The local authorities of Leicester are to be congratulated upon
the scheme they have devised for solving the unemploy- ment problem. Instead of the Guardians giving doles out of the Poor Rate and allowing the unemployed man to wander the streets with his hands in his pockets, they have joined forces with the City Council and the Distress Committee and are giving the men work with a carefully articulated scale of wages. The work consists of various municipal projects, some of which, it is hoped, will be remunerative. Three main points emerge from the scheme. First, the Poor Rate in Leicester has descended from 3s. 6d. in the £ to Is. 10d., and the Guardians are not a penny in debt. Secondly, the community is benefiting by the construction of new tennis courts, golf courses, and playing fields for children, better draining, new boulevards with additional planting, an open-air Music amphitheatre in the park, etc. But the third and most important point is that men who would otherwise be fearing starvation or sufferinh the demoralization of idleness under a doles system are enabled to cultivate the wholesome pride of self-reliance.
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