The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-08-08
FREAK SCHEMES.
Novel English Suggestions For tho Re.
lief of the Unemployed.

Novel English Suggestions For tho Re-
lief of the Unemployed.
At a meeting of unemployed held re-
Gently in Manchester a speaker sug-
gested that the government should COM
mence tunneling to the most northerly
part Of the world-the north pole. 1t
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 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.
A novel suggestion for employing the
unemployed was made by Jules Braile,
Belgian living in London, in 1S4S,
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 a 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 unable to
point out.
A member Of the Poplar borough
council once suggested that the gov
eminent should aid the unemployed by
starting to build road right round the
coasts Of England and Scotland. Nat
urally enough, the government would
not listen to such a scheme. They con-
sidered it as wild and impracticable as
one suggested to them by an old gen
tleman little time previously. This
man wanted the government to mar
shall all the unemployed in London
and the provinces in brigades and en-
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
the rainfall would be modified, and
hundreds of acres Of waste land would
be rendered fit for cultivation.
A little while back another crank
suggested that all the unemployed
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 number of canals.
If this were done, he said, ships would
be able to sail down to fertile regions
now unapproachable and which must
be worth hundreds of millions of
pounds.
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 the idle and
the incompetent fiocked into the capital
from every quarter of France and
claimed work. Under the circum-
stances the government thought it wise
to close the workshops. The result
was riot, in which several thousands
of persons were killed and wounded,
and nearly Fl. SOC. 600 worth Of property
was destroy sGsaphic.