The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1906-01-21

Of which he is now a head. 1t was to
me a matter of sincere pleasure to real
ize so vividly that Honest John" as he
has been called in this country for many
a year, rules over one of the great state
departments of our country.
Simple. unaffected, direct. and
straightforward as usual. he sat there
with that wonderful face and those
clear. transparent eyes. and I felt that
his name would live in history as be-
longing 10 one who. although he began
life in a perfectly obscure position. end
ed by being a minister Of the Crown,
through his own honest work for the
people. He is. nevertheless. as unspoil-
ed as straightforward. and as sincere a
friend of his own class as he was at
the very beginning of his career.
Nothing that Sir Henry Campbell,
Bannerman has done has been so wise
as this appointment. for the whole great
social problem OF our country is claim
ing the attention of every thinking in
dividual. THE unemployed has, alas.
become a form Of speech which is only
too common. and the phenomenon is
unfortunately accepted as inevita BILE
and the problem Is as far from solution
as ever.
John Burns has been for years warn
ing us against the evils of charity. the
widespread distribution of free meals
and free lodging. He says that these
temporary means postpone the end.
which is 10 find the real remedy. ana
surely we must be unworthy of being
citizens OF a great country If we are
eontented 10 sit down and say that
no remedy is TO be found.
Russians DepOrted.
A striking scene took place the other
day in the working of the new alien act
at St. GATHERINGS Dock in East London
A little knot of men crouched on the
deck Of the Steamship Superba, twenty
three Russian and Polish Hebrews who
had been brought from Bremen. They
sat there munching bread and drinking
tea, with a look of despair on their
faces. They were men who were to be
rejected under the new act. They pos
sessed the trinity OF evils, no money. no
friends, and no work, and for them per
mission was denied to land on English
soil.
True, / have no money" said the He
brew, and then he added, in a tone which
ought 10 make Christian people ashamed
of themselves, but our people i'm a
strange land are all friends, and they
would have given me work.
Fo the officer of the ship IL seemed
strange proceeding. He had not grown
accustomed to the new state OF things.
and he evidently did not like the idea
of taking these people back again TO
landed forty Cinnamon who were al
lowed to enter the country.
At Grimsby a large number of refugees
from Russia. including half dozen
women. were debarred from landing.
After some difficulty they submitted TO
a medical examination, but when that
ordeal had been gone through another
remained. They were told to produce
their money. The wealthiest man pos
sessed $50. but most of them had less
than 50.
There is no work in Russia; there is
no food" they said. 1T Is not safe to
live there. Surely England is our friend.
They could not grasp the fact that pov-
erty was now 10 bar an entrance to
England.
A man and his wife and children were
III such desperation that they lay down
in tears. They had escaped death IN Pos
land and had come to England. thinking
to have got into a safe ~ort. but they
could not produce the necessary money.
Beside them was a Russian standing
over six feet. a soldier who had desert
ed from the Russian army. and he too
was TO be returned to his country. and
despair seemed to possess him, for he
stood looking utterly hopeless on the
dreary deck. 1t is an unfortunate thing
that at this moment the act has had to
be enforced. and thus for the first time
England is no longer the refuge, which