Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-09-14
FREAK SCHEMES.
Novel English Suggestions For the Re-
lief. of the UNEMPLOYED. 35

Novel English suggestions For the He-
lief of the Unemployed.
At a meeting Of unemployed held re-
Gently in Manch hester q speaker sug-
gested that the government should com
mence tunneling to the most northeriy
part Of the world the north pole. It
would provide labor, he said, for years
and years. If Great Britain were to
subscribe several hundreds of millions
Of pounds it might be possible to con-
struct q tunnel through some 500 miles
Of snow in a century or two, but it is
permissible to wonder whether the
country would be able to foot the bill
without breaking down altogether.
6 A novel suggestion for employing the
unemployed was made by Jules Braiie,
a Belgian living In London, in 1913,
when distress among the working
classes was particularly rife in this
country. This gentleman approached
Lord John Russell, the then prime min
lister, and said that the, government
should set the unemployed digging a
gigantic hole, three miles In circumfer-
ence, straight down through the center
of England. After the hole had been
sunk to depth Of several miles, Jules
Braile declared that so much subterra-
mean heat would be available that the
country would be placed far beyond
all other manufacturing nations, but
in exactly what way he was unabIe to
point out. Az. @ ~ 81 & II "
A member Of the Poplar borough
council once suggested that tie gov
eminent should aid the unemployed by
starting to build a road right round the
coasts of England and Scotland. Nat
urally enough, the, government would
not listen to- such a scheme. They COM
sidered it as wild and impracticabieN as
one suggested to- them by an old gem
tleman little, time, previously. This
man wanted the government to- mar:
shall all the unemployed lin London
and the provinces in brigades and ems
ploy them in erecting: enormous high
walls in various parts Of the country.
The walls were to be of sufficient
height to arrest the clouds. In. this way
NhC ldlAldIl sWVulo ;OC 4uOuiACuy anu
hundreds of acres of waste land would
be rendered fit for cultivation: III &
+ A little while back. another crank
suggested that all tfies unemploy
should be taken over to the Sahara
desert and set to work to convert that
giant blot upon the map into an in.
land sea by cutting a number Of canals.
Ii this were done, he said, ships would
be able to sail down o,fertiIe regions
uow unapproachable and which must
be worth hundreds of millions Of
pounds. #.5s IA IS. Is ' n
A labor NJ. p. suggested at public
meeting some time ago that national
workshops should be established in
every city in England, Scotland. Ire
land and Wales wherein: any man
could claim work and good wages as a
matter of right There was nothing
particularly novel in this suggestion.
Years ago national workshops were
opened in Paris, and 1t was expected
that they would solve the unemployed
problem. No sooner were the work
shops thrown open than thes idle and
the incompetent fiocked into the capital
from every quarter of France and
claimed work. Under the circum-
stances the government thought 1t wise
to close the workshops. The result
was riot, in which several thousands
of persons were killed and wounded,
and nearly f1,50O, 600 worthof property
was destroyed. London Graphic.