The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1914-11-15

that she was entitled to a grant from the
princes fund. and 1t was explained to
her that these payments We're her abso-
lutte right and not charity. She made
her application and the next day received
a visit from the relieving officer who
stalked through her flat. You don't need
all these rooms he said why don't
you sell UP and go into lodgings?" Fortu.
nately in this case | was able to ensure
that the war office authorities heard
what had happened and the woman got
an apology, but l am afraid there were
many more cases Of similar nature
where women were treated as paupeis
for asking for what they were entitled
to. The other case wns that of a wife
OF a iaborer, who was a reservist in an
infantry regiment and who was called up
lie earned 50 week and had four chill
dren One of the charitable ladies was
sent to visit his wife and had the i'm
pertinence to advise her to send her chill
dren into the worlihouse and go out to
work.
One of the most difficult problems with
which the princes fund itself faced was
that OF the unmarried mother 1t is hard
to discuss this subject without giving Of
tense. but it is fact that In many parts
or England large sections of the work
ing class live in practical paganism and
seldom or never enter "a church. To them
the marriage ceremony means nothing
ana they dispense with it. This does not
imply immortality for the man provides
Tor his unwedded wife and his children
and never thinks for moment OF shirk-
ing his responsibilities A. the war Of
lice, however. the marriage lines are in
dlspensable IL one wants to draw separa-
ton allowance, SO the princes fund took
on itself the full support of such fami-
lies, after satisfying itself that the rela-
ton was really a permanent one.
Having solved these problems the di-
fectors found themselves faced with the
problem of war widows and orphans and
of the hopelessy crippled men who are
now returning from the front. 1t decided
again to adopt the policy that for the
present at least the family income must
tie made up to the standard attained be-
fore the breadwinner was taken away.
The British scale of war pensions is not
generous. For instance. the widow of q
private soldier with three children would
only receive So week and a crippled
man would only receive % cents day
One of the first things that Parliament
will do when 1t meets next month will
be to revise this pension scale, and II
Is pretty certain that the widows a,
| least will receive minimum OF s. d
week. 1t is proposed indeed to make this
| flat rate for the dependents of mer
killed in battle and for men incapacltated
| by wounds. 1t is estimated that at ths
end of the war there will probably b.
about $1,000 such cases, so that the tota
charge on the revenue would be only
about $12, 600 year, little more thar
| the cost of a first-class battleship. Ii
the meantime, however. the princes funt
will see that no one is worse off than h,
was before the war.
The military side of the war distress.
was plain sailing. After all it wa.
| easy to find out II the claims of ar
applicant were well founded and t.
| deal with them on their merits. TIL,
civil side presented more difficulties
The fund set out with the idea that Il
was to prevent suffering caused b,
the war. but on the civil side 1t wa.
not easy to determine. whether wan
was caused by the war or not. AL
the Weary Willies" in the country VIII,
had not worked for years, except Ii
an effort to avoid work, claimed tn,
assistance of the fund, declaring tina
| they had been thrown out of employ
ment by the war. 1t was here tina
John Burns experience and common
sense proved useful. He organized 10
| cal committees in every town and dis
| trict in the kingdom, getting repre-
sentative men of all classes to serve
and he laid down the guiding principl
wherever possible employment no
/
exchanges was used to transfer labo
from parts of the country where trad
/ was slack. to others where 1t wa
brisk, and in the meantime assistanc
was given. The result has been tina
the great majority of those displace'
by the war have been placed again Il
similar or kindred trades. such as, TO
instance. engineers employed in max
ing industrial machinery who hav
been transferred to the armament an
motor trades which are both working
night and day, cotton spinners to tn
underwear trade, and cotton weayers t.
| the wooden trade.
The principle of employment rathe
than charity" has been carried to sucl
and extent that in q number of case
| manufacturers who We're hard hit b!
! the war have been provided with fund
to tide them over temporary Difficult
tiles on condition that they kept theil
people fully employed, and have ever
been helped to secure raw materfa
| which had gone up to price prohibi
/ tive under ordinary commercial condi
lions because of the war.
/ When the story of the Prince o
| Wales fund is told one has coveres
practically all that Is being done II
| England to deal with war distress
| for 1t was organized for the express
purpose of dealing with the whole sit
uation and preventing the creation o
a host of overlapping and competing
organizations. One other organization