The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1891-01-17
GEN BOOTHS PLAN TO REGENERATE
DARKEST ENGLAND"

u
he proposes to rescue those whom
he styles the Submerged tenth, F"
or the three millions of people in
Great Britain whom the General
asserts are too helplessly poor to
hope to rise to anything better
than the most wretched and too
frequently criminal method of ex-
istence.
Some months ago the General
wrote book which he calls "In
Darkest England" By gratuitous
distribution as we'll as by sale he
secured an enormous circulation
for this book, and the earnest atten-
ton of all classes and every shade
of religious belief and of political
party. From the Queen and the
Archbishop of Canterbury, from
Cardinal Manning and the Marquis
of Queensbury, from Church digni-
taries and dissenters poured in
upon the General letters of encOur-
agements and frequent large gifts
of money. To give some idea OF
the interest aroused in London
alone we may state that Exeter
Hall, one of the largest in London,
was filled to overcrowding for two
successive nights, by people who
paid FIVE or ten shillings each to
hear the General PROFOUND his
scheme. At the conclusion of the
first nights meeting, several gifts
of FL 900 each, great number OF
G100 and ESQ each, promise of
e3, 900 and farm, were announced,
the total given or promised rising
to 938,505, and after the second
evening the General announced
three more gifts of $1,000 each
and total of f43,171.
| Put in a few words the outline
of the scheme is this. First the
General :" proposes to find a
shelter, food and work for all who
need. A small wage will be paid
at these "city refugees which is
the first step of the ladder. After
probation, we presume, his subjects
are to be drafted off In "farn
refugees" in the country where
e under strict supervision and kindly
but rigid discipline they are to be
taught according to the capacity
of each to earn an honest living
{ and to fit themselves for the thirt
: stage of reclamation in a specia
colonial settlement. General Booti
says he has been offered piece O
land sixty miles square, with al
sorts of concessions and advan
!. tages. The army he said "did no
: propose to supply food withou
work, AID when man came with
out money, he was told to go int
the labor yard and earn his sup
per-" etc., etc. This is SO precisel,
the system that has been carried
on for many years in both publi
and private refugees that one won
ders how one particular group o
d system of refugees will, as Boot
d declaresi if the scheme be fairl.
. and patiently tried. in twent,
years fulfill his prediction tina
i there will not be in England a
Il able bodied man or woman TO
: whom there was not work enoug
e to provide the necessaries of life,
!. or again that "there shall be goo
oi homes for every orphan"
q The " General asks for 100000
ic down and 100000 per annum +
81 effect all this, and if this can b
l. done FOR the money it will be we
o spent.
N 1t is an undeniable fact that in
IL dependent of the parochial poor
houses and night refugees, there ar
g. numbers of others supported b
D. voluntary contributions and admir-
I'd istered by the clergy the cit
e. missions, the lay brotherhoods an
or sisterhoods and by private indiv
A. duals all working with the sam
n object, all more or less on th
e. same lines rs proposed by Bootl
is and with the advantage of speci.
m adaptability arising from tn
n knowledge of the local necessitie
d. and special requirements of tn
st district each is working in. til
y nature and fluctuations of the en-
to ployments followed by most of tn
IS poorer classes, and above all tn
Is. agents and in many cases the SUI
he porters of the charitable associ
n tions make it their business to
n personally acquainted with til