The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1891-03-27
DARKEST ENGLAND"
GENERAL BOOTHS PLAN FOR THE
RELIEF OF ENGlAND'S POOR.

The salvation Army Leaders Project
Meeting with Favor--Tbe "submerged
Tenth"--A Radical and Far Reaching
scheme 81 900 900 Needed to Endow
the Enterprise.
The chief of the Salvation Army
General" Booth, has suggested, in a
book that is exciting deep interest, a
! plan for the relief of what he calls the
Submerged tenth" of Great Britain.
Mr. Stanley'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
he has called his book Darkest Eng-
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 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 rs 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 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 n night in
payment for supper, breakfast, and u
sleeping place. Under the new arrange
ment, Labor Yard will give the opp r.
| tunity TO pay ones way by work. BE.
sides this, II Household Salvage Brigade
is proposed for the purpose of collecting
| 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 charge
have not found regular employment or
returned to friends, may show their ca
pacty 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
10 En-, la f,,c tl,ia
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
10 convert the Salvage Brgade's scraps
into useful articles, the bones into but
tons. the tins into toys, and 80 on
through the list. The waste food. such
rs is not fit for human use, will go to
the pigs and other animals on the farm.
From service in this second grade of
the enterprise, moro 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 tho third and last settlement,
the Over Sea Colony. .t
In Englands foreign possessions Gem
eral Booth believes suitable tracts for
this colony may easily be found. With
some knowledge OF farm life. on land
prepared by pioneers for settlement,
granted t. the colonists as their di.
vidual proIsrt undcr the sole olliga.
ton to repay the exlense Of their
journey and outfit, ruled by good laws,
the men and women rescued from
Darkest E gland will have q fair
chance to live their new liveS
For the endowment Of the enterprise
General Booth asks 81 900, 900. less than
the cost Of single first class slip 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 operations; 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 a
nation as England might afford enor-
nous experiments, undertaken with
reasonable hope Of solving one of her
gravest problems