If on the other hand the problem be boldly and wisely faced, I am convinced that in India, as in England, General Booth's most sanguine prophecies will be realised, our most pestilential marshes shall be drained, our moral atmosphere purified, prosperity take the place of destitution, and hope that of despair. The millstone that hangs around our national neck, so that we can barely keep our heads above water, even when there is not a ripple upon its surface, and that always threatens to engulf us in perdition at the first symptoms of a storm,—this millstone shall be converted into an unsinkable life-buoy, that shall not only support itself upon the crest of the highest waves, but shall help to keep afloat the entire national body. What is now an eyesore shall become an adornment, and what is now a cause of weakness shall be a source of strength, bulwark of protection and mine of wealth to all India. How this can be done we have sought in the following pages to unfold, adhering carefully to the programme marked out by General Booth, and suggesting only such additions and alterations as the circumstances of the case appear to necessitate.



PART II.—THE WAY OUT.



CHAPTER I.

THE ESSENTIALS TO SUCCESS.

General Booth prefaces his scheme for the deliverance of the submerged by laying down briefly the essentials to success. I cannot do better than quote from his own words.

(1) "You must change the man, when it is his character and conduct which constitute the reasons for his failure in the battle of life. No change in circumstances, no revolution in social conditions, can possibly transform the nature of man. Some of the worst men and women in the world, whose names are chronicled by history with a shudder of horror, were whose who had all the advantages that wealth, education and station could confer, or ambition could obtain.

"The supreme test of any scheme for benefiting humanity lies in the answer to the question; what does it make of the individual? Does it quicken his conscience, does it soften his heart, does it enlighten his mind? Does it, in short, make a true man of him? Because only by such influences can he be enabled to lead a human life. You may clothe the drunkard, fill his purse with gold, establish him in a well furnished house, and in three, six, or twelve months, he will once more be on the "Embankment," haunted by delirium tremens, dirty, squalid and ragged.

(2) "The remedy, to be effectual, must change the circumstances, when they are the cause of his wretched condition, and lie beyond his control.

(3) "Any remedy worthy of consideration must be on a scale commensurate with the evil, which it proposes to deal with. It is no use trying to bale out the ocean with a pint pot. There must be no more philanthropic tinkering, as if this vast sea of human misery were contained in the limits of a garden pond.

(4) "Not only must the scheme be large enough, but it must be permanent. That is to say, it must not be merely spasmodic coping with the misery of to-day, but must go on dealing with the misery of to-morrow and the day after, so long as there is misery left in the world with which to grapple.

(5) "But while it must be permanent, it must also be immediately practicable, and capable of being brought into instant operation with beneficial results.

(6) "The indirect features of the scheme must not be such as to produce injury to the persons whom we seek to benefit. Mere charity for instance, while relieving the pinch of hunger, demoralises the recipient. It is no use conferring sixpenny worth of benefit on a man, if at the same time we do him a shillings worth of harm.

(7) "While assisting one class of the community, it must not seriously interfere with the interest of another.

"These are the conditions by which I ask you to test the scheme I am about to unfold. They are not of my making. They are the laws which govern the work of the philanthropic reformer just as the laws of gravitation, of wind and of weather govern the operation of the engineer. It is no use saying we could build a bridge across the Tay, if the wind did not blow. The engineer has to take into account the difficulties, and make them his starting point. The wind will blow, therefore the bridge must be made strong enough to resist it. So it is with the social difficulties, which confront us. If we act in harmony with these laws we shall triumph. But if we ignore them, they will overwhelm us with destruction, and cover us with disgrace."



CHAPTER II.

WHAT IS GENERAL BOOTH'S SCHEME?

His object is to supply the destitute with food, shelter and clothing, to provide them with work and to set them on their feet for making a fresh start in life.

With a view to this he proposes to call into existence, a threefold organisation, consisting of self-helping and self-sustaining communities, governed and disciplined on the principles of the Salvation Army. These he calls "Colonies", and divides into

(1) The City Colony,

(2) The Country Colony, and

(3) The Over-sea Colony.

All these are to be linked together and to be interwoven with and dependent on each other. In the City Colony a series of agencies will be established for gathering up and sifting the destitute. Thence they will be passed on to the Country Colony and subsequently many of them will be sent to Colonies across the sea.

Now this triple organisation can be brought into existence, on the largest possible scale in India under circumstances peculiarly favorable to the success of the scheme.

Our country is not of limited extent like England. It covers an immense area and includes a conglomeration of nationalities, such as we find in Europe, with the special advantage of being united under a single, and that a friendly Government.

Then again there is the fact that, though the influx from the country to the cities has commenced, yet it has not at present got beyond manageable proportions, so that it is possible for us, if awake to the emergency, to rise up and divert the stream into more desirable channels.

If instead of waiting for a further irruption of village Goths and Vandals, (which is only a matter of time, and which will soon overwhelm our City labour market and compel the attention of our civil authorities,) we anticipate the event and meet them half way by opening up fresh channels for them, more in harmony with their own taste and preference, we shall not only confer an inestimable boon upon them, but shall turn them into a source of strength and revenue for the country, and shall with them people tracts which are at present barren and fruitless, but which are only waiting to be occupied and which in many cases have only to be restored to the prosperity that they formerly enjoyed.

Finally we have the great advantage of a people already trained to husbandry from their youth, and accustomed to the very co-operative system of farming which General Booth advocates, where payments are mostly to be made in kind rather than in cash, and where the exchange of goods will largely supersede transactions in money, a strong but paternal government regulating all for the general good.



CHAPTER III.

THE CITY COLONY.

The first portion of General Booth's threefold scheme consists of the City Colony.

This may aptly be compared to a dredger, which, gathers up all the silt of a harbour, and carries it out to sea, leaves it there and then returns to repeat the operation. If such an operation is necessary in a harbour, and if without it the best anchorages in the world would often get choked with rubbish and become useless, how doubly important must it be in the case of the human wastage that abounds in every large Indian City.

Should a single ship strike on an unknown rock, we hasten to mark it down in our charts, or erect over the spot a lighthouse as a warning to others. Should it sink where it is likely to hinder the traffic, we set our engineers to work to remove it, even though it may be necessary to blow it to atoms.

And yet it is a notorious fact that our cities abound with rocks over which there is no lighthouse,—that every channel is obstructed with sunken vessels, and that there are not a few tribes of pirates who fatten on the human wreckage. But we fold our hands in despair, and allow bad to grow worse, till the problem daily becomes more enormous, desperate and difficult to deal with.

Now General Booth's scheme proposes to establish a dredger for every harbour, a lighthouse for every rock, an engineer for keeping clear every channel. It may be too much to expect that there will be no wrecks, but they will be fewer, and that surely is something! We do not say that there will be no accidents, but there will be willing hands held out to deliver. We cannot hope to abolish failures, mistakes, shortcomings and weaknesses of various sorts, but we shall do our best to anticipate and provide for them? We are sure there will be difficulties and disappointments to encounter, but we shall meet them in the confidence that God is on our side, that He is intensely interested in the efforts which He Himself has inspired us to undertake and that ultimate victory is bound to crown our efforts.

And now I would give a brief description of this great City Dredger, explaining its component parts in the chapters that are to follow. We cannot promise that the entire machine will get into working order at once. We are anxious to start it immediately and to complete it as soon as possible. But on the public will largely depend the question as to how long it will take us to get it afloat and finished. Its simplicity, practicability, and universality are to me at the same time its chief charms, and its credentials to success. It is only part of a larger scheme with which it is entwined. But it is an important, perhaps the most important part and will continue to exercise over the entire effort the controlling head and the inspiring heart without which the whole apparatus will be as motionless as a machine without steam, or a body without life.

The following are the various branches of the City Colony—

(1) The Regimentation of Labor.

(2) Food for all—Food Depots.

(3) Work for all—Labor yards.

(4) Shelter for all.

(5) The household Salvage Corps.

(6) The Prison Gate Brigade.

(7) The Drunkard's Home.

(8) The Rescue Home for fallen women.

(9) The poor man's Metropole.

(10) The Emigration Bureau.

To these no doubt will in course of time be added many other branches. In the meantime this is in itself a sufficiently extensive programme for some years to come. How we propose to elaborate each of the above, will be found in the following pages.



CHAPTER IV.

THE LABOR BUREAU.

One of the most painful sights with which modern civilisation presents us is the enormous and increasing wastage of valuable human labor. The first step towards remedying this gigantic and alarming evil will be to ascertain its extent. This we propose to do by means of our Labor Bureau. Here all classes of out-of-works will be welcomed, from the respectable well educated intelligent youths, who are being poured out of our colleges by thousands, to the most squalid specimen of a Lazarus that lies at our gates desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fall from our tables. All will be sorted out, sifted and regimented, or organised, into distinct corps, which will in time no doubt develope into legions.

The Bureau will not, however, stop short with simply ascertaining the extent of the evil which exists. It will at the same time turn its attention to the examination and regimentation of the channels which already exist for the absorption of that labor. For while it is true that there are vast quantities of unutilised labor, and that the present supply of labor greatly exceeds the demand, it is also true that for want of suitable arrangements for bringing together capital and labor, the capitalist also frequently loses time and money, either in searching for labor which he cannot get, or in resorting to labor of an inferior quality, where labor of a superior quality would bring in much larger returns.

Into the pre-existing channels it would be the first aim of our Labor Bureau to pour the labor supply of the country. And experience would probably enable us to widen, deepen and lengthen these channels in such a manner as would prove profitable to both employers and employed, as well as to the nation at large.

When, however, this had been done, it is alas! only too certain that we should still have left upon our hands a vast amount of surplus labor, for which we should next proceed to dig out new and profitable channels. The problem no doubt bristles with difficulties, but that is no reason why we should sit down before it and fold our hands in despair.

Once upon a time, aye for hundreds of years, the waters of the Cauvery were poured in one useless torrent into the sea, sweeping past great tracts of thirsty land, which craved its waters, but could not reach them. At the present moment scarcely a drop of that river reaches the ocean. Its course has been diverted into a thousand channels, and so fertilising are its waters that the rich alluvial deposits which they bear render the use of manure unnecessary. And yet for centuries these possibilities were unrecognised and suffered to go to waste.

Is not this a fitting picture of the huge river of labor that winds its course through arid plains of want and poverty and starvation, which it is capable of fertilising and converting into a modern Paradise? True that on its banks and in its immediate neighbourhood are strips of luxuriant vegetation. But those only show up in painful relief the utter barrenness of the "region beyond." Why should the dwellers upon the banks be allowed to monopolise and appropriate that which they cannot even utilise, and that which is often a source of positive danger, annoyance and loss to them? Why should not channels be devised for these human waters, by means of which they should be distributed, so as to be put to the utmost possible use?

This social problem is no doubt the "white elephant" of society. Cannot we devise a "kheddah" for capturing the entire herd wholesale? Perhaps after all we shall find it easier and quicker to catch and tame the herd, than to set snares and pitfalls for individual ones and twos. Ah, you say, many have tried and failed. That is because they have not studied the habits of the animal. Besides it is by means of failure that the grandest successes have ultimately been achieved. See how skilfully that "mahaut" manages his huge yet obedient servant. And cannot we point already in our own ranks to elephants more wonderful that have been tamed and mastered by the goad of love?

It is the successes of the past that encourage General Booth to face the problem in the spirit of hopefulness that breathes through every page of "Darkest England." And if the genius of man has been able to tame the strongest of animals, such as elephants,—the fiercest, such as lions,—the swiftest, such as horses, and the dullest, such as the ass,—why should we despair of reducing to order this chaotic mass of labor, and of turning that which at present constitutes a danger that threatens the very existence of society into a source of safety, of wealth and power? At any rate this is the object that will be kept steadily in view by our Labor Bureau.

All persons will be able to register names at our Bureau. If they are destitute and willing to go to our yards, they will be sent there and given work suitable to their caste, or profession. If on the other hand they are not in need of such assistance, being supported by their friends, we shall simply register their names and do our best to find suitable work for them, though it would of course be distinctly understood by them that we undertook no responsibility in regard to this. A small fee will be charged, in proportion to the nature of the case. This would serve to cover the expenses of the Bureau, which would I am sure meet a long felt want.

Employers of labour would benefit almost more even than the men employed, as we should always be able to supply them at a short notice with any description and number of "hands" that they might require, and they would be saved the expense, delay, and uncertainty of having to advertise.

For instance I know of millowners who complain that they cannot get labourers who will stay, and that their work suffers from the flotsam, jetsam character of those whom they employ working for a few weeks and then leaving. This we should be able to remedy.

Indeed after a short time we might reasonably expect that in recognising the great convenience thus afforded them, millowners and other great employers of labour, including very possibly the Government and the Railway Companies would refuse to employ any who had not registered themselves at our Bureau.

Again it would doubtless be a great satisfaction to employers in cases where a reduction of establishment became necessary, to feel that they could hand over to us those with whose services they were dispensing, knowing that every effort would be made to make suitable provision for them.

The labour register would contain columns in which would be entered the various kinds of employment for which the applicant was willing or suited, and the minimum pay which he was prepared to accept, so that we should be able to ascertain exactly how many out-of-works there were of each particular class. We should also enter in a separate register those who had accepted an inferior position, in the hopes of being able to better themselves subsequently.

In connection with our registers we should keep a character roll. Copies of certificates would be filed, and notes made in regard to unsatisfactory characters, so that in course of time we should be able to give some sort of a guarantee in regard to those whom we sent out. In the case of any one being reported to us as unsatisfactory, we should still, however, give him another chance by redrafting him into our Labour Yards, or by giving him some sort of inferior employment, more immediately under our own surveillance, till he had regained his character.

Among other things we might undertake to supply servants to European families. A register of such would be very useful both to masters and servants. For instance in the case of lost "chits" we could supply certified copies of the original.

There is another class to whom I should think the establishment of such an agency will be particularly welcome. Our cities swarm with educated young men unable to find employment. Although we cannot include them among our destitute classes, we believe that without turning aside from our main object, we could do a great deal to help them.

If our scheme grows to the proportions and with the rapidity which we anticipate, this would in itself absorb large numbers of them. And where we could do no more we could obtain a moral influence over them and they would come within the scope of the Advice and Intelligence Bureaux which are described elsewhere. Constituting as they do the cream of the youth of India, full of ardent, though often misdirected, enthusiasm, we should be able to help mould them into happy, independent, prosperous and loyal citizens, who would be a bulwark to the State, instead of leaving them to simmer in their present unfortunate circumstances. "To dig" they don't know, and "to beg" they are ashamed.

They would in their turn I believe give an important impetus to our scheme and might constitute themselves its fervent apostles helping it to sweep from end to end of India in less time than it is possible for us to conceive.



CHAPTER V.

FOOD FOR ALL—THE FOOD DEPOTS.

In England, owing to the severity and uncertainty of the weather, the food and shelter questions go hand in hand. This is not the case in India, where the shelter is not so important as the food, and there is no such urgency in dealing with the former as with the latter. For instance during nine months out of twelve it is not such a very great hardship to sleep in the open air in most parts of India. I have myself done it frequently and so have many of our Officers. It is true that we should not like it as a regular thing, and still less perhaps, if driven to it by absolute want. Still I am perfectly prepared to admit that the circumstances are totally different to that of England, and that the question of shelter is of secondary importance as compared with food.

The time will come when we shall be obliged to face and deal with it. If our scheme meets with the success that we anticipate, having first satisfied the gnawings of these hunger-bitten stomachs, we shall certainly turn round and think next what we can do to provide them with decent homes for themselves and their families.

But we can safely afford to defer the consideration of this question for the present, in order to throw all our time and energy into the solution of the infinitely more urgent and important problem of a regular and sufficient food supply for these destitutes.

At present as I have already pointed out, they are dependent solely on the help of relations and friends and on the doles of the charitable; or on the proceeds of vice and crime. The insufficiency of these to meet the needs of the case I have also, I believe, proved to demonstration.

Therefore one of the first parts of our City programme will be the establishment of cheap food depots, at which food of various kinds will be supplied at the lowest possible cost price. These depots will be dovetailed in with other parts of our scheme, which have yet to be described, and the one will help to support the other.

It may be objected that if we undertake to sell food at lower than the ordinary market rates, we shall interfere with the legitimate operations of trade. But to this we would answer that the same objection would be still more true in regard to charitable doles, which are given for nothing. And further, we shall fix our prices with a view to covering the actual cost of the food, so that there will not be any probability of our interfering with ordinary market rates. Besides, should there be any very serious difficulty of the kind, we could always make a rule limiting the food sold at these depots to those who came under the operation of the other branches of our social reform.

At the outset it would probably be wisest to avoid all caste complications by confining ourselves entirely to uncooked food, leaving the people to do their own cooking, but it is very probable that before long we should be forced to undertake the preparation of cooked food. We should of course pay due regard in this respect to the customs of the various castes, religions and nationalities concerned. To a Hindoo for instance it would be extremely disagreeable to eat out Of the same dish as others, while Mahommedans, as one said to me the other day, only enjoy the meal the more, when others are sitting round the platter. These, however, are subordinate details which would largely settle themselves as we went along. Food in some shape or form, the destitute must have, good in quality and sufficient in quantity, and if they prefer it uncooked this will save us trouble, whereas if cooking becomes necessary we shall have another industry for the employment of many hands. Meanwhile the fact that nearly every native of the poorer castes, be it man, woman, or even child, knows how to cook their own food, is likely to be of no little help in settling the question of the food supply.



CHAPTER VI.

WORK FOR ALL, OR THE LABOUR YARD.

But it may next be asked, what we shall do in the case of those who have no money with which to buy their food, even at the reduced rates we would propose? To this we would reply that such will be expected to perform a reasonable amount of work, in return for which they will be given tickets entitling them to obtain food from the depots just referred to.

In order to do this we shall establish labour yards, where we shall provide work of a suitable character for the destitute. This will involve very little expense, as sheds of a cheap description will answer our purpose, there being no necessity for providing against the inclement weather which adds so greatly to the expense and difficulty of carrying on such operations in England.

Whatever may be the produce of this cheap labour, we shall be careful to sell it rather above than below the ordinary market rates, so as to avoid competing with other labour. Moreover, we shall direct our attention from the first to manufacturing chiefly those articles which are likely to be of service to us in other branches of our scheme, so that the labour of the destitute will go chiefly towards supplying their own wants and those of the persons who are engaged in prosecuting the work.

For instance, supposing that a number of the destitute were employed in making coarse cloth, baskets, mats, or cow-dung fuel, these could be retailed at a nominal figure to those who presented our labour tickets at our food depots.

The most encouraging feature in the establishment of labour yards is that nearly every Indian has been brought up from childhood to some trade. You can rarely meet the most ignorant and uneducated Native without finding that he is thoroughly expert at some kind of handicraft. In brigading the poor we should be careful to make the best use of this knowledge by putting each as much as possible to the trade with which he was most familiar.

The following industries, the majority of them directly connected with various branches of our work, could be started at once and would need scarcely any outlay to begin with.

1. The Potters Brigade—Would furnish us with the earthenware, for which we should from the first have a very large demand. The Household Salvage Brigade would require some thousands of pots to start with and in connection with our food depots we should be able to dispose of thousands more.

2. The Weavers Brigade—This would give employment for a large number of skilled hands. Their first object would be to supply the kinds of clothes, blankets, &c., which would be most suitable for the use of the submerged tenth. In catering for their wants we should avoid, however, anything prisony, or workhousey, or charity-institutiony in appearance. As our numbers increased we should find plenty of work for our weavers, at any rate for many years to come without entering into any sort of competition either with the market or the mills.

3. The Basket Brigade—Would supply us with all sorts of cheap baskets, for which we should have a constant demand.

4. The Mat Making Brigade—Would find employment for many more hands in supplying us with mats for sleeping and household purposes.

5. The Fuel Brigade—Here we have an industry which requires no skill. There would be two branches of it—the woodchoppers and the Oopala makers. For the latter women and children could be largely employed both in the collection of the cow-dung and in the preparation of it for use as fuel.

6. The Tinners Brigade—Will be kept busy making receptables and badges for the Salvage Brigade, and also probably emblems for the Labor Bureau.

7. The Ropemakers Brigade—Will furnish employment to a number more and the results of their labour will find an ample market in our various colonies.

8. The Tanners Brigade—Will supply all our departments with such leather as may be required for various purposes, and among other things will be attached to.

9. The Shoemakers Brigade—Who will be employed in patching up the old shoes collected by our Household Salvage Brigade and in making new ones for our consumption.

10. The Tailors Brigade—Will supply uniform and clothing of all kinds. For these we have already a very considerable demand, which would increase year by year.

11. The Carpenters Brigade—Would have plenty to do in providing seats for our Barracks, office essentials, boxes, and household furniture for our colonies. They would be linked with

12. The Building Brigade—For whom we shall find ample employment in the erection of our Labour Sheds, Shelters and Farms.

13. The Masons Brigade—Would also be attached to the previous one, and would become an important feature in our Labour Department.

14. The Brick Makers Brigade—Would supply us with all the bricks and tiles that we might require. Here again it is easy to see that, without trenching in the least on the outside public, we should create and support an important industry which would soon absorb hundreds if not thousands of hands.

15. The Painters Brigade—Would undertake the painting and whitewashing of our buildings, carts, tinware, &c.

16. The Dyers Brigade—Would find employment in dyeing our cloth, or the various sorts of thread we might require for the use of our weavers.

17. The Dhobees Brigade—Although among our community we should encourage every one to be his own dhobee, yet from the first we should have plenty of washing to employ a considerable number of hands.

18. The Umbrella Makers Brigade—Would find considerable scope in repairing the old frames collected by our Household Salvage Brigade; while the Sewing Brigade would work the covers.

19. The Paper-makers Brigade—Would also be supplied with plenty of material by the Household Salvage Brigade, and would keep our printing establishment supplied with whatever paper they might require. Already we consume a considerable quantity, and this would be enormously increased by the development of our scheme.

20. The Book-binders Brigade—Would furnish us with our registers for the Regimentation Bureau, besides doing our other miscellaneous work of a similar description.

21. The Brass Brigade—Would supply Our colonies with the various kinds of brazen vessels we should be likely to require. For these in process of time there would be a large demand.

22. The Net-making Brigade—Would make nets for fishing purposes.

33. The Hawkers Brigade—There could be no possible objection to our disposing of our goods in this way at the ordinary market rates supposing that we were in a position to manufacture more than we required for our own consumption.

24. The Barbers Brigade—Would also be a necessary addition to our forces, and would find plenty of scope for their skill among the unwashed multitudes who would compose our labour legions.

Such are some of the occupations which might at once be set on foot. To these would no doubt be added many other sorts of handicraft, as our numbers and experience increased, and fresh opportunities opened up around us.



CHAPTER VII.

SHELTER FOR ALL, OR THE HOUSING OF THE DESTITUTE.

A considerable portion of General Booth's book is devoted to the description of shelters, improved lodgings and suburban villages for the poor. As elsewhere remarked this question is not of such vital importance for India as for England, though the dealing with it is simply a question of time.

We would therefore simply refer our readers to the admirable proposals embodied in General Booth's book. It is possible that there may be some who will desire that immediate steps should be taken for the preparation of similar quarters for the poor in our terribly over-crowded Indian cities. It is in any case extremely likely that the question will be forced upon us at an early date by the people themselves.

But I have thought it best to narrow down the scheme as much as possible to those things which seem of the most absolute and immediate urgency, and I have therefore divested it as much as possible of all that could reasonably be dispensed with.

Still I see no reason why each city should not have its "Poor Man's Metropole," as well as its model dwellings and suburban villages, for the working classes. I would have these, moreover, as purely oriental as possible with a careful avoidance of anything that might be European in their appearance and arrangements. There should be tanks for bathing, and washing purposes, gardens, recreation grounds for the children, proper conveniences for cooking, and quarters in which they would not be herded together like cattle, but given the decencies of life, so necessary and helpful to the encouragement of cleanliness and morality.

Another point would be the absolute absence of anything in the shape of mere "charity" about any of the buildings. Everybody would be made to feel happy and at home, and their self-respect would be cultivated by arranging for suitable charges to be made, payment being taken either in cash or labour.

However, these are only hints that are thrown out, to show that we are fully awake to the importance of this subject, and in order that friends who are interested in the question may feel free to communicate their wishes and give us their advice.



CHAPTER VIII.

THE BEGGARS BRIGADE.

I now come to a special element of both hope and difficulty in the solution of our Indian Social problem,—The Beggars. Here we have the lowest stratum of the submerged tenth, excluding from them the religious mendicants with whom we are not now concerned. I have classified them as follows:—

1. The blind and infirm.

2. Those who help them and share the proceeds of their begging.

3. Able-bodied out of works.

Now I propose to deal with them in a way which will not call for Legislation. In the first place it is most improbable that Government would interfere with beggary, even if asked to do so. Certainly no such interference would be possible without assuming the responsibility of the entire pauper population, involving an expenditure of many million pounds. In the second place any such interference would in all likelihood be extremely distasteful to the native public. In the third place I believe the question can be better dealt with in another way.

I propose to cut diamond with diamond, to set a thief to catch a thief, to make a beggar mend a beggar. In other words my plan is to reform the system rather than abolish it. To the radical reformer who would sweep out the whole "nuisance" at one stroke, this may be a disappointment. But I believe that this feeling will be diminished, if not entirely removed, when he has made himself familiar with the following scheme.

Of course if the Upas tree could be uprooted and banished from our midst,—if with a wave of his magic wand some sorcerer could make it disappear, so much the better. But this is impossible. We should require an axe of gold to cut down the tree; and this we do not possess. If a rich and powerful Government shrinks from the expense of such an undertaking, we may well be excused for doing the same.

But after all supposing that you can transform your Upas tree into a fruit-bearing one, will not this be even better than to cut it down? Such things are done every day before our very eyes in nature. The stock of the crab-apple can be made to bear quinces, and a mango tree that is scarcely worth the ground it occupies, can be made to yield fruit which will fetch four annas a piece!

What is done in the garden is possible in human nature. And God will yet enable us to graft into this wretched and apparently worthless Upas stock, a bud which in coming years shall be loaded with fruit that shall be the marvel of the world. This human desert shall yet blossom as the rose, this wilderness shall become a fruitful garden, and the waste places be inhabited.

Surely then, better even than the annihilation of beggary will be its reformation, should this be possible. At least the suggestion is well worthy of consideration, and in examining, the matter, there will be several important advantages to which I shall afterwards refer.

(1.) The first step that we would take in reforming the-beggars would be to regiment them. The task would be undertaken by our Labor Bureau. In this I do not think there would be serious difficulty encountered, if the scheme commended itself to the native public. They would only have to stop their supplies and send the beggars to us.

(2.) Our next step would be to sort out the beggars. They would be divided into three classes:—

(a) The physically unfit, who could be furnished with light work at our labor yards, or otherwise cared for. At present there are hundreds of beggars who are physically unfit for the exertion that begging involves, and who are driven to it by the desperate pangs of hunger.

(b) Those who like it, and are physically well fitted for it, besides being accustomed to the life, and not being fitted much for anything else.

(c) Those who dislike the life, and would prefer, or are suited for other occupations. Some of these we would draft off to other departments of our labour yards, while some would for the present be kept on as beggars, with the hope of early promotion to other employment.

(3.) We should brigade the beggars under the name of the Household Salvage Brigade, or some similar title, dividing them into small companies and appointing over them Sergeants from among themselves, and providing each with a badge or number.

(4.) We should with the advice and consent of the leading members of the native community, map out the city into wards, and assign each company their respective streets, allotting as far as possible the Mahommedan beggars to the Mahommedan quarters, and the Hindoos to the Hindoo. In this we should also take the advice of experienced beggars, from whom we should expect to learn many useful hints.

(5,) Each house that was willing to receive them would be supplied with three receptacles, one for waste cooked food, another for gifts of uncooked food, and a third for old clothes, waste paper, shoes, tins, bottles, and other similar articles.

(6.) At an appointed hour the Brigade would proceed to their posts, would patrol their wards, and bring or send the various articles collected to the labor yards, where all would be sorted and dealt with as necessary the cooked food being distributed among those who were willing to eat it, or sent to the surburban farm for our buffaloes. The raw grain would be handed over to our food depots, and credited by them to the Beggars Fund for the special benefit of the destitute.

(7.) At the end of each day every member of the Brigade would receive a food ticket in payment of his services. The amount could be regulated hereafter. This ticket he would present at our food depot, where he would be supplied with whatever articles he might require. There would be a regular system of rewards and encouragements for good conduct. But all such details will be settled hereafter.

(8.) A special feature in the system would be the introduction of the ancient Buddhist custom of "meetihal," or "the consecrated handful of rice." This is as follows. A pot is kept in each home and a handful of grain is put into it every time the family meal is cooked. We think that there would be no difficulty in getting this custom universally adopted, when it was understood that the proceeds would be devoted entirely to feeding the destitute. I believe that the income derived from this alone would in course of time be sufficient to meet the needs of the destitute in any city in India, at the same time that it would serve to equalise and therefore minimise the burden which now rests chiefly on a comparative few.

(9.) In case the food supply thus obtained should be insufficient, we have little doubt that we could persuade leading merchants in the city to club together and make up the difference, when they saw the good work that was going on.

Such in brief is a skeleton of the scheme for elevating and renovating the Beggar population of India. It is no doubt open to criticism on some points, but it has special advantages which I will proceed to point out, apologising for the extra space I am obliged to occupy, in dealing with this subject, on account of its novelty and importance, and in order that I may be thoroughly understood.

1. It is conservative. Here you have a reformation without a revolution, or rather a revolution by means of a reformation. And yet there is no attempted upheaval of society.

2. It is thoroughly Indian, and suited to the national taste.

3. It costs nothing and may even prove in time a source of income to the Social Scheme.

4. It is doubly economical since it uses the human waste in collecting what would be the natural wastage of the city, and devotes each to the service of the other.

5. It is systematic and therefore bound to be as immensely superior to the present haphazard mode, as a regular Army is to an undisciplined mob.

6. It unites the advantages of moral suasion, with those of the most perfect religious equality and toleration.

7. It saves the State an enormous expenditure and avoids the necessity for harsh, repressive, unpopular legislation, and increased taxation.

8. It benefits the public.

(a) It removes a public nuisance.

(b) And yet it satisfies the public conscience.

(c) It stimulates private charity, and directs its generosity into wise and beneficial channels.

9. It benefits the beggars.

(a) It protects the weak from the painful and often unsuccessful struggle for existence.

(b) It ensures everybody their daily food and a sufficiency of it.

(c) It restores their self respect.

(d) It teaches them habits of honesty, industry and thrift.

(e) It opens up to them a pathway of promotion.

10. Finally it will furnish honest and honorable employment right away for hundreds of thousands all over the land, and create an entirely novel industry out of what is at present an absolute wreckage.

But I am well aware that certain objections are likely to be raised. These I would seek to remove, though if we are to wait for a plan which is free from all liability to criticism, we may wait for ever, and wait in vain. There is a famous answer given by John Wesley to a lady who was objecting to something about his work,—"Madam, if there were a perfect organization in the world, it would cease to be so the day that you and I entered into it." Hence it is not simply a question as to whether there are difficulties in the present proposals, but can anything better be suggested. However, I am anxious to meet in the fairest possible manner all conceivable objections, and am perfectly prepared to make any such modifications as may appear advisable.

(1.) Some will perhaps say that the beggars are already too well off to desire to come,—that they are making a good thing of it and will prefer to prosecute their calling under the present arrangements. Of course if it be true that they are able to do better for themselves than we are proposing to do for them, then they have no right to be included in the submerged tenth. I would congratulate them on their success and turn my attention to those who are more in need of our services. But could any one seriously defend such a supposition? And if they are likely to be bettered by the new arrangements, why should we suppose that they should be so blind to their own interests as to refuse to profit by the new chance? Besides, this is contradicted by all experience. Let there be a prospect of a feast, or a supply of rice or food, and who does not know that beggars will flock eagerly to the point, though it be only for a single meal, and we propose to provide a permanent livelihood.

(2.) But says some one else they are bone-idle and will not work, and you propose to give them no food save in exchange for their work. This is a real and serious difficulty. We fully recognise it. Yet we do not think it is un-get-over-able, for the following reasons:—

(a) We do not intend to be hard-taskmasters. The work given will be of a light character, and suited to the strength of each. We are not going in for oakum picking and stone breaking. We shall do our utmost to make everything bright, cheerful and easy. We have no idea of treating them as criminals.

(b) It ought not to be difficult to get each one to do two annas worth of work, and this will be more than sufficient to cover their expenses. We have no desire to become sweaters.

(c) Begging is hard work. If you don't believe it, come and try it! I and many of my officers have begged our food as religious mendicants, so that we, are able to speak from experience! It is at best a life of sacrifice, hardship and suffering. And yet we have practised it under specially favorable circumstances, particularly those of us who are Europeans. But that there can be any sort of rest, or ease, or enjoyment in it to those who are driven to it by the pangs of hunger, unsupported by any spiritual consolations, I cannot conceive. On the contrary I should say that the task of the beggar is so hard, and disagreeable not to say shameful, that the majority of them would leap to do the most menial tasks that would deliver them from a bondage so painful.

Have you ever solicited help and been refused? Have you known what it is to feel the awful sickenings of heart at hope deferred? Have you known what it is to be regarded with suspicion, with contempt, with dislike, with scorn, or even with pity by your fellow men? If so, you may be able to realise the experiences that every beggar has to go through a hundred times a day, many of them with feelings every bit as sensitive as your own. Will he demean himself and work hard at so miserable a calling and yet be unwilling to do some light work, with which he can earn an honest living? I for one cannot believe it, till I see it.

(d) Our experience further contradicts it in dealing with the more depraved, hardened and supposed-to-be-idle criminals and prostitutes, whom we receive into our Prison Gate and Rescue Homes. When Sir E. Noel Walker was visiting our Prisoners' Home in Colombo he was astonished at the alacrity with which the men obeyed orders, and the eagerness with which they worked at their allotted tasks. He asked the Officer in Charge whether he ever "hammered" them, and was surprised at finding that the only hammer he ever required was the allsufficient hammer of love. And yet the gates were always open and they were free to walk out whenever they liked. Moreover, beyond getting their food and a very humble sort of shelter, their labour was entirely unpaid.

(e) Finally by means of a judicious system of rewards and promotions we should educate and encourage them into working, besides teaching them industries which would be useful after they had left us.

(3.) But some one else will say "They are thievish and will rob you. They are roguish and will decieve you. You don't know whom you have to deal with." Well, if we don't know them, we should think nobody does! I would answer,

(a) Granted that some of them cheat us. All will not. And why should the honest suffer with the rogues?

(b) What if we do lose something in this way? It would be little in comparison with the enormous gain. I feel sure it would in no case exceed ten or twenty per cent, on the collections made, and that would be a mere trifle.

(c) Our system of regimentation would largely guard against any such danger and would be an encouragement to honesty.

(d) It is notorious that there is "honour among thieves." They would watch over one another. Among them "nimak-harami" or "faithlessness to their salt" would soon come to be regarded as a crime of the first water.

(e) The inducement for thieving would be largely gone. Very few steal for the sake of stealing. A man usually steals to fill his own stomach, or some one else's, whom he loves. But here all would be provided for.

(f) Besides he would feel that all he could earn was for the common good and was not going to make any individual rich at his expense.

(g) Our experience in the Prison Gate Homes contradicts it. True, we have had some thefts especially at the beginning, but when I was last visiting our Colombo Home, the Officers in charge assured me that they were now of the rarest occurrence, while the gentleman who owned the tempting cocoanuts that were hanging overhead told me that he had never had such good crops from his trees, as since our colony of thieves and criminals had been settled there!

(4.) Some one else may perhaps object that we shall have thrown upon our hands a swarm of helpless, useless, cripples and infirm. Well, and what if we do? Are they not our fellow human beings, and ought not some one to care for them? We shall look upon it as a precious responsibility, and I speak fearlessly on behalf of our devoted officers when I say, that they would rather spend and be spent for such than for the richest in the land. If, as I have already shown, the effort can be made self-supporting and self-propagating, the mere fact of their misery or poverty only impels us to love them the more and to strive the more earnestly for their emancipation.



CHAPTER IX.

THE PRISON GATE BRIGADE.

This has already been in operation for two years in the cities of Bombay and Colombo and a branch has been recently established in Madras. Now that it will be connected with other branches of our Social Reform, we may look for a rapid increase of this useful though difficult work.

The establishment of our Labor Yards will greatly help us in finding work for this class, without branding them with the perpetual stigma of their crime. The chief difficulty in the working of these Homes consists in the almost insuperable objection of the men to be known as criminals after their release from jail. This is of course perfectly natural. Besides, it is important that we should hold out before them hopes of bettering themselves by their good conduct, and earning an independent and honest livelihood at no distant date. When once our Labor Yards and Farm Colonies are in active operation, we shall be able to do this for our rescued criminals, continuing at the same time the fatherly supervision and help which they so very much need.

The following quotations from our last annual report will serve to explain this branch of our work, and to give a glimpse of the encouraging success with which we have already met in our efforts to reach and reform the criminal classes.

COLOMBO PRISON GATE HOME.

Picturesquely situated among palm trees in one of the most beautiful suburbs of Colombo, within easy reach of the principal city jail, is our Sinhalese Prisoners' Home. Cinnamon Gardens, as the district is called, forms one of the attractions of Colombo, which every passing visitor is bound to go and see. The beauty of the surroundings must be a pleasant contrast to those dull prison walls from which the inmates have just escaped. Still more blessed and cheering must be the change from the Warder's stern commands to the affectionate welcome and kindly attentions of the red-jacketed Salvationists, who have the management of the Home.

A bright lad who is on duty in the guard-room opens the gates and introduces you to the grounds in which the quarters are situated. There are groups of huts with mud walls and palm-leaf thatching, which have a thoroughly Indian and yet home like appearance. The first few of these are occupied as workshops or carpentry for the manufacture of tea boxes, and here from early to late the men may be seen busily employed, sawing, planing, measuring, bevelling, hammering and working with such a will that you might imagine their very lives depended on it, or at least that they must be making their fortunes out of it, whereas they are not being paid at all, and all the profits of the manufactory go towards the support of the Home!

"What I admire about your work," observed Sir Athur Gordon, the late Governor of Ceylon, "is the way in which your Officers identify themselves with these convicts, and live among them on terms of perfect equality."

But I was describing the little colony. On the left of this group of workshops is a neat little hut where Captain Dev Kumar and his young bride, Captain Deva Priti, reside. What a change for them form the English Homes to which they have been accustomed, to this little jungle hut, surrounded as they are continually by a band of ex-convicts, and criminals. Yet it would be hard to find a happier couple in the island,—in fact, quite impossible outside the Salvation Army.

"It is all our own work," explains the Captain. "Our men built the hut, and the materials only cost about Rs. 25!" Certainly this is the perfection of cheapness in the way of house building! A little further inside the enclosure you come to more huts, in some of which the men live, while others serve for quarters for the native officers who assist in the superintendence of the Home, and to whose noble efforts so much of its success is due. Then there is the kitchen, and a dining-room, and a stable for the bullock trap, in which the released prisoners are brought to the Home, to avoid the risk of a foot journey when their old associates might hinder them on the way.

The spare bits of ground are all laid out in little plots of garden, where plantains and vegetables are grown, and in front of the Captain's quarters is a dainty little scrap of a flower garden. The entire enclosure forms really a portion of the garden of a neighbouring house, the property of the late Mr. Ginger, who took a warm interest in our work, and leased the grounds to us at a nominal rent.

The following are the statistics of the work during the past year:—

Total number of admissions, .......................... 230 Found Situations, ................................... 115 Left, the Home and lost sight, of, .................. 103 Total number of sentences of imprisonment,............ 459 Number of juvenile convicts under 16 years of age, ... 40 Number of meals given,.............................. 15,774 Number of tea-boxes made, .......................... 2,880 Profits on same,................................. Rs. 350

The accompanying is the official report form sent in by us to Government every month showing the results of the work—

JAIL GATE BRIGADE—COLOMBO—ITS RESULTS.

Prisons.

A.—This Return for the preceding month shall be forwarded on 1st or 2nd of each month, by the Officer Commanding Salvation Army, through the Superintendent of the Convict Establishment to the Inspector General of Prisons, with columns 1, 6, 7, and 8, duly filled in.

B.—The Superintendent Convict Establishment shall fill in columns 2, 3, 4, and 5, and send on the Return to the Inspector General.

1. Name and age of Prisoner.

2. Nationality and religion.

3. Name of Offence.

4. Length of imprisonment in months.

5. General character in Jail.

6. Number of days maintained by the Salvation Army

7. How employed now, or going to be employed.

8. Result of action of salvation Army on prisoner, roughly estimated.

Superintendent Convict Establishment.

Commdt. Salvation Army, Colombo.

That the work of the Colombo Prisoners' Home is highly appreciated in Colombo is further proved by the fact that most of the leading Government officials subscribe to its funds, including the Colonial Secretary, Sir E. Noel Walker, the Chief Justice Sir Bruce Burnside, and many others. Again, it is not an uncommon thing for us to receive such letters as the following from the Magistrate:—

From the POLICE MAGISTRATE, Colombo, To the CAPTAIN OF THE PRISON GATE BRIGADE. Dated, Colombo, October 30th, 1889.

Subject—Habitual Offender, Dana.

Sir,

I have the honour to inform you that a man named Dana, produced before me this day, charged with being a habitual thief, has expressed a wish to be admitted into the Prison Brigade Home.

I shall be glad if you afford him an opportunity to redeem his character.

I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, E.W.M., Police Magistrate.

The past year was suitably finished up by providing a special feast to which only ex-convicts were admitted. No less than 150 accepted the invitation.

About this branch of our work a leading daily paper, the Ceylon Independent, writes as follows.—

Most of our readers have read in our columns of the good work the Army is doing at the Prison Gate, in reclaiming from criminal courses the discharged prisoners who have served their time of confinement. In that critical moment, when the wide world is once more before the newly discharged culprit, when he emerges from confinement to overwhelming temptation, big it may be with fresh schemes of crime, armed with enlarged experiences to aid in its accomplishment, to be met, taken kindly by the hand, and led gently to the pleasanter and more peaceful path of honesty, industry, and virtue, is a surprise that is calculated to disarm temptation at least for a moment, and thus virtue gains time for thought.

The success of the Prison Gate Brigade has hitherto been surprising, and quite beyond its founders' anticipation. It has been especially useful in reclaiming juvenile offenders, of whom a large number have been induced to take to the honest means of livelihood, chiefly carpentry, which the Home provides.

OUR BOMBAY PRISON GATE BRIGADE.

This work in Bombay was commenced some two years ago at the instance of a leading Parsee gentleman, with a generous subscription of Rs. 1,200. Owing partly to the fact that we have been hitherto unable to secure suitable premises and partly to the entire absence of any assistance on the part of Government, the work in Bombay has been much more uphill and discouraging than in Ceylon. Nevertheless we have persevered in the teeth of all sorts of difficulties, and the results have been very encouraging. Recently in one week no less than three of the inmates of our Bombay Home were accepted as cadets, to be trained up as future officers. Previously to this nine others had been similarly accepted. One of these, Lieut. Hira Singh, is now himself taking an active part in the rescue of other convicts, while another is sucessfully working in Gujarat. Accounts of their lives are given further on.

Indeed Bombay has proved itself to be an even richer field than Colombo itself; and now that some of the peculiar difficulties that have hitherto hindered the work, are one by one being removed, there is every reason to believe that this work will soon make rapid progress.

The returns for the past year show that the prison gates have been visited 235 times, for the purpose of meeting the convicts on their release. Since the commencement of the Home about 134 men have been admitted. Of these 74 have professed conversion, about 12 having been accepted as officers by ourselves and the remainder having mostly found employment elsewhere. The number of meals given during the past year has been about 7,800.

One of the special features of the work here consists in the constant visitation of the liquor dens, with a view to persuading those who were frequenting them to give up their evil ways. No less than 430 such were in this way visited and a large number of papers distributed. While the opposition was in some instances severe, as a rule our officers were well treated even by the grogshop-keepers, who while admitting that their trade was evil, pleaded that they had the Government's approval, and that they must somehow support themselves and their families.

Besides the regular inmates, a large number of casuals have been relieved and assisted, but of these we have no exact figures.

The following are some specimens of the work done by us among the criminal classes in Bombay and Ceylon:—

LIEUTENANT HIRA SINGH

Is a Hindu of the Kshatraya caste. He comes of a soldier race and family, his father having served in the East India Company's army before him, and he having from his youth followed the same profession for the past eighteen years, serving successively as Private, Lance-Corporal, Corporal, and Sergeant in a native Regiment. He went through the last Afghan campaign, having been to Cabul, Quetta, and other places.

For many years his conduct was excellent, but latterly he took to drinking, got into serious trouble with the police, and was sent to prison for forty days, thus losing his post as well as his claim to pension. He was met by our officers on his release, accompanied them to the Home, gave his heart to God, and has now been an officer in our ranks for more than a year. During most of this time he has been connected with our Bombay Prison Gate work, and has in turn helped to rescue many others. But for the help he then received, a life of drunkenness and crime would probably have been, almost forced upon him. He is a good specimen of numbers who would like to reform, but with ruined reputation have no choice, save between starvation and crime.

HARMANIS.

"I am a native (Singhalese) of Kalutara in Ceylon. My father was a toddy-drawer. We were very poor. Sometimes my uncles would give me a cent or two for mounting guard to give them warning about anybody's approach while they were slaughtering stolen cattle in the jungles. Once, being very hungry, I climbed up a palm tree to steal cocoanuts, but was caught by the owner and handed over to the police. The magistrate sent me to jail for three weeks. After my release I came to Colombo, and falling in with the Salvation Army, I went to their Home for prisoners, and now thank God I am saved."

PODI SINGHA

This is only one of the many aliases by which he is known. He has been one of the worst thieves and bad characters to be met with even in Colombo, where there is a pretty good assortment of the scum of slumdom. Adopted as an infant by a pious Mahomedan, he was trained up in that religion. But in spite of every effort that was made for his reformation, he rapidly went from bad to worse, till at length he found himself in the hands of the police.

His first sentence was twelve months for throwing sand in a Singhalese man's eyes and then robbing him of his comb. When released he fell in with other criminals, from whom he learnt many new tricks of the trade. Once he was stealing some clothes from a line when the lady of the house saw him. A hue and cry was raised, and he soon found himself surrounded with coolies and dogs. Seeing that there was no chance of escape, he began to jump and scream and go through all sorts of antics. The lady, thinking he was mad, and having pity on him, let him go.

He has seen the inside of nearly all the Colombo jails, but without being made any better. Finally, he was received into our Home. At first he was rather troublesome, but after a short time he gave his heart to God, and has been doing well. "He cannot read or write," says the Captain in charge, "but he prays like a divine, and I am believing to see him become an Officer some day."

JANIS

Was brought from his village by a Singhalese gentleman when quite a little boy, but, leaving his master, thought he would start life on his own account. He soon became a practised thief. "I always managed to escape," he says, "till one day with some of my companions I robbed a Buddhist temple. I managed to get a silver 'patara' (plate), which we sold for Rs. 24, but was caught and sent to jail." "But you were yourself a Buddhist," said the Captain. "How came you to rob your own temple?" "What of that? I thought nothing of sin in those days. But it is all so different now. I am saved, and mean to spend all my life in saving others. I am just now practising a song to sing in the meeting to-night."

The Captain asked him whether he did not think it a great disgrace to go to jail. "Oh, no! I thought everybody in Colombo had been there some time or other. All the people with whom I mixed had been." "Well, how did you like it?" "Oh, it was not such a bad place! The food was fairly good, and I had not to work very hard but I wish I had known about salvation sooner. Even then I used to wish that I could find something which would make me good, but all my efforts were in vain till I came to the Home, and got saved."

In conclusion, I feel sure that a few brief particulars regarding this branch of our work in Australia will be read with interest, and will serve to prove the usefulness of this portion of our social reform scheme:

Some six or seven, Prisoners' Homes have been established in Australasia. The Victorian Government give an annual grant of L1,000, to assist us in this branch of our work. Special facilities are afforded to our Officers in visiting the prisoners, and in some of the jails printed notices are posted up by the authorities to the effect that any prisoner, previous to discharge, may communicate with the officers in charge of our Home, with a view to making a fresh start in life.

The testimony of Sir Graham Berry, Agent General, the Chief Secretary, the Inspector General of Penal Establishments, and the Chief Commissioner of Police, proves conclusively how much good has thus been done. The following extracts from their letters are copied from our Australasian Prison Gate report:—

H.E. SIR H.B. LOCH, K.C.B., G.C.M.G., writes through his Private Secretary to express "his approval and appreciation of the work done by the Salvation Army in connection with the Prison Gate Brigades and Rescued Sisters' Homes, and has great pleasure in expressing his belief in the good which has resulted from the philanthrophic endeavours of the Salvation Army to rescue and afford material assistance to those in whose interests these organisations have been formed."

SIR GRAHAM BERRY, Agent General for Victoria, writes:—"I have confidence in the permanent results of your labours, because you, treat these unfortunates as if they were human beings and capable of better things. I believe your organisation is a very powerful agency for good among that class which is practically neglected by others."

CHIEF JUSTICE HIGGINBOTHAM says that "it is only proper to mention that there is no better nor more useful work done in rescuing discharged prisoners from relapsing into crime, than that effected by the Prison Gate Brigade of the Salvation Army."

Similar letters have also been received from the following gentlemen:—

The Hon. ALFRED DEAKIN, M.L.A., Chief Secretary.

The Hon. JAMES BALFOUR, M.L.C.

The Hon. M.H. DAVIES, M.L.A. (Speaker of the Legislative Assembly).

The Hon. F.F. DERHAM, M.L.A., Postmaster General.

The Hon. H.T. WRIXON, M.L.A., Attorney General.

The Hon. W.F. WALKER, M.L.A., Commissioner of Customs.

Mr. JUSTICE KERFERD.

The Bishop of MELBOURNE.

W.G. BRETT, Esq., Inspector General, Penal Department.

H.M. CHOMLEY, Esq., Chief Commissioner of Police.

A. SHIELDS, Esq., M.P., Medical Officer, Melbourne Jail.



CHAPTER X.

THE DRUNKARD'S BRIGADE.

Hundreds of habitual drunkards have been soundly converted and reformed in connection with our ordinary spiritual work in India. Probably there are not less than 500 such enrolled in our ranks in this country, and turned into staunch and perpetual abstainers.

The terrible nature of the drinks and drugs consumed by the Natives, I have already had occasion to describe, as also the increasingly large number of those who are becoming enchained by the habit.

In connection with our present Social Reform, special efforts will be made to reach this class. They will be personally dealt with, and placed as far as possible in circumstances that shall put them beyond the reach of their besetting temptation.

For some time past our Officers, more especially those in charge of the Prison Gate work, have visited liquor-shops and opium and ganja dens, speaking personally to the frequenters, and in some cases distributing among them suitable appeals and warnings in regard to the fatal consequences of the habit.

Untimately it is intended to establish homes for the most hopeless class of inebriates, both for those habituated to liquor and for those who are the slaves of the still more fatal drugs, such as opium and bhang.



CHAPTER XI.

THE RESCUE HOMES FOR THE FALLEN.

Here again we have made a beginning. It is now a year since the opening of our Home in Colombo, and during that time 52 girls have been received into our Home. Of these

2 have been restored to their friends,

4 are with others—doing well,

23 have turned out unsatisfactory, and

23 are with us in the Home, almost without exception giving evidence of being truly reformed.

Heart-rending are the tales which have reached our ears as to the way in which many of them have been decoyed from their homes, and as to the miserable existence which they have since been dragging out.

Every Indian city teems with a too fast increasing number of similar unfortunates, for whom at present nothing has been attempted. We propose, therefore, very largely to extend our Homes at all the large centres of population.

Connected as will be this department with the network of other agencies that we have already established, and increased as will be our facilities for reaching this class, we are confident that we shall be able to carry out this much-needed reform on a scale commensurate with the evil, besides warning the youths of our cities against the terrible contamination to which they are at present exposed. All the weight of our increasing influence will be thrown into the scale for cutting off both the supply and demand of this infamous traffic in human souls.



CHAPTER XII.

"THE COUNTRY COLONY"—"WASTEWARD HO!"

As has been already explained in the first part of this book, the congested state of the labor market in the agricultural districts is leading to an enormous and increasing immigration of the country population towards the towns, not as a matter of preference, or of choice, but of dire necessity. The object of the Country Colony, as applied to India, will be twofold:

1. It will seek to divert into more profitable channels the steadily increasing torrent of immigration from the villages to the towns.

2. It will re-direct and re-distribute the masses of the Submerged Tenth who already exist in every large city.

Like his English representative, the Indian village bumpkin has a natural aversion to town life. Peculiarities in his dialect, dress, and manners make him the laughing-stock of the clever Cockney townsman. His simplicity and ignorance of the world cause him to be easily victimised by the city sharper, for whom he is no match in the struggle of life. He sighs for his green fields, and longs to get away from the bustle that everywhere surrounds and bewilders him. He surrenders these preferences only, because starvation is staring him in the face, and he has better chances of working, begging, or stealing in the city than in his village.

And yet within a few miles of his birthplace there are frequently tracts of waste land amply sufficient to support him and thousands more. He could reduce it to cultivation if he had the chance. He would infinitely prefer eking out the scantiest existence in this manner to flinging himself into the turbulent whirlpool of town life. Strangely enough the "Sirkar" (Government), to whom these tracts belong, is equally anxious that the land in question should be cultivated. It would yield in the course of a few years as rich a revenue as the acres of exactly similar soil that have been brought under cultivation in the neighbourhood. But the difficulties in the way are well nigh insuperable:

1. The congested labor consists almost entirely of those castes which are looked upon as inferior. The very idea of their emancipation is distasteful to the higher castes, who enjoy in most parts of India an almost exclusive monopoly of the land. Hence any effort to obtain a grant of waste land is met with strong and often bitter opposition, and it is next door to impossible for any one in the position of the Submerged Tenth to fight the battle through.

2. Of course, under the British Government these caste distinctions are not officially recognised. But as a matter of fact they still carry great weight. Anybody can, it is true, petition the Government for a grant of this land, but to secure favourable consideration is almost impossible. During the last four or five years I have personally interested myself in several petitions, with a view to assisting the petitioners, whom I knew to be thoroughly deserving of success. And yet after going through a weary tissue of formalities, seldom lasting less than a year, I have not known of a single favourable answer, nor have these advances met with the least sort of encouragement. The Government officials to whom these vast estates are entrusted are mostly so preoccupied with other work that it is impossible for them to give to the subject the personal attention that it requires, and they are guided by the reports of interested and sometimes bribed subordinates. The very fact that they are entitled to draw exactly the same salary whether the public estate improves or not, removes the incentive that would otherwise exist, even if they were the absentee landlords of the property, while the constant liability to be transferred from one district to another aggravates the difficulty of the situation.

3. Again, there is a lack of the capital necessary for the initial expenses of the cultivator in sinking wells, building houses, supplying cattle and obtaining both seed and food till the harvest has been gathered in.

4. The lack of combination among the congested mass of labourers is another serious evil. They are as sheep without a shepherd. Individually they have no influence. Collectively they are capable of becoming a mighty power. What is needed at the present moment is a directing head and an enfolding organisation that shall gather them together, bind them in one harmonious whole, and with the help of a friendly Government lead them on to occupy and cultivate these waste lands, converting them into districts inhabited by a sober, thrifty and enterprising population. Without such a combination the efforts that are made by private enterprise will continue to be carried out on such a petty scale as will utterly fail to cope with or remove the existing evil, and will merely serve to give relief in a few isolated cases. For instance I have in mind one district where to my personal knowledge the amount of congested labor cannot amount on the most moderate calculation to less than half a million people. There is in their immediate neighbourhood abundance of waste land capable of supporting them. The Government is anxious for that land to be occupied. The people are eager to obtain and capable of cultivating every piece of waste that can be placed at their disposal. If, instead of leaving it to individual caprice and effort to carry on in the present haphazard and redtape fashion, we are able on the one hand to combine this mass of labor, and to obtain on the other hand from Government the particulars of the land they are desirous of having cultivated, and the most favorable terms on which it can be granted to us, we shall be in a position with, but a very moderate amount of capital at our command, to solve the double problem of the waste land and waste labor, and that within a very short period.

5. The religious influences which we should bring to bear on the colonists would be invaluable, especially in the early days of these colonies. The example of our Officers, their self-sacrificing devotion to the interests of the people, the knowledge that they would gain nothing by the success of the enterprise and that they were actuated solely by the highest motives, the facts that they were sharing the homes of the people, enduring the same hardships and eating the same food, all this would act as an inspiration to the colonists when the early days of trial and difficulty came upon them. No less an authority than Mr. John Morley, M.P., remarked when he first heard of General Booth's scheme, that he considered that its combination of religion with the other details of the plan of campaign was its most hopeful feature, and would be most likely to ensure its success. This seems to apply especially to that portion of the scheme now under consideration. Indeed, were such an enterprise directed solely by an agency destitute of this powerful lever, we should anticipate failure in nine cases out of ten, no matter how great the ability that directed and how abundant the capital that could be commanded. Individual rapacity and selfishness would spoil everything, and instead of a beautiful spirit of harmony and self-sacrifice, we should find a lucky few gaining the prizes and the masses left no better, perhaps worse, off than before.

With these preliminary remarks I would introduce the Country Colony, as suggested by General Booth. It will consist of the following branches, to which no doubt others will be added as we advance:—

1. The Suburban Farm in the vicinity of large cities, including

(a) A dairy for the supply of milk, ghee, cream and butter.

(b) A market garden for fruit and vegetables.

2. The Industrial Village.

3. The Social Territory or Poor Man's Paradise.

4. The City of Refuge.

5. Miscellaneous:

(a) Gangs for public works, such as tanks, railways, roads, &c.

(b) Gangs for tea gardens.

(c) Land along the railways.



CHAPTER XIII.

THE SUBURBAN FARM.

The connecting link between the City Colony and the Country Colony will be the Suburban Farm. Situated conveniently near to the largest cities, it will serve many important purposes.

1. It will form the channel, or outlet, by which the agricultural portion of the labor overflow in the cities will make its way back to the country. In fact, it will constitute a sort of sluice which will in time act with the same regularity and ease as those which are attached to any reservoir of water, directing to the most needy places, and distributing without waste, those very waters which if uncontrolled would sweep everything before them as a devastating flood.

2. It will at the same time find a ready market in the city, not only for its own produce, but for that of the other branches of the country colony, with which it would be in constant and close communication.

3. It will supply the city with wholesome and unadulterated dairy produce, together with the best fruits and vegetables, at the ordinary market rates. These could be disposed of either wholesale to city merchants, or by moans of stalls in the various markets, or we could undertake to retail them in connection with our Household Salvage Brigade. The Suburban Farm would consist of, say, from fifty to five hundred acres of land in the immediate neighbourhood of a city. It would combine three or more separate departments.

1. The Dairy. Buffaloes and cows would be given us by friends, besides being purchased and reared by us, in large numbers. To tend them, milk them, prepare the ghee, cream and butter, and to convey it all to town, would find employment for a large number of the Submerged Tenth.

2. The Market Garden would employ a still larger number. Bananas grow quickly in all parts of India, and with them we could make an immediate beginning, introducing from different districts the best species. Sugar-cane and other popular native products would receive special attention, and where the European population in the neighbourhood was sufficiently numerous we could include the cultivation of such fruits and vegetables as would be liked by them. In the case of seaport towns we should no doubt do a large business with the steamers in the harbour, as for instance, in Bombay, Colombo, or Calcutta.

3. We should probably at an early period transfer some of the industrial brigades enumerated in Chapter VI to our Suburban Farm. In doing this there would be several obvious advantages:

(a) We should have more elbow room for them on the Farm, than in the Labor Yards, where land would be so expensive that we should be obliged to crowd everything into the smallest possible compass, both in regard to work sheds and sleeping accommodation.

(b) In removing them from the contaminating influences of city life, we should be able to exercise a more personal and powerful influence upon these members of the Submerged Tenth and should stand a far better chance of effectively carrying out that spiritual and moral regeneration, without which we reckon that any mere temporal reformation would be ineffective and evanescent.

(c) We should prevent our labor yards from getting gorged, and would keep them within manageable dimensions. At the same time that we should cope more effectively with all existing distress.

(d) The Suburban Farm being closely connected with other portions of our Country Colony, we should be able to use the latter to relieve it in case of its becoming in turn overcrowded by the influx from the City.

(e) It would thus form a natural stepping-stone to the Industrial Village, which we have next to describe.



CHAPTER XIV.

THE INDUSTRIAL VILLAGE.

For the Industrial Village we have already before our very eyes an admirable object lesson in the existing organisation and subdivision of an ordinary Indian village. Indeed it is singular how precisely India has anticipated just what General Booth now proposes to introduce in civilized Europe.

The village community so familiar to all who have resided in India consists of an independent or rather interdependent, co-operative association which constitutes a miniature world of its own, producing its own food and manufacturing its own clothes, shoes, earthenware, pots, &c, with its own petty government to decide all matters affecting the general welfare of the little commonwealth. Very wisely the British rulers of India have left this interesting relic of ancient times untouched, so that the institution can be seen in complete working order at the present day all over India. The onward march of civilisation has somewhat shaken the fabric and has threatened the existence of several of the village industries. But at present there has not been any radical alteration. The village may still be seen divided up into its various quarters.

Take for instance a village in Gujarat. Those substantial houses in the centre belong to the well-to-do landowners. The cultivators or tenants have their quarters close alongside. The group of huts belonging to the weavers is easily distinguishable by the rude looms and apparatus for the manufacture of the common country cloth. The tanners' quarter is equally well marked, and yonder the groups at work with mud and wheel and surrounded with earthenware vessels of various shapes and sizes, remind you that you are among the Potters.

On inquiring into the interior economy of the village a system of payment in kind and exchange of goods for labour and grain is found to prevail exactly similar to that suggested by General Booth. Only here we have the immense advantage that instead of having to explain and institute a radical reform in the existing system, we have to deal with millions of people who are thoroughly imbued with these principles from their infancy.

For instance one of the staple articles of food in the village consists of buttermilk, which is distributed by the high caste among the low caste from year's end to year's end in return for petty services. One of the usual ways in which the high caste will punish the low, for any course of conduct to which they object is by the terrible threat of stopping their supply of "chas," which means usually nothing short of starvation.

Here then is our model in good working order and in exact accordance with the ideal sketched out by General Booth. We cannot do better than adhere to it as closely as possible.

Probably the first industrial settlement which we shall establish, in addition to the labor yards and suburban farms already referred to, will consist of a colony of Weavers in Gujarat.

For this we shall have special facilities, as we have now 150 Officers at work in that part of the country, as well as more than 2,000 enrolled adults, a large proportion of whom have been in our ranks for several years. From amongst these we shall be able to select thoroughly reliable superintendents (both European and Native), and shall be able to take full advantage of their local experience.

But how far we shall consider it wise to confine our first settlement to one particular caste or to include within it from the outset some other useful village industries such as have been above referred to, I am not as yet prepared to say. Much will necessarily depend on the course that events may hereafter take. For the present I can only say that we will adhere as closely as possible to our Indian model.

The one weak point about the Indian system, as it at present exists, is, that there is no means of regulating the proportion of labour in each section of the community. The rules of caste prevent any transfer from one trade to another, while there is no system of intercommunication between the villages to enable them to readily transfer their surplus population to the places where they would be most needed. In a case where some village industry is threatened with annihilation, as for instance the weavers, there is absolutely no provision for the transfer of the unfortunate victims of civilisation either to some more favored locality or to some other sphere of labour.

Now this is just where our combined plan of campaign with its union of City, Country, and Over-sea Colonies would step in and supply the missing link. We should be able to direct the glut of labor into just those channels where it would be the most useful.

And why should this be thought impracticable? Everybody is acquainted with the power of wind, water and steam, where properly directed, to move the most gigantic machinery and yet for centuries those powers were suffered to go to waste. It is only of late that we have learnt for instance to put chains upon the genii of the tea-kettle, to put them as it were into harness, to bridle them and to compel them to drag our huge leviathans across thousands of miles of ocean. May not the enormous mass of waste labor that has accumulated in our cities and rural districts be fitly compared to the former waste of steam. The best that we have been able to do for it so far has been to provide for it the safety valves of beggary, destitution, famine, pestilence, crime, imprisonment and the gallows.

Is it too much to suppose that this enormous waste of human steam, the most valuable sort of steam that the world contains, can be properly controlled and guided so that it will make for itself railways and steamers that shall carry its human cargoes by millions across lands that are at present mere wastes, and to populate countries which are as yet wildernesses? In doing so, we shall but fulfil the words of prophecy uttered 26,000 years ago. "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing.* * For in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty land springs of water.* * * And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those. The way-faring men, though fools shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon; it shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Sion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."



CHAPTER XV.

THE SOCIAL TERRITORY, OR, POOR MAN'S PARADISE.

Probably the biggest wholesale emigration scheme ever undertaken was that of Israel out of Egypt into Canaan, under the leadership of Moses. The circumstances were so very similar to those with which we are dealing, that I may be excused for referring to them, as they have a direct bearing on the present problem, and may help largely towards its solution. It is said that "History repeats itself" and certainly this is true in regard to the evils that then existed, and we do not see why the remedy should not in some respect correspond.

Looking back then, we find that there was in Egypt in the year 1,500 B.C. a submerged tenth, consisting of 600,000 able-bodied men with their wives and families and numbering therefore at least two and a half million souls. They constituted a distinct caste, or nation, which had been grafted into the original Egyptian stock 430 years previously. Owing to hereditary customs, race distinctions and religious differences they had preserved their identity and had never become assimulated with the Egyptians. It was a famine that had driven them to take refuge in Egypt at a time when their numbers were so few that their presence caused no particular inconvenience to the original inhabitants, while the services of the King's Vazir, to whose caste they belonged secured them a suitable reception.

At the time however when we take up their history a change had taken place. Their numbers had immensely increased. The labor market was deluged with them. The rulers, capitalists and landowners began to tremble for their very existence. Enormous public works were planned and the enslaved caste were compelled to carry out their allotted labour under rigorous taskmasters, who made their lives a burden to them. Still their numbers continued to increase. Alarmed at the prospect of an impending revolution, the King gave orders that every male child of the Hebrews should be drowned, thinking thus to stamp out the nation. It is easy to imagine therefore that affairs must have come to a desperate pass, when from the palace of Pharaoh and yet from among their own caste a deliverer was raised up to organise and carry out the wholesale emigration of the entire nation.