The four hundred unemployed Leicester workmen reached London on Friday
week, and left again for home on Monday. During their stay in the Metropolis food and lodging wore provided by various philanthropic agencies, and a demon- stration took place in Trafalgar Square last Sunday, when the men were addressed by several Labour leaders. The expedition seems to have been well organised, and the men behaved admirably, but we confess that we fail to see what good such parades can do. No one needs to be familiarised with the existence of many unemployed, and such expedients as marching to London mean only a waste of money, which might more profitably have been spent in relief at home. The economic situation will not change for the better though the whole of the unemployed class go out on the march. One disquieting fact about the Leicester contingent is the number of ex-soldiers—one hundred and sixty-four, apparently, out of four hundred—a fact which surely requires careful examina- tion. An interview was sought with the Archbishop of Canterbury, who—rightly, in our opinion—declined to commit himself on an economic question with which he was imperfectly acquainted, while assuring the men of his sympathy.
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