Section 2.— WORK FOR THE OUT-OF-WORKS.—THE FACTORY.
The foregoing, it will be said, is all very well for your outcast when he has got fourpence in his pocket, but what if he has not got his fourpence ? What if you are confronted with a crowd of hungry desperate wretches, without even a penny in their pouch, demanding food and shelter ? This objection is natural enough, and has been duly considered from the first.
I propose to establish in connection with every Food and Shelter Depot a Workshop or Labour Yard, in which any person who comes destitute and starving will be supplied with sufficient work to enable him to earn the fourpence needed for his bed and board. This is a fundamental feature of the Scheme, and one which I think will commend it to all those who are anxious to benefit the poor by enabling them to help themselves without the demoralising intervention of charitable relief.
Let us take our stand for a moment at the door of one of our Shelters. There comes along a grimy, ragged, footsore tramp, his feet bursting out from the sides of his shoes, his clothes all rags,, with filthy shirt and towselled hair. He has been, he tells you, on the tramp for the last three weeks, seeking work and finding none, slept last night on the Embankment, and wants to know if you can give him a bite and a sup, and shelter for the night. Has he any money ? Not he ; he probably spent the last penny he begged or earned in a pipe of tobacco, with which to dull the cravings of his hungry stomach. What are you to do with this man ?
Remember this is no fancy sketch — it is a typical case. There are hundreds and thousands of such applicants. Any one who is at all familiar with life in London and our other large towns, will recognise that gaunt figure standing there asking for bread and shelter or for work by which he can obtain both. What can we do with him ? Before him Society stands paralysed, quieting its conscience every now and then by an occasional dole of breadi