Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-13
OF HUNGER MARCH"
Scotehman Who Gave Up Wealth for
Sake of an idea.
PROTEST AGAINST SOCIE,
Land for the BandIess and Employ
ment for the Idle, with Incidental
God for the Hungry, IL
His Alma.

tention In England Just now, was until re-
Gently one Of the most prominent and
successful lawyers in Edinburgh. in order
to identify himself with this new move
m~ent-which is organized for the purpose
Of calling public attention to the unem-
ployed problem. especially in its bearing
on the land questionable abandoned a for
tune Of nearly $4,000.
Clad in rough garments, a SLOUGH hat
and sometimes barefooted, Stewart Gray is
tramping about the country at the head of
a body of men. like a modern Peter the
Hermit, preaching a new crusade. Not
long ago tho Hunger Marchers,' led by
him, walked from Manchester to London. a
distance Of 1877 miles, to present a petition
to King Edward. In London they were in
vlted to st. Paul's Cathedral, where Arch
deacon Sinclair delivered a sermon cham
pioning their cause and collected SEQ to
provide them with food and shelter. Rev.
r. j. Campbell of the City Temple also
entertained them in a similar way. Re
Gently they Invaded" Canterbury cathe-
dral and created a sensation by demand
ing that a sermon on unemployment and
the land question should be preached.
The personality Of Stewart Gray is strik-
ing. Tail, gdunt, Sscetic, with long hair
and dcep-set eyes, clad in workmen's
clothes and often wearing knickerbockers
with no stockings, with a great "sombrero"
pulled down over his eyes, he looks like
the typical social reformer" depicted on
the stage. Seated in his dingy little office
in Fetter Lane-the headquarters of the
Hunger Marchors'-he told me the story
of his life.
story of His Life.
Il was born in East Lothian. Scotland, in
,S6a," he said, leaning back in a rickety
chair and smoking a cigarette, and had
every advantage OF a good education, eX-
cept that, as my father was more or less
independent, l was brought up to entertain
a mistaken notion of the dignity of labor.
My mother was a woman Of great culture,
d remarkable musician, and is said TO have
been descended from an early Scottish
king. one OF my uncles was physician to
the late Queen Victoria.
Il was sent to one of the best private
schools in E~ngland-a place where, as part
Of Your education, they bring you up to
have an utter contempt for manual work.
l had a natural instinct for farming, but
my people took good care to suppress these
yearnings and when 1 left school l was
sent straight away to study law. / eventu-
ally entered the office Of a prominent
| iiAb bh az Iio OllHNt was Nuu-
nected with the highest people in the coun-
try and in time l made the acquaintance
OF the most aristocratic set In Scotland.
1 became a typical society mar and moved
in the atmosphere of royalty, even coming
in contact with the duke of Fife. Eventu-
ally 1 became the trustee of a very large
estate in connection with the heirs of the
duke of Fife and had the management of
their vast landed holdings.
Society" Loses It's SAVIOR.
1T was about this time that, in travelling
about Scotland, managing various estates
and buying and specializing in landed prop
erty, that 1 came in contact with some OF
my fathers people, who belonged to what
would be called the peasant proprietary
class. Though these people were in a far
humber state of life than those among
whom ! moved, | soon learned that they
were worth more than all the educated
society people and rich people put to.
gether. In the humble homesteads Of
Caithness, l found the highest standards
of virtue, and, besides, the people possessed
very fine ideals of citizenship and hu-
manity. In the poorest cottages | offer
came across photographs and mementoef
OF famous scientists, explorers, writers
artists and people of that kind. I began tC
realize the emptiness and vapldity of the
sort OF life l was leading, and, indeed, o.
the life that Is led generally by the so,
r called upper classes
Though practising as a lawyer at this
time, I always tried to act as a man: anc
by attempting to perform this dual duty
I lost my respect for the law and lawyers
generally. while my admiration for men, d,
men, increased. Naturally, my bushes!
deals brought me in contact with a larg,
number of people, who were not men II
: any sense OF the term. Especially in tn,
commercial classes, / found meanness anC
unscrupulousness, and my soul Otter
D burned with shame at the transactions
4 came across. Just at this time-the psyche
logical moment, It might be callod-I cam
in contact with the works of Tolstoy an,
s Henry George and ] CHANGED to meet Prime
n Peter Kropotkin. BY thinking over the new
problems which these great thinker
% brought to my mind, / formed a plan 70
severing my connection with all that elias
Il of society and 'sll its works in which
Z had been engaged.
- Land for the People.
4 when I took the resolve To quit tn
r game / gave all my property into tn
hands of r friend, and then left the Who'll
o business. l should say the property aban
T. doned was worth about $50. 600. l decide
= then to devote my life to trying to obtai
some of the land for the people. Their
are vast tracts OF land in England whicI
L are not under cultivation at all. and, be
4 sides this. upwards of 1000 acres a yea
a go out of cultivation for sporting purposes
that is, for shooting and fishing and 70
n deer parks, made by the wealthy an
landed classes. With nearly a million IN
4 employed men walking about, and thes
e bare acres Of England waiting to be titled
Il seems a crime to me that this idle Ian
should not be linked 10 IDLE labor. Tn
e people of England have a birthright i
" their own soil, and that is why in IA
lie speeches and pamphlets. ] refer to theI
as the 'born-robbed.' They have no rigf
u to live. and If the landed classes in Eng
land choose to turn them all out tomol
row. they would have perfect legal powe
5. to do so. With my knowledge of farmin
lie and my experience on the land, l am quit
e convinced that l would soon be able I
teach every man under my charge TO max
y his own living on the land.
A. Aim OF the Hunger March.
~ MY main idea in the hunger march
he this: II We can get, say 1000 men, marcel
Dr. ing about the country and agitating, v
* are sure to make An impression on Il
m authorities In time. The people themseIv,