The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1891-03-21
DARKEST ENGLAND +"
GENERAL BOOTHS PLAN FOR THE
RELIEF OF ENGLAND's POOR.

The Salvation Army Leaders Project
Meeting with Favor--The "submerged
Tenth"--A Radicnl and Far Reaching
Scheme - 100000 Needed to EndoW
the Entorprise.
The chief of the Salvation Army,
"General" Booth, has suggested. I'm
book that is exciting deep interest, a
plan for the relief Of what he calls the
"slbmslged tenth OF Great Britain.
Mr. Shuley's description, in Darkest
Africa, of the Congo Forest and its
people seemed to General Booth so typi-
cal Of the condition of East London, that
lie has called lis book Darkest Eng-
land, and tile Way Out -
Is is possible here only to assert that
the lives Of the people of East London,
that portion Of the great city given over
to the lowest and most hopeless CLASSES,
reach point of misery and degradation
almost beyond the belief of the more
fortunate
These classes throughout the United
Kingdom, inclusive of London. number,
according 10 General Booth, 5000 600
souls, nearly as many as all the people
Of Scotland lie extent of tile evil
shows the difficulty Of dealing with it.
In this work it is asserted, and by many
admitted, that the Salvation Army has
been most successful. Through AN ex-
tension of its methods, General Booth
would show the submerged" the "way
OUT OF their wretchedncss.
His scheme is radical, and Of great
nrsnt,nrfinnu TN r.. -, -
problem by means of three so called
colonies, the City, the Farm, and the
Over Sea.
The plan Of the City Colonies is de-
rived in part from that of the Salvation
Army Food and Shelter Depots. success
full establishments where all cOmers
are received at fourpence night in
payment for supper, breakfast, and a
sleeping place Under the new arrange
ment, Labor Yard will give the opp,r-
tunity to pay ones way by work. Be.
sides this, Household Salvage Brigade
is proposed for the purpose of collec ing
the vast waste of food, tins, and other
scraps that would be utilized by vii
layers, but must be thrown away in
cities
In these and other minor occupations
the inmates, for whom those in churge
have not found regular employment or
returned to friends, may show their ca
pacity for steady work. When it Is
sufficiently proved, they are ready to
send to the Farm Colony.
The purchase of an estate of 500 to
1000 acres near L idon, and close to a
railway, is to provide for this second
branch of the undertaking. Waste land
and waste labor will thus come together.
The farm itself is expected to train all
capable mon in agriculture Of various
sorts. The care of small fruits will give
special opportunities to women.
An Industrial Village, the nucleus OF
the Farm Colony, will contain factories
10 convert the Salvage Brigade's scraps
into useful articles, the bones into but
tons, the tins into toys, and SO on
through the list, Tho waste food. such
as is not flt for human use, will go to
the pigs and other animals on the farm
From service in this second grade OF
the enterprise, more persons will b. re-
stored to friends, and tho usual emf
ployments of mon and women. Others
still will show their fitness for promo
ton to the third and last settlement,
the Over Sea Colony.
In Englnnd's foreign POSSESSIONS. Con
eral Booth believes suitable tract, for
this colony NAV easily be found. With
some knowledge of fnrpl life, on land
prepared by pioneers for scltlemont,
granted t. tie colonists as their di-
Ill A. ILL
ton to repay the exl ense Of their
journey and outfit, ruled by good laws,
tile men and women rescued from
Darkest e gland will have fair
chance to live their new lives
For the endowment of the enterprise
General Booth asks e1 900, 900, less than
the cost Of single first class slip Of war.
The evident advantages of the plan are
that it begins in tho core of the evil it
would conquer; from the first it culti-
Yates self dependence instead Of pauper-
ism; throughout it is progressive, lead
ing men ON from strength to strength.
OF course obj jrctions are raised to the
plan: that the cause of wretcliedness
and misery is largely in the people them
selves; that other agencies to accomplish
the same end are in operation; that the
successful execution of the plan requires
more ability of leadership than can DO
found.
Yet when all is said, the plan surely
deserves serious consideration. Such
nation as England might afford enor-
nous experiments, undertaken with
reasonable hope OF solving one Of her
gravest problems