UNEMPLOYED AND UNEMPLOYABLE.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTITOR."J SIR,—The evil that is eating into the stability of this country is not so much unemployment as =employability. So long as the unemployed man retains his industrial efficiency there is hope for him. But let him once lose his capacity for steady continued exertion, and under the existing state of things he is lost, and becomes useless, and possibly dangerous. We in the Church Army have always taken a hopeful view even of the worst of tLe degraded specimens of humanity with whom we come into contact, and have maintained that a very large proportion of them are quite capable of being restored to good citizenship. I confess that my optimism received a shock the other night when I went down to the Embankment. Our officers were there distributing tickets, as they do every night, to all who would receive them ; entitling the recipients, on condition of doing reasonable work, to immediate food and shelter, with a further prospect for those proving to be willing workers of a definite lift back to decent life and pros- perity. There were there also the representatives of several other organisations, offering free food and free shelter for that night without task or test to all comers. Of the latter offer some fifteen hundred took advantage ; of our offer no more than sixty ; that is to say, but one in twenty-five of those men chose to gain his livelihood by industry rather than be supported by precarious charity.
The numbers do not show such disparity every night, it is true, but the balance this winter has been uniformly m favour of free food and shelter and against honest work. One would not willingly say a word to disparage any effort to feed the hungry and house the homeless. Yet one cannot help asking : Do not the providers of free food and shelter see that they are giving these poor fellows another push downhill, and making their restoration less than ever possible? Do they not see that by making things easy for these men, and preventing the operation of the divine law which says that if a man will not work neither shall he eat, they are doing a great disservice both to the individual man and to the community ? The only proper place for able-bodied men who either cannot or will not work is a compulsory Labour Colony, where they can be segregated and prevented from perpetuating their species, and, if possible, taught the virtues and rewards of steady industry. This is a question by far more important to the welfare of the community than any of those which are convulsing the country at the present time. Is it too much to hope that whichever party may be returned to power, Parliament will, in its first Session, find time to deal with this pressing need ? Other countries have established such colonies with the best results. Why not ourselves?
Meanwhile we do what we can to help those who accept our help up the first steps of the rugged path by which they may climb back again to self-respect and independence. I cannot ask for space to describe the steps in the ladder which we have devised. One of the most potent aids is personal influence. We have a League, each of whose members promises to take one poor fellow by the hand and help him upwards. Are there any readers of the Spectator who will join in this work ? It requires neither money nor much time ; but it does require an unfailing fund of hopefulness and brotherly love. The secretary, Men's Help League, at this address, will gladly forward all particulars.—I am,
Honorary Chief Secretary.
The Church Army, 55 Bryanston Street, Marble Arch, W.
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