New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-12-23
"OUTCAST LONDON"
LATEST VIEWS ABOUT THE HOUSING OF
THE POOR.

The POUR.
tFRoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRiBuNEI
LONDON November 80.
Mr. Chamberlains reply To Lord Salisbury on the
Housing of the Poor appears in the December for-
piqhtlu. 1t was announced fortnight, ana the SUD
stance of 1t was sent to the papers week IN adj
vance Everybody understood that Mr.. Chamber
lain one of the keenest politicians in the Kingdom
was determined that the advantage OF being Irst III
the field with proposals on new subject Shohid nor
remain to Lord Salisbury moment longer than was
actually necessary MIR. Chamberlain's friends IN
the press-and he has many-made haste to predict
that Lord Salisbury would be Outbiddcn. The Rad
icals of whom the President of tie Board of Trade
IL a leader and perhaps the leader. had no idea OF
allowing the Tories TO take n hand in the game
where reform social or political was 10 be elected
Lord Beaconsfcld was not to be repeated by Lord
Salisbury If the Tories did not see their way To
making the question party question, the aNtute
representa- i've of Birmingham was perfectly clear
TINT he did. And so. with about Is much time Tor
reflection as Mr.. Trollope gave TO the plot oil ne"
novel Mr.. Chamberlain drew up his programme Tor
dshng Lord Salisbury and incidentally Tor housing
the poor.
The article it may be said at once, Is dlNappoint-
ing article II bears marks of the haste IN which II
was conceived and composed. 1t bears marks of
has beer discussed by every paper, and Mr.. Cham
berlan has to a certain extent superseded Lord Sal
isbnry. Whatever is freshest must be talked of IN
the journals and Mr.. Chamberlain has arrived last
ON the scene IL is to be sad il justice 10 him that
there is plenty of evidence in his paper that he had
considered the subject lie discusses long before LoId
Salisbury made 1t burning question. Mr. Cham
berlan has had experience; his sympathics with the
door are keen and he has prejudice in favor OF
landowners to obscure the cearness of his view Of
the necessity of sacrifices on their part
HIS article may Ice summed up II twO points,
albeit he himself enumcrates seven.
fIst-Lord Salisburys proposals won't do. They
arc INADEQUATE they DO not punish tho authors OF
the mischief he seeks 10 remedy they do not provide
sites and they would not enable the Peabody IIuN-
tees to extend their operations on great scale even
# they get State loans because they could not bay
| land at a price that would permit them TO build
| cheap houses.
Second The expense Of making towns habtabe
| for the toilcrs who dwell in them must he thrown
| on the land which their toll makes valuable, and
without any effort the part of the owners. These
are Mr. Chamberlans own words. He prints them
in italics and himself describes them (all INGRAM
NAUTICAL as they arc) as going to the root of the mat
ter and stating the principle on which alone rad
| ical reform is possible.
No doubt they 20 to the root Of the matter and of
more matters than those immediately IN hand
| They disclose settled purpose on Dir. Chamber
lains part to throw upon section OF the cOmnu-
nifty burden which belongs to all sections. 1t il
not the first time he has sounded u note of menace
IN the ears of the landlords of Great Britain lie
| denounced Lord Salisbury aud his class in "A speech
| at Birmingham last winter as men who toll not
| neither do they spin. As has already been said Of
him. lac has unearued increment" on the brain
| la It al of Ia
no right to the increase in the value Of his property
| which comes from the increase Of population. or of
demand. or from any source in which the owner
himself has not directly baud. And lac proposes
therefore that the landowner shall be fined for the
benefit of the poor and of the community general.
| The notion of uncarued increment is Mills, and
with all due respect TO ar eminent thinker has been
accurately described as one Of the most fancful
conceptions of a closet philosophy. Mr.. Chamber
lain's application of it would be something more
than fancful. Any scheme based On this idea of
cOnfscatOn would be a prOhigate scheme NO mat
ter how pausbly the idea of bcnciitng the poor
might be put before the world This is not the mo-
nent to argue tue matter, but will 90 far as to
| ask Newly Workers. what they would think of n pro-
! posal that the total expense of clearing out the
| rOokeries of New-York shonld be borne for in
| stance, by the Astors.
When Mr.. Chamberlain works out his idea in de
tail he is not more happy than in his general CON
ceptiOn. His seven new points embodied. no doubt,
many excellent proposals. and the press has COM
| mented on them with favor But Mr..
Arnold Forster and points ont that six of the seven
are so admirable and obvious that they have
already been adopted as part of the statute law.
| The changes in the law which. according to Mr..
| Chamberlain, are needed in order to bring the law
into a satisfactory condition, have already had the
sanction Of the Legislature; are in fact already the
law of the land. SO that il does not seem urgently
necessary to state them here 10 comment on
them. The seventh which is not law, is the pro-
posa to levy the owners of land the cost of all
the improvements to be made. Most men will agree
with Mr. Arnold Forster that there is particular
reason TO wish that this seventh proposal should
ever make its appearance iii the shape of law on
| the statute book.
"0utcast" has all at once become a catchword
and its use it seems. is TO extend far beyond Lon
don. The convicted anarchist known as Prince