Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-21
story Obtained First Hand.


That in silhouette, is the picture Of
England under her "Unemuolyment In
surance System" or The Dole. as
have seen it during an intimate tour OF
the Tight Little Isle.
Let it be emphasized that this story
Of The Dole has been obtained from
first-hand sources and is as completely
non-partisan as an open mind and de-
liberate intent can make 1t.
It will be day-by-day account gath
cred by personal visits and interviews
with individuals whose lives have been
touched IN any way by the system. The
dole takers. their dependents. their fel-
low laborerS who contribute TO the
fund, the employer who contributes,
and the taxpayer who must take care
Of the larger financial result that is the
rapidly mounting deficit, all enter into
the telling Of this story.
During several weeks have visited
the leading industrial sections of Eng
land. stopping likewise in many typical
agricultural and even educational
neighborhcods to discover how thor
oughly the system has penetrated to
every nook and corner of the kingdom.
Must Register To Get Dole.
I have waited in long queues Of I'M
! employed at Labor Exchanges where
they come to enroll upon the live reg
ister" Of unemployment. In order to
be eligible for the weekly payment they
must register twice each week. / have
stood at the pay windows of these ex-
changes on Fridays when they come to
collect their weekly benefits and have
gone with them into the moving picture
houses, which make a special afternoon
rate of a sixpence twelve cente in u.
& M Ei1 Iod
every afternoon all over England by
those who have nothing else to do
/ have visited with labor union lead
ers of both the Right and Left Wing and
with Liberals and Conservatives. have
heard violent Conservatives damn the
system with high excitement as ruin
ing England and have listened to low
voiced and aenemic Socialists tell me
without emotion or excitement that the
plan is working out the ideal of Social
ism. first to redistribute the incomes
and then the properties OF Great Brit
ain.
Between the extremes I have met a
brave but troubled people who are not
screaming or tearing their hair. but who
are wondering where it will all lead to
in the end.
have come to admire the fortitude
with which they contemplate the I'M
a
system which they started in good
faith out of constructive regard for
the rights of the unemployed. and the
frankness with which they now admit
that they had to choose between en-
larging the system and revolution.
Challenge To SoIvency.
undertaking it all, moreover, have
had to contemplate the undoubted fact
that it had produced upon the surface
the appearance of meeting the Situa-
ton. A great idle population is living
in what appears dangerously like con-
tentment, upon a distribution of gov
eminent funds that must eventually
lead to national insolvency unless 1t is
modified. 1 have been given sort of
high confidence at times by the calm
ness of leaders who assure that there
is nothing to worry about; that 1t will
all come out right. have caught some
faith from their belief in their tradi-
tional ability to "muddle through" but
outside the Socialists who knows exactly
what he is up to, have not met philos-
opher or statesman who has remedy
for the permanent tendencies which
have made The Dole challenge to the
very solvency of the nation.
Therefore am not going to speculate