THE UNEMPLOYED.
THE difficulties in the way of relieving the unemployed— that is, the men accidentally thrown out of work either by the decline of a trade, as in the case of shipbuilding ; or a revolution in a trade, such as is said to have occurred in baking ; or the suspension of a trade, such as happens when a long frost stops the jury-builders—though they are serious, resolve themselves, when examined, almost entirely into two. One of these is the absence of any accepted plan for relief, and the other is the temper which fanatics and agitators are trying to produce among the poor. Nobody doubts the existence of considerable distress among certain classes who are willing to well if only work can be obtained, or the willingness of London to relieve it, or the number of volunteers who, if they only saw their way, would devote themselves to the necessary task of distribution. The difficulty is to settle on a method which shall be effective. It seems to be agreed—in our judgment much too rapidly—that the mechanism by which the Poor-Law is worked cannot be expanded so as to meet temporary congestions of labour in the large cities. We do not see why it should not, for although, of course, the system does not pro- vide for the momentary distress of men who are seeking work, and therefore cannot enter the Unions, or for large temporary additions to the number of able-bodied men received into the " Houses," still it must be possible to increase the relieving agencies and to relax the system of outdoor relief in emer-
gencies, without impairing the ordinary operation of the Law. There would seem to be some failure of ability in this direction, due, we imagine, in London to the absence of any central muni- cipal authority strong enough, when necessary, to set routine aside. For the moment, however, the reliance is on unorganised help, and the point is how to apply it. A more subscription does not succeed,—as was shown last year, when £80,000 was raised in a few weeks, to be wasted, for the most part, in grants to the importunate, the lazy, and the crowd of nondescripts who were attracted to London by the mere rumour that " there was money going " for all who would ask for it with- out delay. A new scheme must be devised, and the Bishop of London, Cardinal Manning, the Bishops of Rochester and Bedford, Mr. Spurgeon, and Mr. Reaney—the representa- tives, that is, of the different Christian communities in the Metropolis—have proposed theirs. It is to superadd to charity a labour test,—that is, to use subscriptions in providing work at low rates for all men out of employ, and resident for at least six months in London. The work, it is thought, will winnow the applicants, separating sufferers from impostors ; the low rate will tempt the recipients of relief to seek for ordinary employment ; and the rule about residence will prevent a further influx into London of able-bodied paupers from rural districts. Nothing could be wiser in principle ; but then, will the scheme work ? The Bishops and pastors do not suggest how immigrants are to be distinguished from residents, except by inquiries which would overtax the time of all agents employed; or what kind of work is to be found which all able-bodied men can do ; or how the crowds to be relieved, when collected together, are to be disciplined, or managed, or made to work. Experience shows that men will not work at visibly useless labour with any heart at all ; yet if the labour is useful, ordinary labourers are thrown oat of competition, and the " relieved " labourers resent pay for useful work which is below the usual standard. Why, they say, with at least some plausibility, should we have so little, when if other men had done it, they would have had more ? Experience shows that, except in cases like the Lancashire cotton-famine, when a whole community is thrown out of work at once, and the respectables receiving relief still govern the non-respectables, relief works are usually excuses for a peculiarly demoralising form of gossipy idleness. Moreover, as subscriptions are soon exhausted, they invariably come in the end upon the Municipalities or the State, which is thus driven into direct competition with private enterprise. It would be far better to spend the subscriptions in careful detailed inquiry for the information of the Guardians, and on the information thus obtained relax the rules which regulate outdoor relief. The ideal is that every man honestly seeking work should have a subsistence allowance while he seeks it, and the attainment of this ideal cannot be beyond the energies of London. That system allows the stoppage of relief when work grows plentiful, fosters the natural relief of emigration to places where work is more plentiful, and dis- criminates between the loafer, who is almost a criminal, and the true labourer.
It is at this point, however, that we come across what is alleged to be the new temper of the people. The Socialist leaders, who assert, without the smallest evidence, that they represent the ideas of the unemployed, have caught up from the Socialists of the Continent the idea that the first step towards a new social system is to assert the .right of all to labour on full wages, and at the expense of the community. The corollary of that idea is, of course, that as private capitalists cannot compete with the State, the State should gradually become the only employer and the only capitalist, the whole people sinking by degrees into an equal mass of employed and guaranteed labourers, owing obedience only to themselves through their elected agents. The English Socialists, however, avoid conclusions for the present, and only demand work ; and in order to stimu- late their followers, sedulously represent " charity," or " aid," or relief, as in its very nature an insult offered by the rich to the poor. They urge their followers to refuse it, and say they have so far succeeded, that their numbers will shortly enable them either to coerce or to alarm the State. If that spirit had really spread among the multitude, it would, of course, be necessary to reconsider the whole question of the Poor- Law, and probably to supersede it by the far more scientific, but harsher and less Christian expedient, of compulsory insurance imposed relentlessly upon all, from the commence- ment of their wage-earning powers ; but where is the evidence that it is spreading ? There is not an industrial city in Eng- land which attacks the Poor-Law. It is never denounced in the most Radical of public meetings, except for not being generous enough. No party or section of a party agitates for its abolition. There is not even, that we know of at least, a popular faddist " who makes of that his battle-cry. The people when out of work appeal to the law unscrupulously ; and when they complain, the complaint is always of the stinginess of the Guardians and the insufferable callousness of the relieving officers. They do not detest charity, but the " close " way in which it is doled out to them, and the difficulty and delay in getting it. The workmen who might feel the "insult " most, the strong men who have such a terrible fight for life in dockyards, on wharves, and in the rougher distributing work, all announce that they feel personally grateful to Mr. Staples, the pre- sent Lord Mayor, because last year he exerted himself greatly to help them by collecting money. There is no sign even of ingratitude, much less of irritation, except in the Socialist proclamations, which are really issued by a very few men, whose power consists mainly in this,—that they can summon together by a sort of signal, thousands of men who, being out of work, may as well make a procession as do anything else ; and so can give an opportunity to a more dangerous class. If every man summoned by the
Socialists received a shilling to stay away, how many would be present ? The measure of their power is the measure of distress ; and if it were relieved in a reasonable though penurious way, with more care and kindliness, and exactitude, but through the old machinery, the question of the unemployed would in great part disappear. The workmen of London, who are its physical force, are not Socialists at all, though they may think the State could do more for them, especially in sickness ; but are honest, decent people, wishing for good wages, broadcloth coats, and as many and good hot suppers as the wages can be stretched to provide. The new cry is the cry of a small body of enthusiasts, tired of argument because they know it will not prevail, and followed by a section of a popula- tion greatly congested, just now despondent for want of sufficient work, and always greatly moved by the idea that any one should be really hungry. If we could only bring the charitable and the Poor-Law officials into a working accord— and we think it might be done through the Charity Organisa- tion Society—the dangerous part of the misery of London might be relieved at once. At present its threats, like the threats of the Continental anarchists, are only drying up the stream of charity, which it is our duty to open, but to use with the sagacity we apply to any other division of the daily business of the world.
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