RELIEF AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE LABOURING POOR.
WE invite the attention of our readers to the hints of an ingenious correspondent,* as to the means of providing permanent employ- ment for those of the labouring classes whom the fluctuations of trade throw from time to time upon their respective parishes. Every suggestion on a subject which the aspect of the times renders all-important, merits and is likely to command the strictest scrutiny. We have no hesitation in stating, that in the scheme of our correspondent there is much to recommend it to the approba- tion of all classes.
The poor-rates are among the heaviest taxes to which the wealthy and the industrious classes are liable ; and they are, most Unluckily, not merely unproductive in themselves, but they tend to demoralize the recipients of a large portion of the income of the Country. Our correspondent estimates the amount of poor-rates at eight millions. We believe the assumption to be near the truth. Five millions, or thereabouts, go to support able-bodied men, who receive this sum without rendering any equivalent to the public, and who, while they claim relief as a right, are invariably made to feel that such a right is reluctantly acknowledged by those whose business it is to minister to their wants.
By.the famous statute of ELIZABETH, the labourer is entitled to demand of his parish, work or support. He has generally received support in idleness, or been half supported by the parish, and half by some individual, who has bought his services at a low rate. This most pernicious system sprung from the interference of a busy, meddling, greedy, narrow-minded magistracy, who lost sight of other consequences in their anxiety to cheapen labopr—though, for a long time past, they have been among the chief sufferers by thee ccess of their efforts.
ur correspondent propOses that the system of paying wages (.........., out of the poor-rates shall be abolished; and that, at the same time; able-bodied applicants for relief shall be required to render 4 See the conuetuticatiou wigned " 3." at 0. WS. an equivalent-for the means of support iv may be furnished them. Public works of all kinds, he sugge , may be executed in this manner; and it is very obvious that buildings which shall rival or surpass the gorgeous cathedrals and castles which, still lend dignity to the aspect of the country—as well as canals, roads, and the other appliances of commercial intercourse—may be mul- tiplied to an extent of which it might be difficult at present to at. tempt an estimate. It may be asked, what have we to do, at this time of day, with such gewgaws as cathedrals and castles? but even those who are not endowed with the nicest sense of ideal beauty, must admit that such gewgaws are not to be despised, when they cost us nothing. Now, according to our correspond- ent's plan, they will cost us nothing—they will be paid for by the poor-rates—they will constitute the equivalents to be furnished to the public by the labourers, who at present consume without being called on to reproduce. But if specimens of architectural beauty, which, for argument's sake, we shall admit to be merely ornamental,—to be without uti- lity as a means of refining the national taste—are to be dearly prized when offered to the public on such terms, at what rate shall we estimate the other works of undoubted utility to which our cor- respondent alludes—works which, in like manner, may constitute the price to be paid for their support by the unemployed, and which are fitted, moreover, to exercise a most powerful influence in adding to the amount of the national capital ? Look at the celebrated Plymouth Breakwater, for instance—a work for the completion of which, the industrious classes were called on by Government to contribute millions,—while, during its progress, these very classes were paying millions besides to the unemployed poor—to men who, in virtue of their charter, demanded work, and received—charity ! Twenty such undertakings as the Plymouth Breakwater, might, on our correspondent's scheme, have been completed during the last twenty years, without entitling Govern- ment to add one shareg to the taxes. Waterloo Bridge, again, proved a most unprofitable undertaking to the speculators who engaged in it ; yet Waterloo Bridges, in various parts of the coun- try, would have been a very handsome return for a portion of the assessment levied of late years for the support of the poor. Tun- nels, aqueducts of various kinds, national cemeteries, and other works of that description, though little adapted to yield suitable returns to private enterprise, might be esteemed admirable equi- valents for the tax which we pay to unemployed labourers. There is, besides, an immense quantity of unreclaimed land throughout the country—land, naturally fertile in a remarkable degree, though virtually inaccessible to the agriculturist, in consequence of the amount of outlay necessary for its successful cultivation — an. amount of outlay which must, according to the law that profits obey, be preceded by such a rise of price as would press severely upon the greater number of the consumers of food. Let the as- sessment suggested by our correspondent constitute a fund for reclaiming all such land—which, when reclaimed on such con- ditions, will have the blessed effect of cheapening food, instead of adding to its price. Railroads, too, promise to be subservient in a remarkable degree to the increase of national wealth ; and in virtue of the agency we have been considering, the country might, in a short time, be covered with rail-roads at the cheapest possible rate of outlay. Such, we may state, are the only kinds of employment which it is safe for the public, or for governments, to create for the unem- ployed poor. They cannot be so profitably engaged in manufac- tures. because the private trader will suffer by their competition, while the public will not be in the slightest degree benefited by competition of such a character. But the works proposed by our correspondent are such as only a nation may undertake, and by which, when completed, every class of society is to be benefited. It is maintained by our correspondent, that the assessments for the support of the poor should comprehend counties, not parishes; assessments, on the present system, being often dreadfully severe in their operation in particular parishes, while those adjoining are nearly exempt altogether from their pressure,—large sums of money being besides misapplied in determining questions of set- tlement. We approve of the suggestion ; but, on the same prin- ciple, we should approve of an assessment for the whole kingdom, instead of assessments for each of the counties : and to us it ap- pears that national works would be best managed by a body which should be empowered to take a more comprehensive view of the interests of the whole country, than could be expected from county committees. To such a body, however, each county might con- tribute representatives, and thus local interests would escape the risk of being overlooked. We have said that we should approve of an assessment, even more general than our correspondent has suggested. We are aware that Mr. RICARDO has protested against raising a general fund for the support of the poor; but Mr. RICARDO was opposed to the principle of the poor-laws altogether, and he had not in his view a general .fund for the employment of the poor. It still -remains to inquire what would be the probable effects of such a plan upon the labouring classes themselves ? We have no hesitation in affirming that these effects would be of the hap- piest description. The labourer would be elevated in his own eyes, when he could at all times command a market for his labour.
He would acquire an interest in the preservation of order, to which he is at present a stranger. In many parts of England, the agricul- tural labourer is at once a slave and a beggar. He is a slave to the Ammer, who given him,, in exchange tor, :his labour, less than any* suffice for the support of nature ; and. he is treated as a beggar by the overseer, to whomhe applies for the remainder. But would not, it may be asked, such a change of system as our corre- spondent recommends, lead to an undue multiplication of the num- ber of labourers, and in that way render permanent the evil which every one deplores ? Most assuredly it would have no such ten- dency. No country, it may be observed, can be really prosperous in which wages are not high, and wages can never be high where many of the poor are unemployed. By an extension of the market for labour (into which our correspondent's scheme resolves itself), no stimulus is given to the production of new labourers, as the unproductive consumers of the poor-rates would prove sufficient for the demand. But even if the number of labourers should in- crease, the national capital will increase along with them ; and the whole scheme rests, be it remembered, on the conversion, in the first instance, of revenue into capita]. The wages to be paid to those labourers should, our corre spondent further suggests, be liberal. The rate of wages must in all cases depend, in a great measure, on the proportion which the number of labourers may bear to the funds for their support ; and though, no doubt, those funds might be increased by raising the assessment, yet it were desirable to ascertain whether the.five millions now levied for the support of able-bodied men might not prove sufficient for their employment productively. The sum spe- cified might, moreover, as our correspondent has shown, be in- creased by the suppression of parish litigation, and a diminution of the expenses attendant on gaols, &c. ; and while gaols were crumbling, schools should be springing up, to diffuse a knowledge of popular duties as well as of popular rights, and to foster in the labouring classes principles of self-respect, and a spirit of inde- pendence. Wages, -we have said, must depend on the proportion existing between the number of labourers at any given period, and the amount of the funds destined for their support. But on hearing this proposition enunciated, the labourers are entitled to say, that before their governors can acquire a moral right to restrain the increase of their numbers, these governors are bound to remove all obstructions to the increase of those funds—of the national capital. Such an argument is unanswerable. Yet the governing few cannot show that they have complied with the condition which it involves. They have been liberal of interference with the con- dition of the labouring classes : they have tampered with, and tor- tured the poor in all imaginable modes, and after the failure of each empirical prescription, have delivered edifying lectures on the paramount importance to their auditory of patience and self-denial, —while, at the Same 'time, these very men increase, or never at- tempt to remove, existing obstructions to the accumulation of capital. It is melancholy; indeed, to mark the wanton indifference to the wellbeing of the poor, which has always characterized those to whom it has been given to control their condition. If we recur to feudal times, we shall find the multitude of a. man's retainers con- stituting the chief source of his power—comprising the means by which alone he could hope to hold his property, or add to its amount. It is needless to observe, that under such circumstances, the rich stimulated by every method the progress of population. When, 'however, commerce sprang up, the great landholders dis- covered other sources of power, and they hastened to rid them- selves of the " surplus population" which their desire of personal aggrandizement had called into being. In the time of HENRY the Seventh, large tracts of country, which had previously been covered with cottages, were converted into sheep-farms, in order to meet the demand for wool. Incalculable misery was the con- sequence of the change —but what eared the lords of the soil for that? To provide for their retainers—to consult the interests or the feelings of these men—did not present itself to their imagina- tions as a duty. It was not nominated in the bond; and they were not disposed to look further.
In later times, we find every encouragement held out by our Government to the labouring classes to increase their numbers. Every such increase tends to cheapen labour ; and those who had occasion to buy it have, till lately, zealously aided and enforced the views of Government. The progress of commerce, however, introduces machinery ; and machinery throws, periodically and for a time, numbers of labourers out of employment. The rich and the payers of poor-rates, on such occasions, never fail-to discover that " population is redundant," though they rarely stop to in- quire _how far they are themselves responsible for the unpleasant consequences of that real or fancied redundancy—how far they have betrayed interests which they have affected to protect. Yet every institution which opposes the natural increase of ca- pital—which tends to narrow the market in which the labourer may sell his strength—is a fraud upon the poor. Primogeniture, entails, and other privileges of the aristocracy, by which land is rendered less productive than other kinds of property, are of that description: Extravagant expenditure on the part of Government is in like manner deeply injurious to the labourer, because that ex- penditure amounts to a misapplication of national wealth. Nay; the very poor-laivs, as at this moment administered, only serve to injure the poor, because -the rates -are unproductively-employed. What, let us ask, is the condition, at this moment, of a class above the labourer—of the farming interest? The farmer is con- verted into a speculator—a gambler, by the operation of the corn- laws. He pays a rent unnaturally high; . and a plentiful season ruins him! The Corn-Bill guards him to a certain extent against the corn-growers of Poland or; America, but yields him no psis tection, when the harvest is abundant, against the corn-grower ilk Ireland, or in an adjoining county. A season of scarcity, on the other hand, may enable him to pay his rent; but even then, he suffers as a consumer of corn, by its dearness. He is prevented, too, by the operation of tithes, from cultivating his farm to the full extent of his capital. The greater the return to that capital, the greater the amount of his contribution to the Church. If such be the consequences of the Corn-Bill and tithes to the farmer, need their effects upon the labourer be pointed but ? The Corn-Bill lessens his allowance of food—the tithe system lessens the demand for his labour. But different arrangements must now be thought of. The landlord must consent to forego his mono- poly—the clergyman must accept of a composition for his tithes. While the necessity of such sacrifices is .likely to force itself upon the attention of the landed interest, and of Churchmen—and while those sacrifices are sure to yield great and immediate relief to the labourer,—the scheme of our ingenious correspondent is fitted to bring with it many permanent advantages to the various orders of society. That scheme opens a new market for labour—the means for effecting this desirable end being already in existence. It seeks to sell the poor-rates for certain equivalents in labour, in.. stead of throwing them away ; it seeks to convert revenue into capital—unproductive into productive expenditure ; and, by the same process, to change the suppliant for parish bounty into the independent labourer, respectable in his own eyes, and useful to his country. Instead of accepting, as he does now, of a public pro- vision, the labourer would, in that case, enter the public service; and as a poor man may, at present, choose between a common trade on the one hand, and the army and navy on the other, he might, according' to our correspondent's scheme, choose, as cir- cumstances should dictate, between employment in the national market for labour, and in the market created by the capital of pri- vate traders.
We have followed our correspondent in his hypothesis of a committee for the regulation of that national assessment—no longer- to be termed the poor-rate. But what security could any com- mittee afford against the propensity to jobbing, so unfortunately characteristic of all our public undertakings ? A Parliament so constituted as to be responsible to the contributors to the assess- ment—that is, to the majority of the nation—would, we are in- clined to think, prove the only trustworthy committee.
We hazard these hasty .observations, on what appears to us a scheme at once ingenious in itself, and susceptible of the happiest application at the present moment. Something, at all events, must be done. The times are full of danger. The labouring classes may no longer be trifled with.
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