Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1891-05-09
DARKEST ENGLAND"
GENERAL BOOTHS PLAN FOR THE
RELIEF OF ENGLAND'S POOR.

The Salvation Army Leaders Project
Meeting With Favor--The ''Submergsd
Tenth"--A Radical and Far Reaching
Scheme I'll ,OO0, 900 Needed to Endow
the Enterprise.
The chief of the Salvation Army,
General" Booth, has suggested, in
book that is exciting deep interest,
plan for the relief of what he calls TIL"
Submerged tenth" of Great Britain
Mr.. Stanley's description, i'll "DTkest
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 his book Darkest E ,g-
land, and the 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 a point of misery and degradation
almost beyond the belief of the more
| fortunate.
These classes throughout the United
Kingdom, inclusive of London. number,
according to General Booth, 5000, 900
souls nearly as many as all the people
of Scotland. The extent OF the 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 sway
out" of their wretchedness.
His scheme is radical, and Of great
proportions He proposes to attack the
problem by means of three 80 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 corners
are received at fourpence night in
payment for supper, breakfast, and
sleeping place. Under the new arrange
ment, Labor Yard will give the oppor-
tunity to pay ones way by work. Be-
sides this, Household Salvage Brigade
is proposed for the purpose of collecting
the vast waste of food, tins, and other
SC APPS that would be utilized by vii.
layers, but must be thrown away in
| cites.
|
t.., .nmates, for whom those in charge
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 London, 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 men 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
TO convert the Salvage Brigade's scraps
into useful articles, the bones into but
tons, the tins into toys, and so OH
through the list The waste food, such
as is not fit for human use, will 60 to
the pigs and other animals on the farm.
From service in this second grade of
the enterprise, more persons will be re-
stored to friends, and the usual en-
ployments of men and women. Others
still will show their fitness for promo
ton to the third and last settlement,
the Over Sea Colony.
In England's foreign possessions Gen
,,ral Booth believes suitable tracts for
this colony may easily be found. With
some knowledge of farm life, on land
sprepared by pioneers for settlement,
granted to the colonists as their indi-
uiIu,l rtu fbo ohl
tion to repay the expense of their
journey and outfit, ruled by good laws,
the men and women rescued from
Darkest England will have a fair
chance to live their new lives.
For the endowment of the enterprise
General Booth asks G1, 900, 900, less than
the cost of single first class ship of war.
The evident advantages Of the plan are
that it begins in the 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 objections are raised to the
plan: that the cause of wretchedness
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 be
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