of education for the young,
those old enough being alternately employed on the farm and in the
school. Sanitary arrangements were in a high state of perfection, and
physical and moral training were most carefully attended to. In respect
of these and other social arrangements, Mr. Craig was a man much before
his time, and he has since made himself a name in connection with their
application in various parts of the country.
"The 'New System,' as the Ralahine experiment was called, though at
first regarded with suspicion and derision, quickly gained favour in
the district, so that before long outsiders were extremely anxious to
become members of the association. In January, 1832, the community
consisted of fifty adults and seventeen children. The total number
afterwards increased to eighty-one. Everything was prosperous, and the
members of the association were not only benefitted themselves, but
their improvement exercised a beneficent influence upon the people in
their neighbourhood. It was hoped that other landlords would imitate
the excellent example of Mr. Vandeleur, especially as his experiment
was one profitable to himself, as well as calculated to produce peace
and contentment in disturbed Ireland. Just when these hopes were raised
to their highest degree of expectancy, the happy community at Ralahine
was broken up through the ruin and flight of Mr. Vandeleur, who had
lost his property by gambling. Everything was sold off, and the labour
notes saved by the members would have been worthless had not Mr. Craig,
with noble self-sacrifice, redeemed them out of his own pocket.
"We have given but a very scanty description of the system pursued at
Ralahine. The arrangements were in most respects admirable,
and reflected the greatest credit upon Mr. Craig as an organiser and
administrator. To his wisdom, energy, tact, and forbearance the success
of his experiment was in great measure due, and it is greatly to be
regretted that he was not in a position to repeat the attempt under
more favourable circumstances." ("History of a Co-operative Farm.")
CARLYLE ON THE SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS OF THE NATION
FORTY-FIVE YEARS AGO. Inserted at the earnest request of a friend, who
was struck by the coincidence of some ideas, similar to those of this
volume, set forth so long ago, but as yet remaining unrealised, and
which I had never read.
EXTRACTS FROM "PAST AND PRESENT."
"A Prime Minister, even here in England, who shall dare believe the
heavenly omens, and address himself like a man and hero to the great
dumb-struggling heart of England, and speak out for it, and act out for
it, the God's-justice it is writhing to get uttered and perishing for
want of--yes, he too will see awaken round him, in passionate,
burning, all-defiant loyalty, the heart of England, and such a
'support' as no Division-List or Parliamentary Majority was ever yet
known to yield a man! Here as there, now as then, he who can and dare
trust the heavenly Immensities, all earthly Localities are subject to
him. We will pray for such a man and First-Lord;--yes, and far
better, we will strive and incessantly make ready, each of us, to be
worthy to serve and second such a First-Lord! We shall then be as good
as sure of his arriving; sure of many things, let him arrive or not.
"Who can despair of Governments that passes a Soldier's Guard-house, or
meets a red-coated man on the streets? That a body of men could be got
together to kill other men when you bade them: this, a priori, does it
not seem one of the impossiblest things? Yet look, behold it: in the
stolidest of Do-nothing Governments, that impossibility is a thing
done."--(Carlyle, "Past and Present," page 223.)
"Strange, interesting, and yet most mournful to reflect on. Was this,
then, of all the things mankind had some talent for, the one thing
important to learn well, and bring to perfection; this of successfully
killing one another? Truly, you have learned it well, and carried the
business to a high perfection. It is incalculable what, by arranging,
commanding, and regimenting you can make of men. These thousand
straight-standing, firm-set individuals, who shoulder arms, who march,
wheel, advance, retreat; and are, for your behoof a magazine charged
with fiery death, in the most perfect condition of potential activity.
Few months ago, till the persuasive sergeant came, what were they?
Multiform ragged losels, runaway apprentices, starved weavers thievish
valets; an entirely broken population, fast tending towards the
treadmill. But the persuasive sergeant came, by tap of drum enlisted,
or formed lists of them, took heartily to drilling them; and he and you
have made them this! Most potent effectual for all work whatsoever,
is wise planning, firm, combining, and commanding among men. Let no man
despair of Governments who looks on these two sentries at the Horse
Guards and our United Service clubs. I could conceive an Emigration
Service, a Teaching Service, considerable varieties of United and
Separate Services, of the due thousands strong, all effective as this
Fighting Service is; all doing their work like it--which work, much
more than fighting, is henceforth the necessity of these new ages we
are got into! Much lies among us, convulsively, nigh desperately,
struggling to be born."--("Past and Present," page 224.)
"It was well, all this, we know; and yet it was not well.
Forty soldiers, I am told, will disperse the largest Spitalfields mob;
forty to ten thousand, that is the proportion between drilled and
undrilled. Much there is which cannot yet be organised in this world,
but somewhat also which can--somewhat also which must. When one
thinks, for example, what books are become and becoming for us, what
operative Lancashires are become; what a Fourth Estate and innumerable
virtualities not yet got to be actualities are become and becoming,
one sees organisms enough in the dim huge future, and 'United Services'
quite other than the redcoat one; and much, even in these years,
struggling to be born!"--("Past and Present," page 226.)
"An effective 'Teaching Service,' I do consider that there must be;
some education secretary, captain-general of teachers, who will
actually contrive to get us taught. Then again, why should there not be
an 'Emigration Service,' and secretary with adjuncts, with funds,
forces, idle navy ships, and ever-increasing apparatus, in fine an
effective system of emigration, so that at length before our twenty
years of respite ended, every honest willing workman who found England
too strait, and the 'organisation of labour' not yet sufficiently
advanced, might find likewise a bridge built to carry him into new
western lands, there to 'organise' with more elbow room some labour for
himself? There to be a real blessing, raising new corn for us,
purchasing new webs and hatchets from us; leaving us at least in peace;
instead of staying here to be a physical-force Chartist, unblessed and
no blessing! Is it not scandalous to consider that a Prime Minister
could raise within the year, as I have seen it done, a hundred and
twenty millions sterling to shoot the French; and we are stopped short
for want of the hundredth part of that to keep the English living?
The bodies of the English living, and the souls of the English living,
these two 'Services,' an Education Service and an Emigration Service,
these with others, will have actually to be organised.
"A free bridge for emigrants! Why, we should then be on a par with
America itself, the most favoured of all lands that have no government;
and we should have, besides, so many traditions and mementos of
priceless things which America has cast away. We could proceed
deliberately to organise labour not doomed to perish unless we effected
it within year and day every willing worker that proved superfluous,
finding a bridge ready for him. This verily will have to be done;
the time is big with this. Our little Isle is grown too narrow for us;
but the world is wide enough yet for another six thousand years.
England's sure markets will be among new colonies of Englishmen in all
quarters of the Globe. All men trade with all men when mutually
convenient, and are even bound to do it by the Maker of Men.
Our friends of China, who guiltily refused to trade in these
circumstances--had we not to argue with them, in cannon-shot at last,
and convince them that they ought to trade? 'Hostile tariffs' will
arise to shut us out, and then, again, will fall, to let us in;
but the sons of England--speakers of the English language, were it
nothing more--will in all times have the ineradicable predisposition to
trade with England. Mycale was the Pan-Ionian--rendezvous of all the
tribes of Ion--for old Greece; why should not London long continue the
All Saxon Home, rendezvous of all the 'Children of the Harz-Rock,'
arriving, in select samples, from the Antipodes and elsewhere by steam
and otherwise, to the 'season' here? What a future! Wide as the world,
if we have the heart and heroism for it, which, by Heaven's blessing,
we shall.
"Keep not standing fixed and rooted,
Briskly venture, briskly roam;
Head and hand, where'er thou foot it,
And stout heart are still at home.
In what land the sun does visit
Brisk are we, what e'er betide;
To give space for wandering is it
That the world was made so wide.
"Fourteen hundred years ago it was a considerable 'Emigration Service,'
never doubt it, by much enlistment, discussion, and apparatus that we
ourselves arrived in this remarkable island, and got into our present
difficulties among others."--("Past and Present," pages 228-230)
"The main substance of this immense problem of organising labour, and
first of all of managing the working classes, will, it is very clear,
have to be solved by those who stand practically in the middle of it,
by those who themselves work and preside over work. Of all that can be
enacted by any Parliament in regard to it, the germs must already lie
potentially extant in those two classes who are to obey such enactment.
A human chaos in which there is no light, you vainly attempt to
irradiate by light shed on it; order never can arise there."
("Past and Present," pages 231-32.)
"Look around you. Your world-hosts are all in mutiny, in confusion,
destitution; on the eve of fiery wreck and madness. They will not march
farther for you, on the sixpence a day and supply-and-demand principle:
they will not; nor ought they; nor can they. Ye shall reduce them to
order; begin reducing them to order, to just subordination; noble
loyalty in return for noble guidance. Their souls are driven nigh mad;
let yours be sane and ever saner. Not as a bewildered bewildering mob,
but as a firm regimented mass, with real captains over them, will these
men march any more. All human interests, combined human endeavours,
and social growth in this world have, at a certain stage of their
development, required organising and work, the grandest of human
interests, does not require it.
"God knows the task will be hard, but no noble task was ever easy.
This task will wear away your lives and the lives of your sons and
grandsons; but for what purpose, if not for tasks like this, were lives
given to men? Ye shall cease to count your thousand-pound scalps;
the noble of you shall cease! Nay, the very scalps, as I say,
will not long be left, if you count only these. Ye shall cease wholly
to be barbarous vulturous Chactaws, and become noble European
nineteenth-century men. Ye shall know that Mammon, in never such gigs
and flunky 'respectabilities' in not the alone God; that of himself he
is but a devil and even a brute-god.
"Difficult? Yes, it will be difficult. The short-fibre cotton; that,
too, was difficult. The waste-cotton shrub, long useless, disobedient
as the thistle by the wayside; have ye not conquered it, made it into
beautiful bandana webs, white woven shirts for men, bright tinted air
garments wherein flit goddesses? Ye have shivered mountains asunder,
made the hard iron pliant to you as soft putty; the forest-giants--
marsh-jotuns--bear sheaves of golden grain; AEgir--the Sea-Demon
himself stretches his back for a sleek highway to you, and on
Firehorses and Windhorses ye career. Ye are most strong.
Thor, red-bearded, with his blue sun-eyes, with his cheery heart and
strong thunder-hammer, he and you have prevailed. Ye are most strong,
ye Sons of the icy North, of the far East, far marching from your rugged
Eastern Wildernesses, hitherward from the gray dawn of Time!
Ye are Sons of the Jotun-land; the land of Difficulties Conquered.
Difficult? You must try this thing. Once try it with the understanding
that it will and shall have to be done. Try it as ye try the paltrier
thing, making of money! I will bet on you once more, against all
Jotuns, Tailor-gods, Double-barrelled Law-wards, and Denizens of Chaos
whatsoever!"--("Past and Present," pages 236-37.)
"A question arises here: Whether, in some ulterior, perhaps not
far-distant stage of this 'Chivalry of Labour,' your Master-Worker may
not find it possible, and needful, to grant his Workers permanent
interest in his enterprise and theirs? So that it become, in practical
result, what in essential fact and justice it ever is, a joint
enterprise; all men, from the Chief Master down to the lowest Overseer
and Operative, economically as well as loyally concerned for it?
Which question I do not answer. The answer, near or else far,
is perhaps, Yes; and yet one knows the difficulties. Despotism is
essential in most enterprises; I am told they do not tolerate 'freedom
of debate' on board a seventy-four. Republican senate and plebiscite
would not answer well in cotton mills. And yet, observe there too,
Freedom--not nomad's or ape's Freedom, but man's Freedom; this is
indispensable. We must have it, and will have it! To reconcile
Despotism with Freedom--well, is that such a mystery? Do you not
already know the way? It is to make your Despotism just. Rigorous as
Destiny, but just, too, as Destiny and its Laws. The Laws of God;
all men obey these, and have no 'Freedom' at all but in obeying them.
The way is already known, part of the way; and courage and some
qualities are needed for walking on it."
("Past and Present ," pages 241-42)
"Not a May-game is this man's life, but a battle and a march, a warfare
with principalities and powers. No idle promenade through fragrant
orange-groves and green flowery spaces, waited on by the choral Muses
and the rosy Hours: it is a stern pilgrimage through burning sandy
solitudes, through regions of thick-ribbed ice. He walks among men,
loves men, with inexpressible soft pity, as they cannot love him,
but his soul dwells in solitude in the uttermost parts of creation.
In green oases by the palm-tree wells he rests a space, but anon he has
to journey forward, escorted by the Terrors and the Splendours, the
Archdemons and Archangels. All Heaven, all Pandemonium are his escort.
The stars keen-glancing from the Immensities send tidings to him;
the graves, silent with their dead, from the Eternities.
Deep calls for him unto Deep."--("Past and Present," page 249.)
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE SOCIAL QUESTION.
The Rev. Dr. Barry read a paper at the Catholic Conference on
June 30th, 1890, from which I take the following extracts as
illustrative of the rising feeling of this subject in the Catholic
Church. The Rev. Dr. Barry began by defining the proletariat as those
who have only one possession--their labour. Those who have no land,
and no stake in the land, no house, and no home except the few sticks
of furniture they significantly call by the name, no right to employment,
but at the most a right to poor relief; and who, until the last 20 years,
had not even a right to be educated unless by the charity of their
"betters." The class which, without figure of speech or flights of
rhetoric, is homeless, landless, property less in our chief cities--
that I call the proletariat. Of the proletariat he declared there were
hundreds of thousands growing up outside the pale of all churches.
He continued: For it is frightfully evident that Christianity has not
kept pace with the population; that it has lagged terribly behind;
that, in plain words, we have in our midst a nation of heathens to whom
the ideals, the practices, and the commandments of religion are things
unknown--as little realised in the miles on miles of tenement-houses,
and the factories which have produced them, as though Christ had never
lived or never died. How could it be otherwise? The great mass of men
and women have never had time for religion. You cannot expect them to
work double-tides. With hard physical labour, from morning till night
in the surroundings we know and see, how much mind and leisure is left
for higher things on six days of the week? ... We must look this matter
in the face. I do not pretend to establish the proportion between
different sections in which these things happen. Still less am I
willing to lay the blame on those who are houseless, landless, and
property less. What I say is that if the Government of a country allows
millions of human beings to be thrown into such conditions of living
and working as we have seen, these are the consequences that must be
looked for. "A child," said the Anglican Bishop South, "has a right to
be born, and not to be damned into the world." Here have been millions
of children literally "damned into the world," neither their heads nor
their hands trained to anything useful, their miserable subsistence a
thing to be fought and scrambled for, their homes reeking dens under
the law of lease-holding which has produced outcast London and horrible
Glasgow, their right to a playground and amusement curtailed to the
running gutter, and their great "object-lesson" in life the drunken
parents who end so often in the prison, the hospital, and the
workhouse. We need not be astonished if these not only are not
Christians, but have never understood why they should be....
The social condition has created this domestic heathenism.
Then the social condition must be changed. We stand in need of a
public creed--of a social, and if you will understand the word, of a
lay Christianity. This work cannot be done by the clergy, nor within
the four walls of a church. The field of battle lies in the school,
the home, the street, the tavern, the market, and wherever men come
together. To make the people Christian they must be restored to their
homes, and their homes to them.