Evening star., 1911-06-01
.vVA1cHI

WATCH %
in England at this time no less than
nfteen million people who are Just on
the living side Of the starvation line
The loss Of a few days work. the de-
veioprent OF serious illness. q severe
ance causing the suspension Of industry
or trade-any Of these may bring thou
sands upon thousands actually to the
line Do they really starve? Perhaps
back upon organised charity. Maybe
others draw their belts tighter and beg, !"
with few shoestrings or match boxes
In hand, or with piano-organ.> i saw q
young man decorating q Kingsway side
walk only. the other day who couched
his chalked appeal to the passerby in
these words: My mother Is starving!
Proof furnishedr' OF course. he may
have been taking. but-and this thought
Is never nesligible in this unhappy city
he may have been telling the truth. quite
as easily. Or. again. to return to the
question Of expedisnts, some Of the hun
e5y ones may take q flying leap over the
legal wall and try on q bit Of crime. for
which, sadly enough. there would s4em
TO be plenty OF apparent Justification from
tho viewpoint Of these miserable crea-
tures.
Few Londoners Apply.
With the gray wolf 90 close to the
door. 1t would seem that many thou
sands Of Londoners would have tried
to take advantage Of the small hold
ings act and ask to be allotted land for
farming purposes. The act empowered
county councils. with the supervising
approval OF the local government
board (the president Of which. at pres
ent John Burns. IL q member Of the
| ministry to borrow money and buy
or lease lands to be sold or sublet to
to be required Of the candidate. He
might. II approved. walk forth from
Hanwell street. back Of the old charter
house. with Its swarming. mass OF de-
graded men. women and children-the
germ of urban degeneracy knows nei-
ther sex nor age-and take up his Ave
or ten acres with a suficient amount
advanced to stock him, and by ,dint of
industry and pluck and intelligence
become in q few years owner of his
patch and In fair way to die in the
dignity Of q testament and q bequeath-
ed estate: That is; Of course, assuming
scheme. the law empowered the eoun-
ellis to reject applicants who did not
promise to succeed on the land. Other
wise there would have been far
sssstsss ss.d rssara OF failures than
But the remarkable part Of the whole
business il that there have been prac-
tically no applicants from London. The
1910. shows that during that period out
lof 1908 individual applications In all Eng
land and Wales only 81 came from Lon
don, and Of these only were provision
ally approved out Of total of 2. 4O4 ap-
prevails This means that the London
efs as q class do not want to get back
to the land. and that very few of the
small number who do 80 desire are fit
to try the experiment. No one can
ing on the edge of a moving Cockney
crowd and noting the small size OF the
men. their lack OF snap. their sheer
sloppiness OF action and the their general al
| required in the exacting work of
wrestling q living out OF the soil
Congestion Not Believed.
So, as regards the greatest city-con-
gestion problem Of all England, the
small holdings act has been q total
failure, II. indeed, 1t was ever regarded
by those who framed Il as even
minor palliative for the crowding evil.
Has 1t succeeded elsewhere. The two
commissioners signing the 1910 report
seem to. think it. has. But look at the
igures. There are. roughly speaking.
some 81, SOC, 900 people in England and
Wales. In three years the operations
Of the act have resulted in the placing
Of 9,035 applicants on small holdings.
the area allotted to them totaling S9,-
L 253 acres. Of which 53.642 acres Were
bought at q cost OF e1, eos. .636. and the
remainder leased.
unsatisfied some 6.168 additional applt-
cants, not all OF whom, however, are
bona fde homeseekers- Eliminating
those who are trying to get particular
the act, and others who would probably
have to be rejected for one reason or
another. 1t is probable that there are
approximately 1000 applicants who are
genuine would-be small-scale agrfcul-
turists, for whom perhaps 10000 acres
are needed. This, say the commission
ers. will be sufiicient to satisfy the
whole Of the genuine demand existing
According to these figures. when the
present demand Is satisfied there will
have been return to the land" OF
about 1880 people on nan an area Of about .is.,t
part of these people Will have come
| from the seriously congested districts.
Very, very few OF them have ever be-
sss 1910 % s who we're
in number. about 30 per cent were agri-
cultural laborers. The majority of the
| others, say the commissioners. were
from "those classes Of the rural popu-
lation which have some small business
or trade In the villages which is not
sufiicient to occupy the whole OF their
| time. and to whom the possession OF Q
small plot OF ground often makes just
the difference between bare substst-
ence and comparative prosperity.
Some Pertinent Questions.
The questions arise: Do no more
than $4,000 capable Englishmen and
Welshmen. to expand the commission
ers fgures . trihe for the sake Of q
margin. want to get back to the land?
Or are the conditions too exacting to
meet the necessities and limitations OF
the people? Or have the English and
the Welsh lost in large degree their
adaptability TO agricultural life? No
one can satisfactorily answer. Royal
commissions may inquire and report at
great length. but there 10 no way to
ascertain just how At the people are
for farm work, or what they want, or
what they need. until there 10 Q more
comprehensive method Of statistical
scrutiny Of the population than exists
at present. One OF the ADVANTAGES
claimed for Loyd-George's remarkably
comprehensive insurance scheme pre-
sented the other day IL that 1t will
necessarily lead to Q general registra-
tion Of the working classes. and 80 per-