{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_64825/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_64825","id":"gutenberg_64825","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64825","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Politics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Sociology","Great Britain -- Social conditions -- 19th century","Social problems","Working class"],"text":"[Transcriber's note: Italic font is indicated by _underscores_.]\n\n\n    SOCIOLOGY, SOCIALISM, ETC.\n\nTHE ANNUAL CHARITIES REGISTER AND DIGEST: being a Classified Register of\nCharities in or available for the Metropolis, together with a Digest of\nInformation respecting the Legal and Voluntary Means for the Prevention\nand Relief of Distress and the Improvement of the Condition of the Poor.\n8vo, 5s. net.\n\nUNEMPLOYMENT: a Problem of Industry. 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Fcap. 8vo, paper covers, 1s. net; gilt top, cloth, 2s.\nnet; leather, 3s. net.\n\n\n    LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO., 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, E.C.,\n    NEW YORK, BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS.\n\n\n\n\n    PRACTICABLE SOCIALISM\n\n\n\n\n    +------------------------------------------------------+\n    | THE MAKING OF THE BODY.                              |\n    |                                                      |\n    | BY MRS. S. A. BARNETT.                               |\n    | _With 113 Illustrations._ _Crown 8vo_, 1_s._ 9_d._   |\n    |                                                      |\n    | ----------                                           |\n    |                                                      |\n    | LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.,                             |\n    | LONDON, NEW YORK, BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS.      |\n    +------------------------------------------------------+\n\n\n\n\n    [Illustration: PORTRAITS OF CANON AND MRS. S. A. BARNETT\n\n    Painted by Sir Hubert von Herkomer, R.A.; given to them by many\n    friends, and presented by the Right Honourable Herbert H. Asquith,\n    K.C., M.P., at Toynbee Hall, on November 20th, 1908.]\n\n\n\n\n    PRACTICABLE SOCIALISM\n\n    _NEW SERIES_\n\n    BY\n    CANON S. A. BARNETT (THE LATE)\n    AND\n    MRS. S. A. BARNETT\n\n    _WITH FRONTISPIECE_\n\n\n    LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.\n    39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON\n    FOURTH AVENUE & 30TH STREET, NEW YORK\n    BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS\n    1915\n\n\n\n\n    INTRODUCTION.\n\n\nThe first edition of PRACTICABLE SOCIALISM was printed in 1888, the\nsecond in 1894. Now, twenty-one years afterwards, a new series is\nissued, but the most important of the two authors, alas! has left the\nworld, and it therefore falls to me to write the introduction alone.\n\nIn selecting the papers for this volume, out of a very great deal of\nmaterial, the principle followed has been to print those which deal with\nreforms yet waiting to be fully accomplished. It would have been easier\nand perhaps pleasanter to have taken the subjects dealt with in the\nprevious volumes, and by grouping subsequent papers together, have shown\nhow many of the reforms then indicated as desirable and \u201cpracticable,\u201d\nhad now become accepted and practised. But so to do would not have been\nin harmony with our feelings. My husband counted the sin of \u201cnumbering\nthe people\u201d as due to a debased moral outlook, and the contemplation of\n\u201cresults\u201d as tending to hinder nobler efforts after that which is deeper\nthan can be calculated. Of him it is truthful to quote \u201cHis soul\u2019s wings\nnever furled\u201d.\n\nThe papers have been grouped in subject sections, and though the ideas\nhave for many years been set forth by him in various publications, in\nmost instances the writings here reproduced are under six years old. In\na few cases, however, I have used quite an old paper, thinking it gave,\nwith hopeful vision, thoughts which later lost their freshness as they\nbecame accomplished facts.\n\nThe book begins with _The Religion of the People_ and _Cathedral\nReform_, for Canon Barnett held with unvarying certainty that--to quote\nhis own words--\u201cthere is no other end worth reaching than the knowledge\nof God, which is eternal life,\u201d--and that \u201corganizations are only\nmachinery of which the driving power is human love, and of which the\nobject is the increase of the knowledge of God\u201d. To this test our plans\nand undertakings were constantly brought. \u201cDoes our work give \u2018life\u2019 by\nbringing men nearer to God and nearer to one another.\u201d \u201cIn the knowledge\nof what \u2018life\u2019 is, let us put our work to the test.\u201d \u201cDo the Church\nServices release divine hopes buried under the burden of daily cares?\u201d\n\u201cDo the new buildings refine manners?\u201d \u201cDoes higher teaching tend to\nhigher thoughts about duty?\u201d \u201cDoes our relief system help to heal a\nbroken dignity as well as to comfort a sufferer?\u201d \u201cDo our entertainments\ndevelop powers for enjoying the best in humanity past and present?\u201d\n\nThat the Church should be reformed to make it the servant of all who\nwould lead the higher life, was the hope he cherished throughout many\nyears spent in strenuous efforts to obtain a social betterment. He\nwrites: \u201cThe great mass of the people, because they stand apart from all\nreligious communions, may have in them a religious sense, but their\nthought of God is not worked through their emotions into their daily\nlives. They do not know what they worship, and so do not say with the\npsalmist, \u2018My soul is athirst for the living god,\u2019 or say with Joseph,\n\u2018How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?\u2019 The\nspiritualization of life being necessary to human peace and happiness,\nthe problem which is haunting this generation is how to spiritualize the\nforces which are shaping the future.\u201d\n\nMy husband urged that the reform of the Church would tend to solve that\nproblem. \u201cThe Church by its history and organization has a power no\nother agency can wield. If more freedom could be given to its system of\ngovernment and services, if it could be made directly expressive of the\nhighest aspirations of the people, it is difficult to exaggerate the\neffect it might have. In every parish a force would be brought to bear\nwhich might kindle thought, so that it would reach out to the highest\nobject; which might stir love, so that men would forget themselves in\ndevotion to the whole; and which might create a hope wherein all would\nfind rest. The first need of the age is an increase of Spirituality, and\nthe means of obtaining it is a Reformed Church.\u201d\n\nThe papers under _Recreation_ might almost as well have been placed in\nthe Education Section, so strongly did my husband feel that recreation\nshould educate. Only a few months before his illness he wrote: \u201cThe\nclaim of education is now primarily to fit a child to earn a living, and\ntherefore he is taught to read and write and learn a trade. But if it\nwere seen that it is equally important to fit a child to use well his\nleisure, many changes would be made.\u201d And such changes he argued would\nincrease, not lessen, the joy of holidays, an opinion which my\nexperience as Chairwoman of the Country-side Committee of the Children\u2019s\nCountry Holiday Fund abundantly supports.\n\nIn the Section for _Settlements_ and their work, only three papers will\nbe found, for so much has been written and spoken of Toynbee Hall and\nkindred centres of usefulness, that it seems almost unnecessary to\nreproduce the same thoughts. Yet in view of the fact that questions are\noften asked as to the genesis of the idea, I have put in one of the\nfirst papers (1884) that my husband wrote after we had had nine years\u2019\nexperience of the work of University men among the poorest and saddest\npeople, in which he suggested the scheme of Toynbee Hall, and also a\npaper of mine written nine years after its foundation, in which I chat\nof the _Beginnings of Toynbee Hall_.\n\nBetween the first and the third paper there is a stretch of twenty-one\nbusy years, 1884-1905, and the article bears the marks of Canon\nBarnett\u2019s intense realization of the need of higher education, and his\nalmost passionate demand for it on behalf of the industrial classes.\n\u201cSocial Reform,\u201d he writes, \u201cwill soon be the all-absorbing interest as\nthe modern realization of the claims of human nature and the growing\npower of the people will not tolerate many of the present conditions of\nindustrial life.... The well-being of the future depends on the methods\nby which reform proceeds. Reforms in the past have often been\ndisappointing. They have been made in the rights of one class, and have\nended in the assertion of rights over another class. They have been made\nby force, and produced reaction. They have been done for the people, not\nby the people, and have never been assimilated. The method by which\nknowledge and industry may co-operate has yet to be tried, and one way\nin which to bring about such co-operation is the way of University\nSettlements.\u201d\n\nSo many are the changes which affect _Poverty and Labour_, so rapidly\nhave they come about, and so keen and living an interest did Canon\nBarnett feel with every step that the great army of the disinherited\ntook towards social justice, that it has been difficult to select which\npapers on which subject to reprint, but I have chosen the most\ncharacteristic, and also those connected with the reforms which most\ninfluenced character and life. In this Section also some of the many\npapers which Canon Barnett wrote on Poor Law Reform have been admitted.\nI know that the activities of the Fabian Society and the \u201cBreak up of\nthe Poor Law\u201d organization have rendered some of the ideas familiar, but\nmany of the Reforms he advocated are not yet accomplished, and to those\nwho are conversant with the subject, his large, sane, unsensational\nstatement of the case, as it appeared to him, will be welcome,--all the\nmore so because for nearly thirty years he was a member of the\nWhitechapel Board of Guardians, the Founder of the Poor Law Conferences,\nand had both initiated and carried out large administrative reforms. He\nalso had a very deep and probing tenderness for the character of\nindividual paupers, and a sensitive shrinking from wounding their\nself-respect or lowering the dignity of their humanity, an attitude of\nmind which influenced his relation to schemes sometimes made by paper\nlegislators who considered the poor in \u201cthe lump\u201d instead of \u201cone by\none\u201d.\n\nOf the Social Service Section there is but little to say. _The Real\nSocial Reformer_ contains guiding principles, _The Mission of Music_ is\nan interesting and curious output from a man with no ear for tune or\ntime or harmony, and _The Church on Town Planning_ is but an example of\nhow eagerly he desired that the Church should guide as well as minister\nto the people. _Where Charity Fails_ is another plea that the kindly\nintentioned should not injure the character of the recipient, and that\nthe crucial question, \u201cIs our aim the self-extinction of our\norganization,\u201d should be borne in mind by the Governors and enthusiastic\nsupporters of even the best philanthropic agencies.\n\nThe _Educational_ Section might have been much larger, but the papers\nselected bear on the three sides of the subject which my husband in\nrecent years thought to be the most important. _The Equipment of the\nTeachers_ but carried on the ideals towards which he ever pressed, from\nthe days when as a Curate at St. Mary\u2019s, Bryanston Square, he taught the\nmonitors of the Church Schools, through the days when the first London\nPupil Teachers\u2019 Centre had its birthplace in Toynbee Hall, through the\ndays when he established the Scholarship Committee whose work was to\nselect suitable pupil teachers and support them through their University\ncareers in Oxford and Cambridge, through the days when he rejoiced at\nthe abandonment of the vast system of pupil teachers,--to the days when\nhe demanded that teachers for the poorest children should be called from\nthe cultivated classes, and take their calling as a mission, to be\nrecognized and remunerated, as an honoured profession undertaken by\nthose anxious to render Social Service.\n\nThe article _Justice to Young Workers_ deals with the vexed question of\nContinuation Schools, attendance at which Canon Barnett thought should\nbe compulsory, since he believed that economic conditions would more\nreadily change to meet legally established educational demands than was\npossible, when, in the interwoven complexity of business, one unwilling\nor ten indifferent employers could throw any complicated voluntary\norganization out of gear.\n\nThe two articles on _Oxford and the Working People_ and _A Race between\nEducation and Ruin_ only inadequately represent the thought he gave to\nthe matter, or the deeply rooted, great branched hopes he had entwined\nround the reform of the University,--but for many reasons he felt it\nwiser to stand aside and watch younger men wield the sword of the pen.\nSo his writings on this subject are few, but that matters less than\notherwise it would have done, because the group of friends who have\ndecided to establish \u201cBarnett House\u201d in his memory are among those in\nOxford who shared his work, cared for his plans, and believed in his\nvisions, created as they were on knowledge of the industrial workers and\nthe crippling conditions of their lives. So as \u201cBarnett House\u201d is\nestablished and grows strong, and in conjunction with the Toynbee Hall\nSocial Service Fellowship will bring the University and Industrial\nCentres into closer and ever more sympathetic relationship, it is not\npast the power of a faith, however puny and wingless, to imagine that\nthe reforms my husband saw \u201cdarkly\u201d may be seen \u201cface to face,\u201d and in\nrealization show once more how \u201cthe Word can be made flesh\u201d.\n\nIn some Sections I have included papers from my pen, not because I think\nthey add much to the value of the book, but because my husband insisted\non the previous volumes of PRACTICABLE SOCIALISM being composed of our\njoint writings as well as illustrative of our joint work, or to use his\nwords in the 1888 volume: \u201cEach Essay is signed by the writer, but in\neither case they represent our common thought, as all that has been done\nrepresents our common work\u201d.\n\n                                                HENRIETTA O. BARNETT.\n\n  _17 July, 1915._\n\n\n\n\n    CONTENTS\n\n\n                                                                    PAGE\n RELIGION.\n\n    1.  Religion of the People              _Canon Barnett_         1\n\n    2.  Cathedral Reform                    _Canon Barnett_        17\n\n    3.  Cathedrals and Modern Needs         _Canon Barnett_        32\n\n RECREATION.\n\n    4.  The Children\u2019s Country Holiday Fun\u2019 _Mrs. S. A. Barnett_   41\n\n    5.  Recreation of the People            _Canon Barnett_        53\n\n    6.  Hopes of the Hosts                  _Mrs. S. A. Barnett_   70\n\n    7.  Easter Monday on Hampstead Heath    _Canon Barnett_        74\n\n    8.  Holidays and Schooldays             _Canon Barnett_        77\n\n        The Failure of Holidays             _Canon Barnett_        83\n\n    9.  Recreation in Town and Country      _Mrs. S. A. Barnett_   89\n\n SETTLEMENTS.\n\n   10.  Settlements of University Men in    _Canon Barnett_        96\n        Great Towns\n\n   11.  The Beginnings of Toynbee Hall      _Mrs. S. A. Barnett_  107\n\n   12.  Twenty-one Years of University      _Canon Barnett_       121\n        Settlements\n\n POVERTY AND LABOUR.\n\n   13.  The Ethics of the Poor Law          _Mrs. S. A. Barnett_  132\n\n   14.  Poverty, Its Cause and Cure         _Canon Barnett_       143\n\n   15.  Babies of the State                 _Mrs. S. A. Barnett_  150\n\n   16.  Poor Law Reform                     _Canon Barnett_       167\n\n   17.  The Unemployed                      _Mrs. S. A. Barnett_  178\n\n   18.  The Poor Law Report                 _Canon Barnett_       184\n\n   19.  Widows with Children under the Poor _Mrs. S. A. Barnett_  203\n        Law\n\n   20.  The Press and Charitable Funds      _Canon Barnett_       215\n\n   21.  What is Possible in Poor Law Reform _Canon Barnett_       222\n\n   22.  Charity up to Date                  _Canon Barnett_       230\n\n   23.  What Labour Wants                   _Canon Barnett_       241\n\n   24.  Our Present Discontents             _Canon Barnett_       246\n\n SOCIAL SERVICE.\n\n   25.  Of Town Planning                    _Mrs. S. A. Barnett_  261\n\n   26.  The Mission of Music                _Canon Barnett_       276\n\n   27.  The Real Social Reformer            _Canon Barnett_       288\n\n   28.  Where Charity Fails                 _Canon Barnett_       294\n\n   29.  Landlordism up to Date              _Canon Barnett_       297\n\n   30.  The Church and Town Planning        _Canon Barnett_       301\n\n EDUCATION.\n\n   31.  The Teachers\u2019 Equipment             _Canon Barnett_       307\n\n   32.  Oxford University and the Working   _Canon Barnett_       314\n        People\n\n   33.  Justice to Young Workers            _Canon Barnett_       320\n\n   34.  A Race between Education and Ruin   _Canon Barnett_       327\n\n\n\n\n                               SECTION I.\n\n                               RELIGION.\n\nThe Religion of the People--Cathedral Reform--Cathedrals and Modern\nNeeds.\n\n\n\n\n    THE RELIGION OF THE PEOPLE.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    July, 1907.\n\n  [1] From the \u201cHibbert Journal\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\nThe people are not to be found in places of worship; \u201cthe great masses,\u201d\nas Mr. Booth says, \u201cremain apart from all forms of religious communion\u201d.\nThis statement is admitted as true, but yet another statement is\ncontinually made and also admitted, that \u201cthe people are at heart\nreligious\u201d. What is meant by this latter statement? The people are\ncertainly not inclined to assert their irreligion. Mr. Henderson, who as\na labour leader speaks with authority, says, \u201cI can find no evidence of\na general desire among the workers to repudiate the principles of\nChristianity\u201d. And from my own experience in East London I can testify\nto the growth of greater tolerance and of greater respect for the\nrepresentatives of religion. Processions with banners and symbols are\nnow common, parsons are elected on public bodies, and religious\norganizations are enlisted in the army of reform. But this feature of\nmodern conditions is no proof that men and women are at heart religious.\nIt may only imply a more respectful indifference, a growth in manners\nrather than in spiritual life. Does the statement mean that the people\nare kind, and moved by the public spirit? This again is true. There is\nwidely spread kindness: rough lads are generous--one I knew gave up his\nplace to make room for a mate whose need was greater; weak and weary\nwomen watch all night by a neighbour\u2019s sick-bed; a poor family heartily\nwelcomes an orphan child; workmen suffer and endure private loss for the\nsake of fellow-workmen. The kindness is manifest; but kindness is no\nevidence of the presence of religion. Kindness may, indeed, be a deposit\nof religion, a habit inherited from forefathers who drew into themselves\nlove from the Source of love, or it may be something learnt in the\ncommon endurance of hardships. Kindness, generosity, public spirit\ncannot certainly be identified with the religion which has made human\nbeings feel joy in sacrifice and given them peace in the pains of death.\n\nBefore, however, we conclude that the non-church-going people are\nreligious or not religious, it may be well to be clear as to what is\nmeant by religion. I would suggest as a definition that religion is\nthought about the Higher-than-self worked through the emotions into the\nacts of daily life. This definition involves three constituents: (1)\nThere must be use of thought--the power of mental concentration--so\nthat the mind may break through the obvious and the conventional.\n(2) There must be a sense of a not-self which is higher than\nself--knowledge of a Most High whose presence convicts the self of\nshortcoming and draws it upward. (3) There must be such a realization\nof this not-self--such a form, be it image, doctrine, book, or life--as\nwill warm the emotions and so make the Higher-than-self tell on every\nact and experience of daily life. These constituents are, I think, to\nbe found in all religions. The religious man is he who, knowing what\nis higher than himself, so worships this Most High that he is stirred\nto do His will in word and deed. The Mohammedan is he who, recognizing\nthe Highest to be power, worships the All-powerful of Mohammed, whom in\nfear he obeys, and with the sword forces others to obey. The Christian\nis he who, recognizing the Most High to be love, worships Christ,\nand for love of Christ is loving to all mankind. Are these three\nconstituents of religion to be found among the people?\n\n1. They are using their powers of thought. There is a distinct\ndisposition to think about unseen things. The Press which circulates\nmost widely has found copy in what it calls Mr. Campbell\u2019s \u201cNew\nTheology\u201d. The \u201cClarion\u201d newspaper has published week after week letters\nand articles which deal with the meaning of God. There is increasing\nunrest under conditions which crib and cabin the mind; men and women are\nbecoming conscious of more things in heaven and earth than they can see\nand feel and eat. They have a sense that the modern world has become\nreally larger than the old world, and they resent the teaching which\ncommits them to one position or calling. They have, too, become\ncritical, so that, using their minds, they measure the professions of\nchurch-goers. Mr. Haw has collected in his book, \u201cChristianity and the\nWorking Classes,\u201d many workmen\u2019s opinions on this subject. Witness after\nwitness shows that he has been thinking, comparing things heard and\nthings professed with things done. It is not just indifference or\nself-indulgence which alienates the people from church or chapel or\nmission; it is the insincerity or inconsistency which they themselves\nhave learnt to detect. Huxley said long ago that the greatest gift of\nscience to the modern world was not to be found in the discoveries which\nhad increased its power and its comfort, so much as in the habit of more\nscientific thinking which it had made common.\n\nThe people share this gift and have become critical. They criticize all\nprofessions, theological or political. They criticize the Bible, and the\nvery children in the schools have become rationalists. They also\nconstruct, and there are few more interesting facts of the time than the\nstrength of trades unions, co-operative and friendly societies, which\nthey have organized. Even unskilled labour, ever since the great Dock\nstrike, has shown its power to conceive methods of amelioration, and to\ncombine for their execution. The first constituent of religion, the\nactivity of thought, is thus present amid the non-church-going\npopulation.\n\n2. This thought is, I think, directed towards a Higher-than-self; it,\nthat is to say, goes towards goodness. I would suggest a few instances.\nUniversal homage is paid to the character of Christ. He, because of His\ngoodness, is exalted above all other reformers, and writers who are\nbitter against Christianity reverence His truth and good-will. Popular\nopinion respects a good man whatever be his creed or party; it may not\nalways be instructed as to the contents of goodness, but at elections\nits votes incline to follow the lead of the one who seems good, and that\nis sometimes the neighbouring publican whose kindness and courtesy are\nexperienced. In social and political thought the most significant and\nstrongest mark is the ethical tendency. Few proposals have now a chance\nof a hearing if they do not appeal to a sense of justice. Right has won\nat any rate a verbal victory over might. In late revivals there has been\nmuch insistence on the need of better living, on temperance, on payment\nof debts and fulfilment of duty, and the reprints which publishers find\nit worth their while to publish are penny books of Seneca, Marcus\nAurelius, and other writers on morals.\n\nPeople generally--unconsciously often--have a sense of goodness, or\nrighteousness, as something which is higher than themselves. They are in\na way dissatisfied with their own selfishness, and also with a state of\nsociety founded on selfishness. There is a widely spread expectation of\na better time which will be swayed by dominant goodness. The people have\nthus, in some degree, the second constituent of religion, in that they\nhave the thought that the High and Mighty which inhabits Eternity is\ngood.\n\n3. When, however, we come to the third constituent, we have at once to\nadmit that the non-church-going population has no means of realizing the\nMost High in a form which sustains and inspires its action. It has no\nclose or personal touch or communion with this goodness; no form which,\nlike a picture or like a common meal, by its associations of memory or\nhope rouses its feelings; nothing which, holding the thought, stirs the\nemotions and works the thought into daily life. The forms of religion,\nthe Churches, the doctrines, the ritual, the sacraments, which meant so\nmuch to their fathers and to some of their neighbours, mean nothing to\nthem. They have lost touch with the forms of religious thought as they\nhave not lost touch with the forms of political thought.\n\nForms are the clothes of thought. Forms are lifeless, and thought is\nliving. Unless the forms are worn every day they cease to fit the\nthought, as left-off clothes cease to fit the body. English citizens who\nhave gone on wearing the old forms of political thought can therefore go\non talking and acting as if the King ruled to-day as Queen Elizabeth\nruled 300 years ago, but these non-church-going folk, who for\ngenerations have left off wearing the forms of religious thought, cannot\nuse the words about the Most High which the Churches and preachers use.\nThey have breathed an atmosphere charged by science--they are\nrationalists, they have a vision of morality and goodness exceeding that\nadvocated by many of the Churches. They have themselves created great\nsocieties, and their votes have made and unmade governments. When,\ntherefore, they regard the Churches, the doctrines of preachers, and all\nthe forms of religion, not as those to whom by use they are familiar or\nby history illuminated, but as strangers, they see what seem to them\nstiff services, irrational doctrine, disorganized and unbusinesslike\nsystems, and the self-assertion of priests and ministers. They, with\ntheir yearnings to touch goodness, find nothing in these forms which\nmakes them say, \u201cThere, that is what I mean,\u201d and go on stirred in their\nhearts. They who have learnt to think turn away sadly or scornfully from\nteaching such as that of the Salvation Army about blood and fire, where\nemotion is without thought. Those who manage their own affairs resent\nmembership in religious organizations where all is managed for them.\nThey want a name for the Most High of whom they think as above and\naround themselves, but somehow the doctrines about Christ, whom they\nrespect for His work 2000 years ago, do not stir them up as if He were a\npresent power. The working classes, says Dr. Fairbairn in his \u201cReligion\nin History and Modern Life,\u201d are alienated because \u201cthe Church has lost\nadaptation to the environment in which it lives\u201d.\n\nPerhaps, however, some one may say, \u201cForms are unimportant\u201d. This may be\ntrue so far as regards a few rarely constituted minds, but the mass of\nmen are seldom moved except through some human or humanized form. The\nelector may have his principles, but it is the candidate he cheers, it\nis his photograph he carries, it is his presence which rouses\nenthusiasm, and it is politicians\u2019 names by which parties are called.\nThe Russian peasant may say his prayers, but it is the ikon--the image\ndear to his fathers--which rouses him to do or to die. The Jews had no\nlikeness of Jehovah, but the book of the law represented to them the\nthought and memories of their heart, and they bound its words to their\nforeheads, their poets were stirred to write psalms in its praise, and\nby the emotions it raised its teaching was worked into their daily acts.\nA non-religious writer in the \u201cClarion\u201d bears witness to the same fact\nwhen he says, \u201cAll effective movements must have creeds. It is\nimpossible to satisfy the needs of any human mind or heart without some\nform of belief.\u201d The Quaker who rejects so many forms has made a form of\nno-form, and his simple manner of speech, his custom of dress or\nworship, often moves him to his actions.\n\nMr. Gladstone bears testimony to the place of form in religion. \u201cThe\nChurch,\u201d he says, \u201cpresented to me Christianity under an aspect in which\nI had not yet known it, ... its ministry of symbols, its channels of\ngrace, its unending line of teachers forming from the Head a sublime\nconstruction based throughout on historic fact, uplifting the idea of\nthe community in which we live, and of the access which it enjoys\nthrough the living way to the presence of the Most High.\u201d\n\nMr. Gladstone found in the Anglican Church a form of access to the Most\nHigh, and through this Church the thoughts of the Most High were worked\ninto his daily life. Others through the Bible, the sacraments, humanity,\nor through some doctrine of Christ have found like means of access.\nForms are essential to religion. Forms, indeed, have often become the\nwhole of religion, so that people who have honoured images or words or\nnames have forgotten goodness and justice--they wash the cup and platter\nand forget mercy and judgment; they say \u201cLord, Lord,\u201d and do not the\nwill of the Lord. Forms have often become idols, but the point I urge is\nthat for the majority of mankind forms are necessary to religion. \u201cTell\nme thy name,\u201d was the cry of Jacob, when all night he wrestled with an\nunknown power which condemned his life of selfish duplicity; and every\ncrisis in Israelitish history is marked by the revelation of a new name\nfor the Most High. The Samaritans do not know what they worship; the\nJews know what they worship,--was the rebuke of Christ to a wayward and\nineffective nation. Even those Athenians to whom God was the Unknown God\nhad to erect an altar to that God.\n\nThe great mass of the people, because they have no form and stand apart\nfrom all religious communions, may have in them a religious sense, but\ntheir thought of God is not worked through their emotions into their\ndaily lives. They do not know what they worship, and so do not say with\nthe Psalmist, \u201cMy soul is athirst for the living God,\u201d or say with\nJoseph, \u201cHow can I do this wickedness, and sin against God?\u201d They have\nmuch sentiment about brotherhood, and they talk of the rights of all\nmen; but they are not driven as St. Paul was driven to the service of\ntheir brothers, irrespective of class, or nation, or colour. They have\nnot the zeal which says, \u201cWoe is me if I preach not the Gospel\u201d. They\nendure suffering with patience and meet death with submission, but they\ndo not say, \u201cI shall awake after His likeness and be satisfied\u201d. The\nmajority of English citizens would in an earthquake behave as brave men,\nbut they have not the faith of the negroes who in the midst of such\nhavoc sang songs of praise.\n\nThe three constituents I included in the definition are all, I submit,\nnecessary. Thought without form does not rouse the emotions. Form\nwithout thought is idolatry, and is fatal to growth. Emotion without\nthought has no abiding or persistent force. Religion is the thought of a\nHigher-than-self worked through the emotions into daily life.\n\nWith this definition in mind I now sum up my impressions. The religion\nof the majority of the people is, I think, not such as enables them to\nsay, \u201cHere I take my stand. This course of life I can and will follow.\nThis policy must overcome the world.\u201d It is not such either as keeps\ndown pride and egotism, and leads them to say as Abram said to Lot, \u201cIf\nyou go to the right I will go to the left\u201d. It does not make men and\nwomen anxious to own themselves debtors and to give praise. It does not\ndrive them to greater and greater experiments in love; it does not give\nthem peace. It is not the spur to action or the solace in distress. It\nhas little recognition in daily talk or in the Press. One might, indeed,\nlive many years, meet many men, and read many newspapers and not come\ninto its contact or realize that England professes Christianity.\n\nWhen I ask my friends, \u201cHow does religion show itself in the actions of\ndaily life?\u201d I get no answer. There seems to be no acknowledged force\narising from the conception of the Most High which restrains, impels, or\nrests men and women in their politics, their business, or their homes.\nThere are, I suggest, three infallible signs of the presence of\nreligion--calm courage, joyful humility, and a sense of life stronger\nthan death. These signs are not obvious among the people.\n\nThe condition is not satisfactory. It is not unlike that of Rome in the\nfirst century. The Roman had then forsaken his old worship of the gods\nin the temples, notwithstanding the official recognition of such worship\nand the many earnest attempts made for its revival. There was then, as\nnow, something in the atmosphere of thought which was stronger than\nState or Church. There was then, as now, an interest in teachers of\ngoodness who held up a course of conduct far above the conventional, and\nthe thoughts of men played amid the new mysteries rising in the East.\nThe Romans were restless, without anchorage or purpose. They were not\nsatisfied with their bread and games; they walked in a dense shadow, and\nhad no light from home. Into their midst came Christianity, giving a new\nname to the Most High, and stirring men\u2019s hearts to do as joyful service\nwhat the Stoics had taught as dull duty.\n\nIn the midst of the English people of to-day there are Churches and\nsocieties of numerous denominations. Their numbers are legion. In one\nEast-London district about a mile square there were, I think, at one\ntime over twenty different religious agencies. Their activity is\ntwofold. They work from without to within, or from within to\nwithout--from the environment to the soul, or from the soul to the\nenvironment.\n\n1. The work from without to within, resolves itself into an endeavour to\ndraw the people to join some religious communion. The environment which\nan organization provides counts for much, and influences therefrom\nconstantly pass into the inner life. Membership in a Church or\nassociation with a mission often brings men and women into contact with\na minister who offers an example of a life devoted to others\u2019 service.\nIt opens to them ways of doing good, of teaching the children, of\nvisiting the poor, and of joining in efforts for social reform. It\naffords a constant support in a definite course of conduct, and makes a\nregular call on the will to act up to the conventional standard, and it\nbrings to bear on everyday action an insistent social pressure which is\nsome safety against temptation. Sneers about the dishonesty of religious\nprofessors are common, but, as a matter of fact, the most honest and\nreputable members of the community are those connected with religious\nbodies.\n\nThose bodies have various characters, with various forms of doctrine and\nof ritual. Human beings, if they are true to themselves, cannot all\nadopt like forms; there are some men and women who find a language for\ntheir souls in a ritual of colour and sound, there are others who can\nworship only in silence; there are some who are moved by one form of\ndoctrine, and others who are moved by another form. Uniformity is\nunnatural to man, and the Act of Religious Uniformity has proved to be\ndisastrous to growth of thought and goodwill. Progress through the ages\nis marked by the gradual evolution of the individual, and the strongest\nsociety is that where there are the most vigorous individualities. If\nthis be admitted, it must be admitted also that the growth of vigorous\ndenominations, and not uniformity, is also the mark of progress.\n\nBut, it may be said, denominations are the cause of half the quarrels\nwhich divide society, and of half the wars which have decimated mankind.\nThis is true enough. The denominations are now hindering the way of\neducation, and it was as denominations that Catholics and Protestants\ndrowned Europe in thirty years of bloodshed. It is, however, equally\ntrue to say that nationalities have been the cause of war, and that the\nway of peace is hard, because French, Germans, and British are so\npatriotically concerned for their own rights. Nationalities, however,\nbecome strong during the period of struggle, and they develop\ncharacteristics valuable for the whole human family; but the end to\nwhich the world is moving is not a universal empire under the dominance\nof the strongest, it is to a unity in which the strength of each\nnationality will make possible the federation of the world. In the same\nway denominations pass through a period of strife; they too develop\ntheir characteristics; and the hope of religion is not in the dominance\nof any one denomination, but in a unity to which each is necessary.\n\nThe world learnt slowly the lesson of toleration, and at last the strong\nare feeling more bound to bear with those who differ from themselves.\nThere is, however, dawning on the horizon a greater lesson than that of\ntoleration of differences: it is that of respect for differences. As\nthat lesson prevails, each denomination will not cease to be keen for\nits own belief; it will also be keen to pay honour to every honest\nbelief. The neighbourhood of another denomination will be as welcome as\nthe discovery of another star to the astronomer, or as the finding of a\nnew animal to the naturalist, or as is the presence of another strong\npersonality in a company of friends. The Church of the future cannot be\ncomplete without many chapels. The flock of the Good Shepherd includes\nmany folds.\n\nThe energy of innumerable Churches and missions is daily strengthening\ndenominations, and they seem to me likely to stand out more and more\nclearly in the community. One advantage I would emphasize. Each\ndenomination may offer an example of a society of men and women living\nin reasonable accord with its own doctrine--not, I ask you to reflect,\njust a community of fellow-worshippers, but, like the Quakers,\ntranslating faith into matters of business and the home. Mediaeval\nChristians sold all they had and lived as monks or nuns. Nineteenth\ncentury Christians were kind to their poorer neighbours. Twentieth\ncentury Christians might give an example of a society fitting a time\nwhich has learnt the value of knowledge and beauty, and has seen that\njustice to the poor is better than kindness. Every generation must have\nits own form of Christianity.\n\nThe earnest endeavour of so many active men and women to increase the\nstrength of their own denomination has therefore much promise: provided\nalways, let me say, they do not win recruits by self-assertion, by\nexaggeration, or by the subtle bribery of treats and blankets. Each\ndenomination honestly strengthened by additional members is the better\nable to manifest some aspect of the Christian life, and, in response to\nthe call of that life, more inclined to reform the doctrines and methods\nwhich tend to alienate a scientific and democratic generation.\n\nSuch denominations are, I submit, those most likely to reform\nthemselves, and as they come to offer various examples of a Christian\nsociety, where wealth is without self-assertion, where poverty is\nwithout shame, where unemployment and ignorance are prevented by just\nviews of human claims, and where joy is \u201cin widest commonalty spread,\u201d\nall the members of the community will in such examples better find the\nname of the Most High, and feel the power of religion. \u201cIf,\u201d says Dr.\nFairbairn, \u201creligion were truly interpreted in the lives of Christian\nmen, there is no fear as to its being believed.\u201d \u201cWhat is wanted is not\nmore Christians but better Christians.\u201d\n\n2. The activity of ministers and missionaries is, as I have said,\ntwofold. Besides working from without to within by building up\ndenominations, it also works from within to without by converting\nindividuals. Members of every Church or mission are, in ordinary phrase,\nintent \u201cto save souls\u201d. Their work is not for praise, and is sacred from\nany intrusion. Spirit wrestles with spirit, and power passes by unknown\nways. Souls are only kindled by souls. Conversion opens blind eyes to\nsee the Most High, but it is not in human power to direct the ways of\nconversion. The spirit bloweth where it listeth. There are, however,\nother means by which eyes may be opened at any rate to see, if only\ndimly, and some of these means are under human control. Such a means is\nthat which is called higher education or university teaching, or the\nknowledge of the humanities.\n\nI would therefore conclude by calling notice to the much or the little\nwhich is being done by this higher education. The people are to a large\nextent blind because of the overwhelming glory of the present. They see\nnothing beyond the marvellous revelations of science--its visions of\npossessions and of power, and its triumphs over the forces of nature.\nThey are occupied in using the gigantic instruments which are placed at\nthe command of the weakest, and they are driven on by some relentless\npressure which allows no pause on the wayside of the road of life. They\nsee power everywhere--power in the aggressive personalities which heap\nmoney in millions, power in the laboratory, power in the market-place,\npower in the Government; but they do not see anything which satisfies\nthe human yearning for something higher and holier; they cannot see the\nGod whose truth they feel and whose call they hear. Many of them look to\nthe past and surround themselves with the forms of mediaeval days, and\nsome go to the country, where, in a land of tender shades and silences,\nthey try to commune with the Most High.\n\nBut yet the words of John the Baptist rise eternally true, when he said\nto a people anxiously expectant, some with their eyes on the past, and\nsome with their eyes on the future, \u201cThere standeth one among you\u201d. The\nMost High, that is to say, is to be found, not in the past with its\nmysteries, its philosophies, and its dignity of phrase or ritual, and\nnot in the future with its vague hopes of an earthly Paradise, but in\nthe present with its hard facts, its scientific methods, its strong\nindividualities, and the growing power of the State. The kingdom of\nheaven is at hand; the Highest which every one seeks is in the present.\nIt is standing among us, and the one thing wanted is the eye to see.\n\nMr. Haldane, in the address to the students of Edinburgh University, has\ndescribed the character of the higher teaching as a gospel of the wide\noutlook, as a means of giving a deeper sympathy and a keener insight, as\noffering a vision of the eternal which is here and now showing its\nstudents what is true in present realities, and inspiring them with a\nloyalty to the truth as devoted as that of tribesmen to their chief.\nThis sort of teaching, he says, brings down from the present realities,\nor from a Sinai ever accompanying mankind, \u201cthe Higher command,\u201d with\nits eternal offer of life and blessing--that is to say, it opens men\u2019s\neyes to see in the present the form of the Most High. Higher education\nis thus a part of religious activity.\n\nI am glad to know that my conclusion is shared by Dr. Fairbairn, who,\nspeaking of the worker in our great cities, and of his alienation from\nreligion, says, \u201cThe first thing to be done is to enrich and ennoble his\nsoul, to beget in him purer tastes and evoke higher capacities\u201d.\n\nI will conclude by calling notice to the much or the little which is\nbeing done to open the people\u2019s eyes by means of higher education. I\nfear it is \u201cthe little\u201d. There are many classes and many teachers for\nspreading skill, there are some which increase interest in nature; there\nare few--very few--which bring students into touch with the great minds\nand thoughts of all countries and all ages--very few, that is, classes\nfor the humanities. For want of this the souls of the people are poor,\nand their capacities dwarfed; they cannot see that modern knowledge has\nmade the Bible a modern book, or how the bells of a new age have rung in\nthe \u201cChrist that is to be\u201d.\n\nFor thirty-four years my wife and I have been engaged in social\nexperiments. Many ways have been tried, and always the recognized object\nhas been the religion of the people--religion, that is, in the sense\nwhich I have defined as that faith in the Highest which is the impulse\nof human progress, man\u2019s spur to loving action, man\u2019s rest in the midst\nof sorrow, man\u2019s hope in death.\n\nWith the object of preparing the way to this religion, schools have\nbeen improved, houses have been built and open spaces secured. Holidays\nhave been made more healthy, and the best in art has been made more\ncommon. But, viewing all these efforts of many reformers, I am prepared\nto say that the most pressing need is for higher education. Where such\neducation is to begin, what is the meaning of religious education in\nelementary schools, and how it is to be extended, is part of another\nsubject. It is enough now if, having as my subject the religion of the\npeople, I state my opinion that there is no activity which more surely\nadvances religion than the teaching which gives insight, far sight,\nand wide sight. The people, for want of religion, are unstable in\ntheir policy, joyless in their amusements, and uninspired by any sure\nand certain hope. They have not the sense of sin--in modern language,\nnone of that consciousness of unreached ideals which makes men humble\nand earnest. They have not the grace of humility nor the force of a\nfaith stronger than death. It may seem a far cry from a teacher\u2019s\nclass-room to the peace and power of a Psalmist or of a St. Paul; but,\nas Archbishop Benson said, \u201cChrist is a present Christ, and all of us\nare His contemporaries\u201d. And my own belief is that the eye opened by\nhigher education is on the way to find in the present the form of the\nChrist who will satisfy the human longing for the Higher-than-self.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    CATHEDRAL REFORM.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    December, 1898.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Nineteenth Century and After\u201d. By permission of the\nEditor.\n\n\nCathedrals have risen in popular estimation. They represent the past to\nthe small but slowly increasing number of people who now realize that\nthere is a past out of which the present has grown. They are recognized\nas interesting historical monuments; their power is felt as an aid to\nworship, and some worshippers who would think their honesty compromised\nby their presence at a church or a chapel, say their prayers boldly in\nthe \u201cnational\u201d cathedral. A trade-union delegate, who had been present\nat the Congress, was surprised on the following Sunday afternoon to\nrecognize in St. Paul\u2019s some of his fellow delegates. No reformer would\nnow dare to propose that cathedrals should be secularized.\n\nBut neither would any one who considers the power latent in cathedral\nestablishments for developing the spiritual side of human nature profess\nhimself satisfied. It is not enough that the buildings should be\nrestored, so that they may be to-day what they were 400 or 500 years\nago, nor is it enough that active deans should increase sermons and\nservices.\n\nA cathedral has a unique position. It holds the imagination of the\npeople. Men who live in the prison of mean cares remember how as\nchildren their thoughts wandered free amid the lights and shadows of\ntombs, pillars, arches, and recesses. Worshippers face to face with real\nsorrow, who turn aside from the trivialities of ritual, feel that there\nis in the solemn grandeur a power to lift them above their cares.\n\nA cathedral indeed attracts to itself that spiritual longing which,\nperhaps, more than the longing for power or for liberty, is the sign of\nthe times. This longing, compared with rival longings, may be as small\nas a mustard-seed, but everywhere men are becoming conscious that things\nwithin their grasp are not the things they were made to reach. There is\na heaven for which they are fitted, and which is not far from any one of\nthem. They like to hear large words, and to move in large crowds. They\nsee that \u201cdreaming\u201d is valuable as well as \u201cdoing\u201d. They feel that there\nis a kinship between themselves and the hidden unknown greatness in\nwhich they live. The ideal leader of the day is a mystic who can be\npractical.\n\nMen turning, therefore, from churches or chapels which are identified\nwith narrow views, and from a ritual which has occupied the more vacant\nminds, are prepared to pay respect to the cathedral with its grand\nassociations.\n\nAnd the cathedrals which thus attract to themselves modern hope, and\nbecome almost the symbol of the day\u2019s movement, are equipped to respond\nto the demand. They have both men and money. They have men qualified to\nserve, and a body of singers qualified to make common the best music,\nand they have endowments varying from \u00a34000 to \u00a310,000 a year.\n\nA cathedral is attractive by its grandeur and its beauty, but it ought\nto be something more than an historic monument. Its staff is ample, and\nis often active, but it ought to be something more than a parish church.\n\nIts government, however, is so hampered that it can hardly be anything\nelse, and the energies of the chapter are spent in efforts to follow the\norders of restoring architects. The building is cleared of innovations\nintroduced by predecessors, who had in view use and not art. Its\ndeficiencies are supplied, the dreams and intentions of the early\nbuilders are discovered, and at last a church is completed such as our\nancestors would have desired.\n\nThe self-devotion of deans or canons in producing this result provokes\nadmiration from those who in their hearts disapprove. Money is freely\ngiven, and, what is often harder to do, donations are persistently\nbegged. The time and ability of men who have earned a reputation as\nworkers, thinkers, or teachers, are spent in completing a monument over\nwhich antiquaries will quarrel and round which parties of visitors will\nbe taken at 6d. a head.\n\nThe building has little other use than as a parish church, and the\nideal, before a chapter, anxious to do its duty, is to have frequent\ncommunions, services, and sermons, as in the best worked parishes. In\nsome cases there is a large response. The communicants are many, but,\nbeing unknown to one another and to the clergy, they miss the strength\nthey might have derived by communicating with their neighbours in their\nown churches. The sermons are sometimes listened to by crowded\ncongregations, but the people are often drawn from other places of\nworship, and miss the teaching given by one to whom they are best known.\nBut in most cases the response is small. The daily services, supported\nby a large and well-trained choir of men and boys, preceded by a\ndignified procession of vergers and clergy, often help only two or three\nworshippers. Many of the Holy Communions which are announced are not\ncelebrated for want of communicants, and the sermons are not always such\nas are suitable for the people.\n\nThere are, indeed, special but rare occasions when the cathedral shows\nits possibilities. It may be a choir festival, when 500 or 600 voices\nfind space within its walls to give a service for people interested in\nthe various parishes. It may be some civic or national function, when\nthe Corporation attends in state, or some meeting of an association or\nfriendly society, when the church is filled by people drawn from a wide\narea. On all those occasions the fitness of the grand building and fine\nmusic to meet the needs of the moment is recognized, and the citizens\nare proud of their cathedral.\n\nBut generally they are not proud. They think--when they care enough to\nthink at all--that a building with such power over their imagination\nought to be more used, and that such well-paid officials ought to do\nmore work. \u201cOne canon,\u201d a workman remarked, \u201cought to do all that is\ndone, and the money of the others could be divided among poor curates.\u201d\nThe members of the chapter would probably agree as to the need of\nreform. It is not their conservatism, it is the old statutes which stand\nin the way.\n\nThese statutes differ in the various cathedrals, but all alike suffer\nfrom the neglect of the living hand of the popular will which in civil\nmatters is always shaping old laws to present needs. Their object seems\nto be not so much to secure energetic action as to prevent aggression.\nActivity, and not indolence, was apparently the danger which threatened\nthe Church in those old days.\n\nThe Bishop, who is visitor and is called the head of the cathedral,\ncannot officiate--as of right--in divine service; he is not entitled to\ntake part in the Holy Communion or to preach during ordinary service.\n\nThe Dean governs the church, and has altogether the regulation of the\nservices; but he can only preach at the ordinary services at three\nfestivals during the year.\n\nThe Canons, who preach every Sunday, have no power over the order or\nmethod of the uses of the church.\n\nThe Precentor, who is authorized to select the music and is required to\ntake care that the choir be instructed and trained in their parts, must\nnot himself give instruction and training.\n\nThe Organist, who has to train and instruct the boys, has to do so in\nhours fixed by the Precentor, and in music chosen by him.\n\nAn establishment so constituted cannot have the vigour or elasticity or\nunity necessary to adapt cathedrals to modern needs. It affords, as\nTrollope discovered, and as most citizens are aware, a field for the\nplay of all sorts of petty rivalries and jealousies. No official can\nmove without treading on the other\u2019s rights. Bishops, Deans, and Canons\nhide their feelings under excessive courtesies. Precentors and Organists\ntry to settle their rights in the law courts, and the trivialities of\nthe Cathedral Close have become proverbial.\n\nThe apparent uselessness of buildings so prominent, and of a staff so\ncostly, provokes violent criticism. Reformers become revolutionists as\nthe Dean, Chapter, and choir daily summon congregations which do not\nappear, and the officials become slovenly and careless as they daily\nperform their duties in an empty church. Sacraments may be offered in\nvain as well as taken in vain, and institutions established for other\nneeds which go on, regardless of such needs, are self-condemned.\n\nIf the army or navy or any department of the civil service were so\nconstituted, the demand for reform would be insistent. \u201cWe will not\nendure,\u201d the public voice would proclaim, \u201cthat an instrument on whose\nfitness we depend shall be so ineffective. It is not enough that the\nmembers of the profession are prevented from injuring one another. Our\nconcern is not their feelings, but our protection.\u201d It is characteristic\nof the indifference to religious interests that an instrument, so costly\nand so capable of use as a cathedral establishment, has been left to\nrust through so many years, and that the troubles of a Chapter should be\nmatter for jokes and not for indignant anger.\n\nA Royal Commission, indeed, was appointed in 1879. It was in the earlier\nyears presided over by Archbishop Tait, who showed, both by his constant\npresence and by his lively interest, how deeply he had felt and how much\nhe had reflected on this subject. The Commissioners had 128 meetings,\nand issued their final report in 1885; but notwithstanding the humble\nand almost pathetic appeal that something should be \u201cquickly done\u201d to\nremedy the abuses they had discovered, and forward the uses which they\nsaw possible, nothing whatever has been done. The position of the\nCathedrals still mocks the intelligence of the people they exist to\nserve, and the hopes which the spread of education has developed.\n\nThe Commissioners recognized the change which had been going on in the\nfeeling with regard to the tie which binds together the cathedral and\nthe people, and their recommendations lead up, as they themselves\nprofess, to \u201cthe grand conception of the Bishop of a diocese working\nfrom his cathedral as a spiritual centre, of the machinery there\nsupplied being intended to produce an influence far beyond the cathedral\nprecincts, of the capitular body being interested in the whole diocese,\nand of the whole diocese having claims on the capitular body\u201d.\n\nThis conception, apart from its technical phraseology, may be taken as\nsatisfactory. \u201cA live Cathedral in a live Diocese\u201d is, in the American\nphrase, what all desire. It may be questioned, however, in the light of\nthirteen years\u2019 further experience of growing humanity, whether their\nrecommendations would bring the conception much nearer to realization.\n\nTheir recommendations are somewhat difficult to generalize. The\npeculiarities and eccentricities in the constitution of each cathedral\nare infinite. Some are on the old foundation, with their Deans,\nPrecentors, Chancellors, and Prebendaries. Some date from Henry VIII,\nand have only a Dean and a small number of residentiary Canons. Some\npossess statutes which are hopelessly obsolete, and one claims validity\nfor a new body of statutes adopted by itself. Some are under the control\nof the chapter only, some have minor corporations. Some have striven to\nact up to the letter of old orders, some have statutes which are of no\nlegal authority. But the difference of constitution of the several\ncathedrals was by no means the only difficulty with which the\nCommissioners had to contend.\n\nThere is the difference in their local circumstances. Some, as Bristol\nand Norwich, are in the midst of large populations; some, as Ely and St.\nDavid\u2019s, are in small towns or amid village people. St. Paul\u2019s, London,\nstands in a position so peculiar that it does not admit of comparison\nwith any other cathedral in the kingdom.\n\nThere is, further, the difference in wealth and the provision of\nresidences for the capitular body; some are rich, and endowed with all\nthat is necessary for the performance of their duties; some are\ncomparatively poor.\n\nThe Commissioners have met these difficulties by considering each\ncathedral separately, and by issuing on each a separate report with\nseparate recommendations. There is, however, a character and a principle\ncommon to all their recommendations, by which a judgment may be formed\nas to how far they would, if adopted, fit cathedrals to the needs of the\ntime.\n\n\n    I.--CENTRAL AUTHORITY.\n\nThe Commissioners were at the outset met by the fact that cathedral\nbodies are stationary institutions in a growing society. They remain as\nthey had been formed in distant days: ships stranded high above the\nwater-line, in which the services went on as if the passengers and cargo\nhad not long found other means of transit. They felt that even if by the\ngigantic effort involved in parliamentary action the cathedrals were\nreformed in order to suit the changed society of the nineteenth century,\nthe reforms would not necessarily suit the twentieth century. They saw\nthat there must be a central authority always in touch with public\nopinion, which would, year by year, or generation by generation, shape\nuses to needs.\n\nThey at once therefore introduced the Cathedral Statutes Bill, by which\na Cathedral Committee of the Privy Council was to be appointed. The Bill\ndid not become law, but the provision was admirable. By this means, just\nas the Committee of Council year by year now issues an Education Code,\nby which changes suggested by experience or inquiry are introduced into\nthe educational system of the country, so this new Committee of Council\nwas, as occasion required, to issue new statutes to control or develop\nthe use of cathedrals.\n\nA living rule was to take the place of the dead hand. Representative\nmen, and not the authority of an individual or of an old statute, were\nhenceforth to control this State provision for the religious interests\nof the people, as a similar body, with manifest advantage, controls the\nState provision for the secular interests. A Committee of the Privy\nCouncil made up of the Ministers of the day, being professed Christians,\ntogether with some experts, is probably the best central authority to be\ndevised.\n\nBut when the Commissioners further proposed that after the expiration of\ntheir commission it should remain with Deans and Chapters to submit\nproposals for reform in the use of their cathedrals, they at once\nlimited the utility of that central authority. Is it to be conceived\nthat Deans and Chapters will promote necessary reforms? Can they be said\nto be in touch with the people? Will they, if they make wise and\nfar-reaching suggestions, be trusted as representatives?\n\nThe Commission aimed to create a living authority, and then proposed to\nbind it hand and foot; it set up a body of representative men capable of\ndaring and of cautious action, and then limited the sphere of such\naction by the decisions of Chapters sometimes concerned for inaction.\n\nThe obvious criticism is a testimony to the progress of the last few\nyears. Education and the extension of local government have made all\nparties recognise that the voice of the people ought to be trusted, and\ncan be trusted. Checks and safeguards are no longer thought to be so\nnecessary. Interests once jealously preserved by the classes are now\nknown to be safe in the hands of the masses. The Crown, property, order,\nare all safe grounded on the people\u2019s will.\n\nIt seems therefore out of place, in the eyes of the present generation,\nto safeguard every change in the use of the cathedral by trusting to\nthose proposed by Dean and Chapter. The basis of government must be\ndemocratic. The people, and not any class, must have the chief voice in\ntheir control. The County Councils, by means of a committee of professed\nChristians, the Diocesan Council, or any body to which the people of the\nneighbourhood have free access, should be that empowered to bring\nsuggestions before the central authority. In the Church of England, of\nwhich every Englishman is a member, and whose Prayer Book is an Act of\nParliament, there is no new departure in making the County Councils the\noriginating bodies to suggest uses for the cathedral.\n\nWith the growing interest to which allusion has been made, it is not\nhard to conceive that the call for suggestions would evoke deeper\nthought and remind members of secular bodies that progress without\nreligion is very hollow. Parliament was never more dignified, or better\nfitted for foreign or home policy, than when it held Church government\nto be its most important function. County Councils, called on through\ntheir committees to submit suggestions for the better use of the\ncathedrals to the Committee of Privy Council, might be elevated by the\ncall, and at the same time offer advice valuable in itself, and approved\nby the people as coming from their representatives.\n\nThe first essential cathedral reform is therefore a central authority as\nrecommended by the Commission, which, on the initiative of really\nrepresentative bodies, shall have power to make statutes and publish\nrules of procedure in the several cathedrals.\n\n\n    II.--THE BISHOP AND HIS CATHEDRAL.\n\nThe Commissioners were evidently struck by the need of promoting\n\u201cearnest and harmonious co-operation between the Bishop of the Diocese\nand the Cathedral Body\u201d. They have endeavoured, as they reiterate, \u201cto\ndefine and establish the relation in which the Bishop stands to the\ncathedral, and have made provision for assuring to him his legitimate\nposition and influence\u201d. When, however, reference is made to the\nstatutes by which they carry out their intention, they seem very\ninadequate: the Bishop, for instance, is to \u201chave the highest place of\ndignity whenever he is present\u201d; \u201cto preach whenever he may think fit\u201d;\n\u201cto hold visitation and exercise any function of his episcopal office\nwhenever it may seem good\u201d. He is also empowered to nominate a certain\nnumber of preachers, and is constituted the authority to give leave of\nabsence to the Dean or Canons. The Dean, however, is left responsible\nfor the services, in control of the officials, and at liberty to develop\nthe use of the church.\n\nIt is difficult to see how, by such changes, the cathedral will become\nthe spiritual centre from which the Bishop will work his diocese, and\nat the same time have harmonious relations with the Dean and Chapter.\nIf he uses his full powers: gathers week by week diocesan organizations\nfor worship, for encouragement, and for admonition; if he is often\npresent at the services, if he arranges classes for the clergy,\ndevotional meetings for church workers; if he institutes sermons and\nlectures on history or on the signs of the times--what is there left\nfor the Dean and Canons to do? If he does not do such things, how can\nhe make the cathedral the centre of spiritual life?\n\nThe Commission was evidently hampered in its recommendation by the\npresence of two dignitaries with somewhat conflicting duties. The simple\nsolution is to make the Bishop the Dean. He would then have, as by\nright, all the powers it is proposed to confer upon him; he would\nexercise them at all times, without fear of any collision, and he would\nbe in name and fact the sole authority in carrying out the statutes, and\nin controlling all subordinate officials. He would then be able to make\nthe cathedral familiar to every soul in his diocese, associate its\nbuilding and services with every organization for the common\ngood--secular and religious--with choral societies, clubs, governing\nbodies, friendly societies, missionary associations, and such like. He\nwould, in fact, make the cathedral the centre of spiritual life, and he\nwould for ever abolish the petty rivalries and jealousies which grow up\nunder divided control, and which bring such discredit on cathedral\nmanagement. He would be master, and it is for want of a master that each\nofficial is now so disposed to magnify the petty privileges of his own\noffice. There must be some one who is really big, that others may feel\ntheir proper place.\n\n\n    III.--THE CANONS AND THEIR UTILITY.\n\nThe Commission has little to suggest, save that they should be compelled\nto reside for eight months of the year in the neighbourhood of the\ncathedral, and during three months attend morning and evening service,\neach one \u201chabited in a surplice with a hood denoting his degree\u201d. They\nare also, if called on, \u201cto give instruction in theological and\nreligious subjects, or discharge some missionary or other useful work\u201d.\nThese functions seem hardly sufficient for men who are to receive \u00a3800 a\nyear, and it is difficult to see what virtue there is in mere technical\nresidence, or how daily attendance at service is compatible with the\nperformance of regular duties as citizens or teachers.\n\nThe Canons would better help in making the cathedral the centre of\nspiritual life if they were the Suffragan Bishops of the diocese. They\nwould in this case have to receive appointment by the Bishop, and take\nduties assigned by him. One might be responsible for the order of the\nservices, for the care of the property of the cathedral, and for the\nproper control of the officials. He might, indeed, be called the Dean.\nAnother might be a lecturer or teacher for the instruction of the\nclergy, and the others might assist the Bishop in those functions which\nnow so largely intrude on his time.\n\nThe Bishop of the twentieth century looms large in the distance. He has\na place not given to any of his predecessors, as a democratic age has\ngreater need of leaders. He is called to new duties and new functions,\nand the danger is that he who might be lifting his clergy on to a higher\nplane, meeting them soul to soul, and comforting them by his contagious\npiety, will be absorbed in organizing, in business, or in the\nperformance of functions. Suffragan Bishops attached to the cathedral\nwould relieve him from \u201csuch serving tables,\u201d and leave him more free to\nbe a father in God to the clergy.\n\n\n    IV.--THE FABRIC AND FINANCE.\n\nThe care of the fabrics is more and more recognized as a national\nconcern. Not long ago there was a proposal put forward by non-Christians\nfor their preservation out of local or national resources. The\nCommissioners\u2019 suggestion that a report on their condition should be\npublished at frequent intervals shows trust in the readiness of a\nvoluntary response, but it is hardly a businesslike recommendation.\n\nThe suggestion, already made in this paper, that some local\nrepresentative body, such as the County Council, should be the body\nauthorized to initiate reforms in the use of the building, would\nnaturally lead to the same body becoming responsible for its proper\ncare. It is not hard to conceive of such a growing interest as would\nlead to a ready expenditure under the direction of the best advisers.\nThe mass of the people are now shut out from contribution; their pence\nare not valued, and even if their gift \u201cbe half their living,\u201d it opens\nto them no place on the restoration committee.\n\nIf the cathedral is to be the people\u2019s church, its support must rest on\nthe people, and this is only possible by means of the local bodies which\nthey control.\n\nFinance, as might be expected in a commercial country, takes up a large\nportion of the report. Failure is again and again attributed to poverty,\nand a schedule shows what is wanting in each cathedral for the proper\npayment of officials. The total per annum is an increase of \u00a310,876. The\nCommissioners\u2019 happy thought was, \u201cWhy not get this amount from the\nEcclesiastical Commissioners, who have profited largely from cathedral\nproperty?\u201d They forthwith made application and were duly snubbed.\n\nBut the suggestion already made in this paper, for the more harmonious\nmanagement of cathedrals by the absorption of the Dean\u2019s functions in\nthat of the Bishop, at once solves the financial difficulty. The\nsalaries now given to the Deans--probably on an average at least \u00a31000 a\nyear--would then be ready for redistribution, and might follow the lines\nsuggested by the Commissioners, and would supply other gaps due to the\ndepreciation of agricultural values.\n\n\n    CONCLUSION.\n\nThe Commissioners take into view many details connected with the other\nofficials, with the rivalry of Precentor and Organist, with the meeting\nof the greater chapter, and with the abolition of the minor corporations\nexisting in some cathedrals alongside of the chapter corporation, which\nare in their way important, but which would all fall into place under a\nlarge scheme of reform.\n\nThe essentials of such a scheme are, it is submitted, (1) control by a\ndistinguished body, like that of the Committee of the Privy Council,\nwhich takes its initiative from a representative body like that of the\nCounty Council; (2) the reinstatement of the Bishop as the chief officer\nof the cathedral, with the Canons as his suffragans.\n\nThe cathedrals seem to be waiting to be used by the new spiritual force\nwhich, amid the wreck of so much that is old, is surely appearing. There\nis a widespread consciousness of their value--an unexpressed instinct of\nrespect which is not satisfied by the disquisitions of antiquarians or\nthe praises of artists. Common people as well as Royal Commissioners\nfeel that cathedrals have a part to play in the coming time. What that\npart is none can foretell, but all agree that the cathedrals must be\npreserved and beautified, that the teaching and the music they offer\nmust be of the best, offered at frequent and suitable times, and that\nthey must be used for the service of the great secular and religious\ncorporations of the diocese.\n\nUnder the scheme here proposed this would be possible. The Bishop, as\nhead of the cathedral, would direct the order of the daily worship and\nteaching, arrange for the giving of great musical works, and invite on\nspecial occasions any active organization. He would have as coadjutors\nable men chosen by himself, who, by lectures, meetings, and conferences,\nwould make the building alive with use. He would have behind him the\ncommittee of the County Councils or other local authority, empowered to\nsuggest changes in the statutes as new times brought new needs, and\nready with money as their interest was developed. The scheme, at any\nrate, has the merit of utilizing two growing forces--that of the Bishop,\nand that of local government. No scheme can secure that these forces\nwill work to the best ends. That, as everything else, must depend on the\nextent to which the growing forces are inspired by the spirit of Christ.\n\nA cathedral used as a Bishop would use it would receive a new\nconsecration by the manifold uses. Just as the silence of a crowd which\nmight speak is more impressive than the silence of the dumb, so is the\nquiet of a building which is much used more solemn than the quiet of a\nbuilding kept swept and clean for show. Our cathedrals, being centres of\nactivity, would more and more impress those who, themselves anxious and\ncareful about many things, feel the impulse of the spiritual force of\nthe time. Workmen and business-men would come to possess their souls in\nquiet meditation, or to join unnoticed in services of worship which\nexpress aspirations often too full for words.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    THE CATHEDRALS AND MODERN NEEDS.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    1912.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Contemporary Review\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\nThis generation is face to face with many and hard problems. Perhaps the\nhardest and the one which underlies all the others is that which\nconcerns the spiritualizing of life. Discoveries and inventions have\nlargely increased the attractions of the things which can be seen and\nheard, touched, and tasted. Rich and poor have alike found that the\nworld is full of so many things that they ought to be all as happy as\nkings, and the one ideal which seems to command any enthusiasm is a\nSocialistic State, where material things will be more equally divided\namong all classes.\n\nBut even so, there is an underlying consciousness that possessions do\nnot satisfy human nature. Millionaires are seen to miss happiness, and\nsomething else than armaments are wanted to make the strength of a\nnation. There is thus a widely-spread disposition to take more account\nof spiritual forces, and people who have not themselves the courage to\nforsake all for the sake of an idea speak with sympathy of religion and\npatronize the Salvation Army. There is much talk of \u201crival ideals\ndominating action,\u201d and the prevalent unrest seems to come from a\ndemand, not so much for more money as for more respect, more recognition\nof equality, more room for the exercise of admiration, hope, and love.\nModern unrest is, in fact, a cry for light.\n\nThe problem which is haunting this generation is how to spiritualize the\nforces which are shaping the future; how to inspire labour and capital\nwith thoughts which will both elevate and control their actions; how to\nenable rich and poor to move in a larger world, seeing things which eyes\ncannot see; how to open channels between eternal sources and every day\u2019s\nneed; how to give to all the sense of partnership in a progress which is\nfitting the earth for man\u2019s enjoyment and men for one another\u2019s comfort.\nThe spiritualization of life being necessary to human peace and\nhappiness; its accomplishment is the goal of all reformers, and every\nreform may in fact be measured by its power to advance or hinder\nprogress to that goal.\n\nI would suggest that the cathedrals are especially designed to help in\nthe solution of the problem. Their attractiveness is a striking fact,\nand people who are too busy to read or to pray seem to find time to\nvisit buildings where they will gain no advantage for their trade or\nprofession, not even fresh air for their bodies. They are recognized as\ncivic or national possessions, and working people who stand aloof from\nplaces of worship, or patronize meeting-houses, are distinctly\ninterested in their care and preservation. They have an unfailing hold\non the popular imagination, so that it is always easy to gather a\ncongregation to take part in a service, or to listen to a lecture.\n\n\u201cIt was not so much what the lecturer said,\u201d was the reflection of Mr.\nCrooks after a lecture in Westminster Abbey on English History, \u201cas the\nplace in which it was given.\u201d\n\nThe cathedrals have thus a peculiar position in the modern world, and if\nit be asked to what the position is due I am inclined to answer: to\ntheir unostentatious grandeur and to their testimony to the past. They\nare high and mighty, they lift their heads to heaven, and they open\ntheir doors to the humblest. They give the best away, and ask for\nnothing, neither praise nor notice. They are buildings through which the\nstream of ages has flowed, familiar to the people of old time as of the\npresent, bearing traces of Norman strength and English aspirations, of\nthe enthusiasm of Catholics and Puritans, of the hopes of the makers of\nthe nation. The cathedrals are thus in touch with the spiritual sides of\nlife, and make their appeal to the same powers which desire before all\nthings to see the fair beauty of the Lord, and to commune with man\u2019s\neternal mind.\n\nBut the cathedrals which make this appeal can hardly be said to be well\nused. There are the somewhat perfunctory services morning and afternoon,\noften suspended or degraded during holiday months when visitors are most\nnumerous; there are sermons rarely to be distinguished from those heard\nin a thousand parish churches; there is a staff of eight or ten clergy\nwho may be busy at good works, but certainly do not make their cathedral\nposition their platform; and there are guides who for a small fee will\nconduct parties round the church. Among these guides are indeed to be\nfound men who have made a study of the building, and are able to talk of\nit as lovers, but the guides for the most part give no other information\nthan lists of names and dates, sometimes relieved by a common-place\nanecdote. The cathedrals are treated as museums, and not so well as the\nForum of Rome. The question is: Can they be made of greater use in\nspiritualizing life? I would offer some suggestions:--\n\n1. Cathedrals might, I think, be more generally used for civic, county\nand national functions, for intercession at times of crisis, and for\nservices in connexion with meetings of conferences and congresses. The\nservices might be especially adapted by music and by speech to deepen\nthe effect of the building with its grandeur and memories. The use in\nthis direction has increased of late years, and even when the service\nseems to be little more than a church parade, those present are often\nhelped by the reminder that their immediate concern has a place in a\ngreater whole. But the use might be largely extended, so that every\nexample of corporate life might be set in the framework which would\ngive it dignity. Elections to civic councils might be better understood\nif the newly-elected bodies gathered in the grand central building\nwhere vulgar divisions would be hushed in the greatness, and the\nambitions of parties lifted up into an atmosphere in which the rivals\nof past days are recognized in their common service to the State.\nThe meetings of congresses and conferences--of scientific and trade\nsocieties--of leagues and unions for social reform would be helped by\nbeginning their deliberations in a place which would both humble and\nwiden the thoughts of the members.\n\nIntercessional services, when guided by a few directing words, at which\nmen and women would gather to fix their minds on great ideals--on\npeace--on sympathy with the oppressed--on the needs of children and\nprisoners, would gain force from the association of a building where\ngenerations have prayed and hoped and suffered. And if, as well as being\nmore frequent, such use were more carefully considered the effect would\nbe much deeper. It is not enough, for instance, that the service should\nalways follow the old form, and the music be elaborate and the sermon\northodox. Consideration might be given so that prayers, and music, and\nspeech might all be made to work together with the influences of the\nbuilding to touch the spiritual side of the object interesting to the\ncongregation. The soul of the least important member of a civic council\nor a society is larger than its programme. The cathedral service might\nbe, by much consideration, designed to help such souls to realize\nsomething of the vast horizons in which they move--something of the\ninfinite issues attached to their resolutions and votes, something of\nthe company filling the past and the future of which they are members.\nThe cathedrals, by such frequent and well-considered uses, might do much\nto spiritualize life.\n\n2. There are, as I have said, usually eight or ten clergy who form the\ncathedral staff. Many of them are chosen for their distinction in some\nform of spiritual service, and all have devoted themselves to that\nservice. They may be in other ways delivering themselves of their\nduties, but they as spiritual teachers cannot as a rule be said to\nidentify themselves with the cathedral. They do not use all their powers\nto make the building a centre of spiritual life.\n\nI would suggest, therefore, that these clergy attached to the cathedral\nshould have classes or lectures on theological, social, and historic\nsubjects. They should give their teaching freely in one of the chapels\nof the cathedral, and the teaching should be so thorough as to command\nthe attention of the neighbouring clergy and other thoughtful people.\nThey would also, on occasions, give lectures in the nave designed to\nguide popular thought to the better understanding of the live questions\nof the day, or of the past.\n\nAnd inasmuch as many of the clergy have been chosen for their skill in\nmusic, which often at great cost holds a high place in cathedral\nworship, I would suggest that regular teaching be given in the relation\nof music to worship. Words, we are often told, do not make music sacred,\nand religion has probably suffered degradation from the attachment of\nhigh words to low music. There is certainly no doubt that the music in\nmany churches is both bad in character and pretentious. If teaching were\nfreely given by qualified teachers in the cathedrals, if examples of the\nbest were freely offered, and if the place of music in worship were\nclearly shown, then music might become a valuable agent in\nspiritualizing life.\n\nPerhaps, however, the clergy might urge that they could not by such\nteaching deliver themselves of their obligation to do spiritual work.\nThey would rather wrestle with souls and unite in prayer. But surely\nif their teaching has for its aim the opening of men\u2019s minds to know\nthe truth--the enlistment of men\u2019s hearts in others\u2019 service and the\nbringing of the understanding into worship, then their teaching will\nend in the knowledge of others\u2019 souls and in acts of common devotion.\nThe cathedral staff might, through the cathedral and the position it\nholds in a city, do much to spiritualize life.\n\n3. The great spiritual asset of the cathedral is, however, its\nassociation with the past, and its living witness that the present is\nthe child of the past. This may be called a spiritual asset, because it\nis this conception of the past which, as is evident among the Jews and\nJapanese, is able to inspire and control action. The people who see as\nin a vision their country boldly standing and suffering for some great\nprinciples and hear the voices of the great dead calling them\n\u201cchildren,\u201d have power and peace within their reach.\n\nIt is, as I have said, because of some dim consciousness of this truth\nthat crowds of visitors flock into the buildings and spend a rare\nholiday in hanging upon the dry words of the guides. It is easy to\nimagine how their readily-offered interest might be seized, how guides\nwith fresh knowledge and trained sympathy might make the building tell\nand illustrate the tale of the nation\u2019s growth, how the different styles\nof architecture might be made to express different stages of thought,\nhow the whole structure might be shown to be a shell and rind covering\nliving principles, how every one might be lifted up and humbled as the\nbuilding told him of England\u2019s search for justice, freedom, and truth.\nIt is easy to imagine how such a living interpretation might be given to\nthe message of the building, but much work would first be necessary.\n\nThe cathedral staff would have to be constant learners, and take up\ndifferent sides of interest. They would themselves frequently accompany\nparties and individuals, so that in intimate talk they would learn the\nmind of the people, and they would be continually instructing the\nregular guides. Their special duty would be to give at certain times\nshort talks on the history, the architecture, and the art, so that\nvisitors might be sure that at these times they would learn what light\nnew knowledge was throwing on the familiar surroundings.\n\nThe power of the past is dormant, it is buried beneath the insistent\npresent, but it is not dead, and it is conceivable that thoughtful and\ndevoted effort might rouse it to speak through the buildings which have\nwitnessed the highest aspirations of successive ages. If such effort\nsucceeded, and if the people of to-day could be helped to know and feel\nthe England of old days, they would be conscious of a spiritual force\nbearing them on to great deeds. They would begin to understand how\nthings which are not seen are stronger than things which are seen. The\ncathedrals have in themselves a message which would help to spiritualize\nlife, but without interpreters the message can hardly be heard.\n\n4. I would add one other suggestion arising from the monuments which in\nevery cathedral attract so much notice. They are the memorials of men\nand women notable in national or local history who belonged to various\nparties and classes, to different forms of faith and different\nprofessions representing divers qualities and diverse forms of service.\n\nIt would not be difficult for each cathedral to make a calendar of\nworthies. A lecture every month on one such worthy would give an\nopportunity for taking the minds of modern men into the surroundings of\nthe past, where they would see clearly the value of character.\nFamiliarity with the lives of Saints has been doubtless a great help to\nmany lonely and anxious souls, but this hardly applies to those who hear\nsermons on St. Jude, and St. Bartholomew, and other Saints of whom\nlittle can be known. If, however, from its great men and women each\ncathedral selected twelve, for one of whom a day should be set apart\neach month, the people in the locality would gradually become familiar\nwith their characters and gain by communion with them.\n\nThoughts are best revealed through lives, and the attraction of\npersonality was never more marked than at the present day. Through the\nlives of the great dead, and through the persons of those who walked or\nworshipped within familiar walls, it would be possible to make people\nunderstand great principles, and gradually become conscious of the\nCommon Source from which flows \u201cevery good and perfect gift\u201d. The dead\nspeak from the walls of the cathedral, but they have no interpreter, and\nthe mass of the people who are waiting for their message go away\nunsatisfied. A power which would help to spiritualize life is unused.\n\nBut perhaps it may be urged that if all were done which has been\nsuggested, if the minds of visitors were kindled to admiration, if the\npast were made to live and the dead to speak, much more would be\nnecessary to spiritualize life. Certainly the \u201cspirit bloweth where it\nlisteth,\u201d and only they who feel its breath are born again and enter a\nworld of power, of peace, and of love.\n\nBut it may be claimed that some attitudes are better than others in\nwhich to feel this breath, and that people whose pride has been brought\nlow by the beauty of a great building, or whose ears have been opened to\nthe voices of the past, will be more likely to bow before the Holy\nSpirit than those who have no thought beyond what they can see, hear, or\ntouch.\n\nThe age, we sometimes say, is waiting for a great leader--a prophet who\nwill make dead bones to live. It is well to remember that for all\nredeemers the way has to be prepared, and the coming spiritual leader\nwill be helped if through our cathedrals people have developed powers of\ncommunion with the Unseen.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    SECTION II.\n\n    RECREATION.\n\nThe Children\u2019s Country Holiday Fun\u2019--Recreation of the People--Hopes of\nthe Hosts--Easter Monday on Hampstead Heath--Holidays and School\ndays--The Failure of Holidays--Recreation in Town and Country.\n\n\n\n\n    THE CHILDREN\u2019S COUNTRY HOLIDAY FUN\u2019.[1]\n\n    BY MRS. S. A. BARNETT.\n\n    April, 1912.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Cornhill Magazine\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\nFive thousand two hundred and eighty Letters, 872 Sketches, 199\nCollections, all in parcels neatly tied up, the name, age, and sex of\nthe writer, artist, or collector clearly written on the first page of\nthe covering paper. There they lie, all around me, stack upon stack. The\nsketches are crude but extraordinarily vivid and unaffected; the\ncollections are very scrappy but show affectionate care; the letters are\nwritten in childish unformed characters, and are of varying lengths,\nfrom a sheet of notepaper to ten pages of foolscap, but one and all deal\nwith the same subject. What that subject is shall be told by a maiden of\nnine years old:--\n\n\u201cOn one Thursday morning my Mother woke me and said, \u2018To-day is Country\nHoliday Fun,\u2019 so I got up and put my cloes on\u201d.\n\nOn that Thursday morning, 27 July, 22,624 happy children left London and\nits drab monotonous streets, and went for a fortnight\u2019s visit into the\ncountry, or by the sea. Oh! the joy, the preparation, the excitement,\nthe hopes, the fears, the anxieties lest anything should prevent the\nstart; but at last, by the superhuman efforts of all concerned, the\nCommittee, the ladies, the teachers, and the railway officials, the\nwhole gay, glad, big army of little people were successfully got off. It\nis from these 22,624 children, and 21,756 more who took their places two\nweeks later, that my 5,280 letters come; for only those who really\nchoose to write are encouraged to do so.\n\nIn almost all cases the journey is fully described, the ride in the\n\u2019bus, the fear of being late, the parcel and how \u201cit fell out,\u201d the\ngentlemen at the station, the porter who gave us a drink of water\n\u201ccause we were all hot,\u201d the gentleman who gave the porter 6d. because\nhe said: \u201cThis 6d. is for you for thinking as how the children would\nbe thirsty\u201d. The number that managed to get in each carriage, the boy\nwho lost his cap \u201cfor the wind went so fast when my head was outside\nlooking,\u201d the hedges, the cows, the big boards with ---- Pills written\non them, how \u201cit seemed as if I was going that way and the hills and\ncows and trees were going the other way\u201d. It is all told with the fresh\nforce of novelty and youth. The names of the Stations and the mileage\nis often noted, as well as the noise. \u201cWe shouted for joy,\u201d writes a\nboy of eleven. \u201cWe told them it was rude to holler so,\u201d writes a more\nstaid girl. \u201cI got tired of singing and went to sleep,\u201d records a boy\nof eight; but the journey over there follows the description, often\ngiven with some awe, of how,--\n\n  \u201cWe all went and were counted together, and there were the ladies\n  waiting for us, and the gentleman read out our names and our lady\u2019s\n  name and then we went home with our right ladies,\u201d\n\nand then, almost without exception, comes the bald but important\nstatement, \u201cand then we had Tea\u201d. Indeed, all through the letters there\nis frequent mention of the gastronomic conditions, which appear to\noccupy a large place among the memories of the country visit. Evidently\nthe regularity of the meals makes a change which strikes the\nimagination.\n\n  \u201cI got up, washed in hot water and had my breakfast. It was duck\u2019s\n  egg. I then went out in the fields till dinner was ready. I had\n  a good dinner and then took a rest. We had Tea. My lady gave us\n  herrings and apple pie for tea, then we went on the Green and\n  looked about and then came home and had supper and went to bed.\u201d\n\nSome letters, especially those written after the first visit to the\ncountry, contain nothing but the plain unvarnished tale of the supply of\nregular food. One girl burns with indignation because\n\n  \u201cWe girls was sent to bed at 7\u00b730 and got no supper, but the boys was\n  let up later and got bread and a big thick bit of cheese\u201d.\n\nA boy of eight chronicles that\n\n  \u201cI had custard for my Tea and some jelly which was called corn flour\u201d.\n\nOne small observer had apparently discovered the importance of\nmeal-times even to the sea itself, for he writes: \u201cThe sea always went\nout at dinner time and came back when Tea was ready\u201d. I can see my\nreaders smile, but to those of us who know intimately the lives of the\npoor, the significance of meals and their regularity occupying so large\na place in a child\u2019s mind is more pathetic than comic.\n\nFrom all the letters the impression is gathered of the generosity of the\npoor hostesses to the London children. For 5s. a week (not 9d. a day) a\ngrowing hungry boy or girl is taken into a cottager\u2019s home, put in the\nbest bed, cared for, fed three or four times a day, and often\nentertained at cost of time, thought, or money.\n\n  \u201cI like the day which was Bank lolyiday Monday because it was a\n  very joyafull day. My Lady took me to a Flower Show. It was 3d. to\n  go in but she paid, and I had swings and saw the flowers, and then\n  we had bought Tea, and a man gave away ginger beer.\u201d\n\nAnother girl of eleven writes:--\n\n  \u201cMy lady took me to Windsor Castle. The first thing I saw was the\n  Thames. I went and had a paddled and then I went in the Castle and saw\n  a lot of apple trees.\u201d\n\nThe visits to Windsor are modern-day versions of the old story of the\nCat who went to see the King and saw only \u201cMousey sitting under the\nChair,\u201d for another child records:--\n\n  \u201cThere were plenty of orchards with apple trees in it. But we would\n  not pick them, or else we would be locked up but I went in the\n  Castle and I saw a very large table with fifty chairs all round it\n  and a piano and a looking glass covered up on the wall.\u201d\n\nOne boy who was taken to the lighthouse, though only ten, was evidently\neager for useful information. He writes:--\n\n  \u201cI asked the man how many candlepowers it was but I forgot what he\n  said----\u201d\n\nan experience not unknown to his elders and betters!\n\nThis child records that \u201cwhen playing on the beach I made Buckingham\nPalace but a big boy came along and trod it and so we went home to\nbed\u201d--an unconscious repetition of the often-recorded conclusion of\nPepys\u2019 eventful days.\n\nOne of the small excursionists was taken by her hostess to see\nTonbridge, and writes: \u201cWe went to the muzeam wear we saw jitnoes of\ndifferent people\u201d.\n\nThe hospitality of the clergymen and their families and the goodness of\ndoctors is also often mentioned. Some of the children write so vividly\nthat the country vicarage and its sweet-smelling flowers, the hot curate\nand the active ladies, rise up as a picture, the \u201catmosphere\u201d of which\nis kindness and \u201cthe values\u201d incalculable. Other children merely record\nthe facts--in some cases anticipating time and establishing an order of\nclergywomen.\n\n  \u201cWe asked the Vicar Miss Leigh if we could swim and she said No\n  because one boy caught a cold.\u201d\n\n  \u201cWe all went to the Reveren to a party.\u201d \u201cSaturday mornings we went\n  to the Rectory haveing games, swings, sea sawes and refreshments.\u201d\n  \u201cThe party by the Church was fine.\u201d \u201cThey had a Church down there\n  called the Salvation Army. I thought there was only one Salvation\n  Army.\u201d\n\nOne of the Vicars hardly conveyed the impression he intended, for the\nboy writes:--\n\n  \u201cWe went to Church in the morning and in the afternoon for a walk\n  as the Clergyman told us not to go to Sunday School as he wanted us\n  to enjoy ourselves\u201d.\n\nOne wonders if the Sunday School organization and the \u201cintolerable\nstrain\u201d which would be put on it by London visitors was in that vicar\u2019s\nmind.\n\nThe letter that is sent by the Countryside Committee to the children\nbefore they leave London tells them in simple language something about\nthe trees and flowers and creatures which they will see during their\nholiday, and asks them to write on anything which they themselves have\nobserved or which gave them pleasure to see. This request is granted,\nfor the children wrote:--\n\n  \u201cThe trees seemed so happy they danced\u201d.\n\n  \u201cThe wind was blowing and the branches of the trees was swinging\n  themselves.\u201d\n\n  \u201cThe rainbow is made of raindrops and the sun, tears and smiles.\u201d\n\n  \u201cIt was nice to sit on the grass and see the trees prancing in the\n  breeze.\u201d\n\nThese extracts show, in the four small mortals who had each spent the\nten years of their lives in crowded streets, an almost poetic capacity,\nand the beginning of a power of nature sympathy that will be a source of\nunrecorded solace. The sights of the night impress many children, the\nsky seen for the first time uninterrupted by gas lamps.\n\n  \u201cWhen I (aged eleven) looked into the sky one night you could hardly\n  see any of the blue for it was light up with stars.\u201d\n\n  \u201cI saw a star shoot out of the sky and then it settled in a different\n  place.\u201d\n\n  \u201cOne night I kept awake and looked for the stars and saw the Big Bear\n  of stars.\u201d\n\n  \u201cAt night the moon looked as if it were a Queen and the stars were her\n  Attendants.\u201d\n\n  \u201cThe clouds are making way for the moon to come out.\u201d\n\nThe sun, its rising and setting, is also frequently mentioned. One child\nhad developed patriotism to such an extent as to write:--\n\n  \u201cOne day I looked up to the Sky and saw the sun was rising in the\n  shape of the British Isles\u201d.\n\nAlas! What would the Kaiser think?\n\nAnother of my correspondents expressed surprise that \u201cthe moon came from\nwhere the sky touched the Earth,\u201d an evidence of street-bound horizon.\n\nIn other letters the writers record:--\n\n  \u201cI saw the sun set it was like a big silver Eagle\u2019s wing laying on a\n  cliff\u201d.\n\n  \u201cWhen the sun was setting out of the clouds came something that looked\n  like a County Council Steamer\u201d.\n\nThat must have been a rather alarming sunset, but hardly less so than\n\u201cthe cloud which was like Saint Paul\u2019s Cathedral coming down on our\nheads\u201d.\n\nThe animals gave great pleasure and created wonder:--\n\n  \u201cThe cows made a grunting noise, the baa lambs made a pretty little\n  shriek\u201d.\n\n  \u201cThe cows I saw were lazy, they were laying. One was a bull who I\n  daresay had been tossing somebody.\u201d\n\n  \u201cI heard a bird chirping it was make a noise like chirp chirp twee.\u201d\n\n  \u201cI saw a big dragon fly. It was like a long caterpillar with long\n  sparkling transparent wings.\u201d\n\n  \u201cThe birds are not like ourn they are light brown.\u201d\n\n  \u201cThere were wasps which was yellow and pretty but unkind.\u201d\n\n  \u201cI (aged eleven) saw a little blackbird--its head was off by a Cat. I\n  made a dear little grave and so berreyed it under the Tree.\u201d\n\nThe flowers, of course, come in for the greatest attention and after\nthem the trees are most usually referred to:--\n\n  \u201cI (aged nine) know all the flowers that lived in the garden, but not\n  all those who lived in the field\u201d.\n\n  \u201cStinging nettles are a nuisance to people who have holes in their\n  boots.\u201d\n\n  \u201cThe Pond is all covered with Rushes. These had flowers like a rusty\n  poker.\u201d\n\n  \u201cI picked lots of flowers and always brought them home--\u201d\n\nshows influence of the Selborne Society in teaching children not to pick\nand throw away what is alive and growing.\n\n  \u201cThe Cuckoo dines on other birds.\u201d\n\n  \u201cThere was one bird called the squirrel.\u201d\n\n  \u201cOnly gentlemen are allowed to shoot pheasants as they are expensive.\u201d\n\n  \u201cWe caught fish in the river some were small others about 2 feet\n  long.\u201d\n\n  \u201cButterflies dont do much work.\u201d\n\n  \u201cThe trunk of the oak is used for constructing furniture, coffins and\n  other expensive objects.\u201d\n\nBut my readers will be weary, so I will conclude with the pregnant\nremark of a little prig, who writes:--\n\n  \u201cI think the country was in a good condition for _I_ found plenty of\n  interesting things in it.\u201d\n\nOne or two of my small correspondents show an early disposition to see\nfaults and remember misfortunes.\n\n\u201cThere was no strikes on down there but there was a large number of\nwasps,\u201d was the reflection of one evidently conscious of the fly in\nevery ointment. Another (aged ten) writes:--\n\n  \u201cDEAR MADAM,--When I was down in the country I was lying on the\n  couch and a wasp stung me. As I was on the common a man chased me,\n  and I fell head first and legs after into the prickles, and the\n  prickles dug me and hurt me.... I was nearly scorched down in the\n  country.... One day when I fed the Pigs the great big fat pig bit\n  a lump out of my best pinafore. One morning when I was in bed the\n  little boy brought the cat up and put it on my face. When I was\n  down in the country the Common caught a light for the sun was\n  always too hot. So I must close with my love.\u201d\n\nWas there ever such a catalogue of misfortunes compressed into one short\nfortnight? Still, in the intervals she seems to have noticed a\nconsiderable number of trees, of which she makes a list, and adds: \u201cI\ndid enjoy myself\u201d. Poor little maiden! Perhaps her elders had graduated\nin the school of misfortunes, and she had learnt the trick of\ncomplaining.\n\nA good many children, both boys and girls, were very conscious of the\nabsence of their home responsibilities.\n\n  \u201cI did not see a babbi. I mean to mind it all the time.\u201d\n\n  \u201cThe ladys girl dont mind the baby as much as me at home. It stops in\n  the garden.\u201d\n\nIt opens up a whole realm of matters for reflection: the baby not\ndragged hither and thither in arms too small and weak for its comfort,\nand then plumped down on cold or damp stones while its over-burdened\nnurse snatches a brief game or indulges in a scamper; the clouding of\nthe elder child\u2019s life by unremitting responsibilities, and the\neffortful labour which sometimes wears out love, though not so often as\ncould be expected, so marvellous is human nature, and its capacity for\ncare and tenderness. \u201cI didn\u2019t have to mind no twins,\u201d writes one small\nboy of nine, \u201cI think thems a neusence. I wish Mother had not bought\nthem.\u201d But the baby left in a garden! opening its blinking eyes to the\nwonders of sky and flowers and bees and creatures, while its elder\nbrothers and sister do their share of work and play. This makes a\nfoundation of quiet and pleasure on which to build the strenuous days\nand anxious years of the later life of struggle and effort.\n\nThe reiteration of the kindness of the cottage hostesses would be almost\nwearisome if one\u2019s imagination did not go behind it and picture the\nscenes, the hard-worked country woman accepting the suggestion of a\nchild guest with a lively appreciation of the usefulness of the 5s.\u2019s\nwhich were to accrue, but that thought receding as the enjoyment of the\ntown child became infectious, until the value given for the value\nreceived became forgotten, and generous self-costing kindnesses were\nshowered profusely.\n\n  \u201cMy lady she was always doing kind to me.\u201d \u201cMrs. P. washed my clothes\n  before I came home to save Mother doing it.\u201d \u201cMy lady told Mr. S. to\n  shake her tree for our apples.\u201d \u201cThe person that Boarded me gave me\n  nice thing to bring back.\u201d\n\nIn some cases the thrifty, tidy ways of the country hostesses conveyed\ntheir lessons.\n\n  \u201cShe use to make browan bread and She use to make her own cakes and\n  apple turn overs and eggloes and current cake.\u201d \u201cThe wind came in my\n  room and blew me in the night.\u201d \u201cWe always had table clothes where I\n  was.\u201d \u201cI washed myself well my lady liked it.\u201d \u201cWe cleaned our teeth\n  down in the country ever morning.\u201d\n\nSometimes examples on deeper matters were observed and approved of.\n\n  \u201cEvery morning and dinner and tea we say grace.\u201d \u201cThe lady told us\n  Sunday School was nice and we went.\u201d \u201cWe had Church 3 times. Morning\n  noon and night\u201d--\n\nis not reported with entire approval, but the letter ends:--\n\n  \u201cI loved my holidays very much and hope that I can go next year to\n  live with the same lady\u201d.\n\nA boy writes:--\n\n  \u201cThe lady was very kind she never said any naughty words to me\u201d.\n\nAnd another lad reports:--\n\n  \u201cI was fed extremely well and treated with the best respect\u201d.\n\nOne little girl had clear views on the proper position of man.\n\n  \u201cMy ladie,\u201d she writes, \u201chad a big pig 4 little ones, 2 cats. some\n  hens a bird in a cage a apple tree a little boy and a Huband.\u201d\n\nSometimes the history of the place has been impressed on the children.\n\n  \u201cI (aged eleven) was very glad I went to Guildford because Sir\n  Lancelot and Elaine lived there but its name was then Astolat.\u201d\n\n  \u201cWhen I (aged eleven) reached Burnham Thorp I felt the change of\n  air and I heard the birds sing--and then I knew that I should see\n  the place where our great English sailor Lord Nelson was born,\u201d--\n\nhe being a character so indissolubly associated with innocent country\njoys.\n\nThe letters both begin and end in a variety of ways, for though I do not\nwrite all the letters which are issued to the children by the\nCountryside Committee of the Children\u2019s Country Holiday Fund, it is\nconsidered better for me as Chairwoman to sign them, so as to give a\nmore personal tone to the lengthy printed chat, which the teachers\nthemselves open, kindly read and talk about to the children, and a copy\nof which each child can have if it so wishes. Thus the reply letters are\nall sent to me, and the vast majority begin \u201cDear Madam\u201d; but some are\nless conventional, and I have those commencing, \u201cDear Mrs. Barnett,\u201d\n\u201cDear Country Holdday Site Commtie,\u201d \u201cDear friend,\u201d \u201cDear Miss,\u201d while\nthe feeling of personal relation was evidently so real to one small boy\nthat he began his epistle with \u201cDear Henrietta\u201d--I delight in that\nletter! Among the concluding words are the following: \u201cYour affectionate\nlittle friend,\u201d \u201cYour loving pupil,\u201d \u201cFrom one who enjoyed,\u201d \u201cYours\ngratefully,\u201d \u201cYours truly Friend\u201d.\n\nSome of the regrets at leaving the country are very pathetic:--\n\n  \u201cI wish I was in the country now\u201d. \u201cI shall never go again; I am\n  too old now.\u201d \u201cI think in the fortnight I had more treats than\n  ever before in all my life.\u201d \u201cThe blacking berries were red then\n  and small. They will be black now and big.\u201d \u201cI wish I was with my\n  lady\u2019s baker taking the bread round.\u201d \u201cI enjoyed myself very much,\n  I cannot explain how much. Please God next year I will come again.\n  As I sit at school I always imagine myself roaming in the fields\n  and watching the golden corn, and when I think of it it makes me cry.\u201d\n\nAnd those tears will find companions in some of the hearts which\nache for the joyless lives of our town children, weighted by\nresponsibilities, crippled by poverty, robbed of their birthright of\ninnocent fun. The ecstatic joy of children in response to such simple\npleasures tells volumes about their drab existence, their appreciation\nof adequate food, their warm recognition of kindness, represent\nprivation and surprise. In a deeper sense than Wordsworth used it,\n\u201cTheir gratitude has left me mourning\u201d.\n\nI know, and no one better, the countless servants of the people who are\ntoiling to relieve the sorrows of the poor and their children, but until\nthe conditions of labour, of education, and of housing are fearlessly\nfaced and radically dealt with, their labour can only be palliative and\ntheir efforts barren of the best fruit; but articles, as well as\nholidays, must finish, and so I will conclude by another extract:--\n\n  \u201cWe had a bottle of Tea and cake and it was 132\u00be miles. I saw all\n  sorts of things and come to Waterloo Station and thank you very much.\u201d\n\n  HENRIETTA O. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    THE RECREATION OF THE PEOPLE.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    July, 1907.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Cornhill Magazine\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\nWork may, as Carlyle says, be a blessing, but work is not undertaken for\nwork\u2019s sake. Work is part of the universal struggle for existence. Men\nwork to live. But the animal world early found that existence does not\nconsist in keeping alive. All animals play. They let off surplus energy\nin imitating their own activities, and they recreate exhausted powers by\nchange of occupation. Man, as soon as he came into his inheritance of\nreason, recognized play as an object of desire, and as well as working\nfor his existence, and perhaps even before he worked to obtain power and\nglory, he worked to obtain recreation. A man, according to Schiller\u2019s\nfamous saying, is fully human only when he plays.\n\nWork, then, let it be admitted, is undertaken not for work\u2019s sake but\nlargely for the sake of recreation. England has been made the workshop\nof the world, its fair fields and lovely homesteads have been turned\ninto dark towns and grimy streets, partly in the hope that more of its\ncitizens may have enjoyment in life. Men toil in close offices under\ndark skies, not just to increase the volume of exports and imports, and\nnot always to increase their power, or to win honour from one another;\nthey dream of happy hours of play, they picture themselves travelling in\nstrange countries or tranquilly enjoying their leisure in some villa or\npleasant garden. Men spend laborious days as reformers, on public boards\nor as public servants, very largely so as to release their neighbours\nfrom the prison house of labour, where so many, giving their lives \u201cto\nsome unmeaning taskwork, die unfreed, having seen nothing, still\nunblest\u201d.\n\nRecreation is an object of work. The recreations of the people consume\nmuch of the fruit of the labour of the people. Their play discloses what\nis in their hearts and minds and to what end they will direct their\npower. Their use of leisure is a sign-post showing whether the course of\nthe nation is towards extinction in ignorance and self-indulgence, or\ntowards greater brightness in the revelation of character and the\nservice of mankind. By their idle words and by the acts of their idle\ntimes men are most fairly judged.\n\nThe recreation of the people is therefore a subject of greater\nimportance than is always remembered. The country is being lost or saved\nin its play, and the use of holidays needs as much consideration as the\nuse of workdays.\n\nWould that some Charles Booth could undertake an inquiry into \u201cthe life\nand leisure of the people\u201d to put alongside that into their life and\nwork! Without such an inquiry the only basis for the consideration which\nI invite is the impression left on the minds of individuals, and all I\ncan offer is the impression made on my mind by a long residence in East\nLondon.\n\nPeople during the last quarter of a century have greatly increased their\ncommand of leisure. The command, as Board of Trade inspectors remind us,\nis not sufficient as long as the rule of seventy or even sixty hours of\nwork a week still holds in some trades. But the weekly half-holiday has\nbecome almost universal, some skilled trades have secured an eight or\nnine hours\u2019 day, many workshops every year close for a week, and the\nmembers of the building trades begin work late and knock off early\nduring the winter months. There is thus much leisure available for\nrecreation. What do the people do? How do these crowds who swarm through\nthe streets on Saturday afternoons spend their holiday?\n\nMany visit the public-houses and try to drink themselves out of their\ngloom. \u201cTo get drunk,\u201d we have been told, is \u201cthe shortest way out of\nManchester,\u201d and many citizens in every city go at any rate some\ndistance along this way. They find they live a larger, fuller life as,\nstanding in the warm bright bar, they drink and talk as if they were\n\u201clords\u201d. The returns which suggest that the drink bill of a workman\u2019s\nfamily is 5s. or 6s. a week prove how popular is this use of leisure,\nand they who begin a holiday by drinking probably spend the rest of it\nin sleeping. The identification of rest with sleep is very common, and a\nworkman who knows he has a fair claim to rest thinks himself justified\nin sleeping or dozing hour after hour during Saturday and Sunday.\n\u201cWhat,\u201d I once asked an engineer, \u201cshould I find most of your mates\ndoing if I called on Sunday?\u201d His answer was short: \u201cSleeping\u201d.\n\nAnother large body of workers as soon as they are free hurry off\nto some form of excitement. They go in their thousands to see a\nfootball-match, they yell with those who yell, they are roused by the\nspectacle of battle, and they indulge in hot \u201csultry\u201d talk. Or they\ngo to some race or trial of strength on which bets are possible. They\nfeel in the rise and fall of the chance of winning a new stirring of\ntheir dull selves, and they dream of wealth to be enjoyed in wearing a\ncoat with a fur collar and in becoming owners of sporting champions. Or\nthey go to music halls--1,250,000 go every week in London--where if the\nexcitement be less violent it still avails to move their thoughts into\nother channels. They see colour instead of dusky dirt, they hear songs\ninstead of the clash of machinery, they are interested as a performer\nrisks his life, and the jokes make no demands on their thoughts. The\ntheatres probably are less popular, at any rate among men, but they\nattract great numbers, especially to plays which appeal to generous\nimpulses. An audience enjoys the easy satisfaction of shouting down\na villain. The same sort of excitement is that provided on Sunday\nmornings in the clubs, where in somewhat sordid surroundings, a few\nactors and singers try to stir the muddled feelings of their audience\nby appeals, which are more or less vulgar.\n\nThere is finally another large body of released workers who simply go\nhome. They are more in number than is generally imagined, and they\nconstitute the solid part of the community. They are not often found at\nmeetings or clubs. Their opinions are not easily discovered. Large\nnumbers never vote. They go home from work, they make themselves tidy,\nthey do odd jobs about the house, they go out shopping with their wives,\nthey walk with the children, they, as a family party, visit their\nfriends, they sleep, and they read the weekly paper. All this is\nestimable, and the mere catalogue makes a picture pleasant to the\nmiddle-class imagination of what a workman\u2019s life should be. The workers\nget repose, but from a larger point of view it cannot be said they\nreturn to work invigorated by new thoughts and new experiences, with new\npowers and new conceptions of life\u2019s use. Repose is sterilized\nrecreation.\n\nThese, it seems to me, are the three main streams which flow from work\nto leisure--that towards drink, that towards excitement, and that\ntowards home repose.\n\nThere are other workers--an increasing number, but small in comparison\nwith those in one of the main streams--who use their leisure to attend\nclasses, to study with a view to greater technical skill or to read the\nbooks now so easily bought. There are some who take other jobs,\nforgetting that the wages which buy eight hours\u2019 work should buy also\neight hours\u2019 sleep and eight hours\u2019 play. There are many who bicycle,\nsome it may be for the excitement of rapid motion, but some also for the\njoy of visiting the country and of social intercourse. There are many\nwho play games and take vigorous exercise. There are a few--markedly a\nfew--who have hobbies or pursuits on which they exercise their less used\npowers of heart or head or limb.\n\nSuch is the general impression which long experience has left on my mind\nas to the recreations of the people. It is, however, possible to give a\ncloser inspection to some popular forms of amusement.\n\nConsider first one of the seaside resorts during the month of August.\nLook at Blackpool, or Margate, or Weston. On the Saturday before Bank\nHoliday \u00a3100,000 was drawn out of the banks at Blackburn and \u00a3200,000\nfrom the banks at Oldham, to be spent in recreation, mostly at\nBlackpool. How was it spent?\n\nThe sight of the beach of one of these resorts is familiar. There is the\nmass of people brightly coloured and loudly talking, broken into rapidly\nchanging groups. There are the nigger singers, the buffoons, the\nacrobats; there are the great restaurants and hotels inviting lavish\nexpenditure on food. There are bookstalls laden with trashy novels.\nThere are the overridden beasts and the overworked maid-servants; there\nis the loafing on the pier, and the sleep after heavy meals. Nothing\nespecially wicked, much that shows good-nature, but everything so\nvulgar--so empty of interest, so far below what thinking men and women\nshould enjoy, so unworthy the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of\npounds earned by hard work.\n\nConsider again the music hall. Mr. Stead has lent his eyes. \u201cIf,\u201d he\nsays, \u201cI had to sum up the whole performance in a single phrase I should\nsay, \u2018Drivel for dregs\u2019. For three and a half hours I sat patiently\nlistening to the most insufferable banality and imbecility which ever\nfell on human ears. There was neither beauty nor humour, no appeal to\ntaste or to intelligence, nothing but vulgarity and stupidity to\nrecreate the heirs of a thousand years of civilization and the citizens\nof an empire on which the sun never sets.\u201d And in one year there are\nsome 70,000,000 admissions to music halls in London! Consider, too, the\nfootball fields or the racecourses. The crowd of spectators is often\n100,000 to 200,000 persons. What can they find worthy the interest of a\nreasonable creature? Would they be present if it were not for the\nexcitement of gambling, the mind-destroying pleasure of risking their\nmoney to get their neighbours\u2019 money? \u201cIf,\u201d as Sir James Crichton-Browne\nsays, \u201cyou would see the English physiognomy at its worst, go to the\nplatform of a railway station on the day of a suburban race meeting when\nthe special trains are starting. On most of the faces you detect the\ngrin of greed, on many the leer of low cunning, on some the stamp of\npositive rascality.\u201d\n\nConsider once more the crowds who go to the country in the summer. \u201cOne\nof the saddest sights of the Lake District during the tourist season,\u201d\nsays Canon Rawnsley, \u201cis the aimless wandering of the hard-worked folk\nwho have waited a whole year for their annual holiday, and, having\nobtained it, do not know what to do with it. They stand with Skiddaw,\nglorious in its purple mantle of heather, on one side and the blue hills\nof Borrowdale and the shining lake on the other, and ask \u2018Which is the\nway to the scenery?\u2019\u201d The people, according to this observer, are dull\nand bored amid the greatest beauty. The excursionist finds nothing in\nnature which is his; he reads the handwriting of truth and beauty, but\nunderstands not what he reads.\n\nBut enough of impressions of popular recreations. There are brighter\nsides to notice. There is, for instance, health in the instinct which\nturns to the country for enjoyment. There is hope in the prevalent good\ntemper, in the untiring energy and curiosity which is always seeking\nsomething new. There are better things than have been mentioned and\nthere are worse things, but as a general conclusion it may, I think, be\nagreed that the recreations of the people are not such as recreate human\nnature for further progress. The lavish expenditure of hardly earned\nwages on mere bodily comfort does not suggest that the people are\ncherishing high political ideals, and the galvanized idleness which\ncharacterizes so much popular pleasure does not promise for the future\nan England which will be called blessed or be itself \u201cmerrie\u201d.\n\nEngland in her great days was \u201cMerrie England\u201d. Many of our forefathers\u2019\nrecreations were, judged by our standard, cruel and horribly brutal.\nThey had, however, certain notable characteristics. They made greater\ndemands both on body and mind. When there were neither trains nor trams\nnor grand stands people had to take more exertion to get pleasure, and\nthey themselves joined in the play or in the sport. Their delight, too,\nwas often in the fellowship they secured, and \u201cfellowship,\u201d as Morris\nsays, \u201cis life and lack of fellowship is death\u201d. Our fathers\u2019 sports,\neven if they were cruel--and the \u201cBook of Sports\u201d shows how many were\nnot cruel but full of grace--had often this virtue of fellowship. Their\npageants and spectacles--faithfully pictured by Scott in his account of\nthe revels of Kenilworth, were not just shows to be lazily watched; they\nenlisted the interest and ingenuity of the spectators, and stirred their\nminds to discover the meaning of some allegory or trace out some\nmystery.\n\nThe recreations which made England \u201cmerrie\u201d were stopped in their\ndevelopment by the combined influence of puritanism and of the\nindustrial revolution. Far be it from me to consider as evil either the\none or the other. In all progress there is destruction. The puritan\nspirit put down cruel sports such as bull baiting and cock fighting, and\nwith them many innocent pleasures. The industrial revolution drew the\npeople from their homes in the fields and valleys, established them in\ntowns, gave them higher wages and cheaper food. Under the combined\ninfluence work took possession of the nation\u2019s being. It ruled as a\ntyrant, and the gospel of work became the gospel for the people.\n\nIn the latter part of the nineteenth century signs of reaction are\napparent. Sleary, in Dickens\u2019s \u201cHard Times,\u201d urges on the economist the\ncontinual refrain: \u201cThe people, Squire, must be amused,\u201d and Herbert\nSpencer, returning from America in 1882, declares the need of the\n\u201cGospel of Recreation\u201d. Recreation has since increased in pace. The\nright to shorter and shorter hours of labour is now admitted, and the\nprovision of amusement has become a great business. The demand which has\nsecured shorter hours may safely be left to rescue further leisure from\nwork; but demand has not, as we have seen, been followed by the\nestablishment of healthy recreation. A child knows a holiday is good,\nbut he needs also to know how to enjoy it or he will do mischief to\nhimself or others. The people also need, as well as leisure, the\nknowledge of what constitutes recreation.\n\nThe subject is not simple, and Professor Karl Groos, in his book \u201cThe\nPlay of Man,\u201d has with Teutonic thoroughness analysed the subject from\nthe physiological, the biological, and the psychological standpoints.\nThe book is worthy of study by students, but it seems to me that\nrecreation must involve (1) some excitement, (2) some strengthening of\nthe less used fibres of the mind or body, (3) the activity of the\nimagination.\n\n(1) Recreation must involve some excitement, some appeal to an existing\ninterest, some change, some stirring of the wearied or sleeping\nembers of the mind. Routine work, tending to become more and more\nroutine, wears life. It is \u201clife of which our nerves are scant,\u201d and\nrecreation should revive the sources of life. Most people, as Mr.\nBalfour, look askance at efforts which, under the guise of amusing,\naim to impart useful culture. Recreation must be something other than\nrepose--something more stirring than sleep or loafing--it must be\nsomething attractive and not something undertaken as a duty.\n\n(2) Recreation must involve the strengthening of the less used fibres of\nthe mind and the body; the embers which are stirred by excitement need\nto be fed with new fuel, or the flames will soon sink into ashes.\nGambling and drink, sensational dramas, and exciting shows stir but do\nnot strengthen the mind. Mere change--the fresh excursion every day, the\nspectacle of a contest--wears out the powers of being. \u201cThe crime of\nsense is avenged by sense which wears with time.\u201d On the other hand,\ngames well played fulfil the condition, and there is no more cheering\nsight than that of playing-fields where young and old are using their\nlimbs intent on doing their best. Music, foreign travel, congenial\nsociety, reading, chess, all games of skill, also fulfil the condition,\nas they make a claim on the activity of heart or mind, and so strengthen\ntheir fibres. A good drama is recreation if the spectator is called to\ngive himself to thought and to feeling. He then becomes in a sense a\nfellow creator with the author, he has what Professor Groos says\nsatisfies every one, \u201cthe joy of being a cause,\u201d or, as he explains in\nanother passage, \u201cit is only when emotion is in a measure our own work\ndo we enjoy the result\u201d. Recreation must call out activity, it fails if\nit gives and requires nothing. We only have what we give. He that would\nsave his life loses it.\n\n(3) The last and most notable mark of recreation is the use of the\nimagination. Recreation comes from within and not from without the man.\nIt depends on that a man _is_ and not upon what a man _has_. A child\ngrows tired of his toys, a man wearies of his possessions, but there is\nno being tired of the imagination which leaps ahead and every day\nreveals something new. Sleary was wrong when he said, \u201cPeople must be\namused\u201d. He should have said, \u201cPeople must amuse themselves\u201d. Their\nrecreation must, that is, come from the use of their own faculties of\nheart and mind. \u201cThe cultivation of the inner life,\u201d it was truly said\nin a discussion on the hard lot of the middle classes, \u201cis the only cure\nfor the commercial tyrannies and class prejudices of that class.\u201d The\nJapanese are the best holiday takers I have ever met; they have in\nthemselves a taste for beauty, and they go to the country to enjoy the\nuse of that taste. A man who because he is interested in mankind sets\nhimself on his holiday to observe and study the habits of man; or,\nbecause he cares for Nature, looks deeper into her secrets by the way of\nplants or rocks or stars; or, because he is familiar with history, seeks\nin buildings and places illustrations of the past; a holiday maker who\nin such ways uses his inner powers will come home refreshed. His\npleasure has come from within; he, on the other hand, who has lounged\nabout a pier, moved from place to place, travelled from sight to sight,\nlooking always for pleasure from outside himself, will come home bored.\n\nIf such be the constituents of recreation one reflection stands out\nclearly, and that is the importance of educating or directing the demand\nfor amusement. Popular demand can only choose what it knows; it could\nnot choose the pictures for an art gallery or the best machines for the\nworkshop, neither can it settle the amusements which are recreative.\nChildren and young people are with great care fitted for work and taught\nhow to earn a living; there is equal need that the people be fitted for\nrecreation, and taught how to enjoy their being. They must know before\nthey can choose. Education, and not the House of Lords, is the safeguard\nof democratic government.\n\nMr. Dill\u2019s \u201cHistory of Social Life in the Towns of the Roman Empire\nduring the First and Second Centuries\u201d shows that there is a striking\nlikeness between the condition of those times to that which prevails in\nEngland. The millionaires made noble benefactions, there were\nmagnificent spectacles, there were contests which roused lunatic\nexcitement as one of the combatants succeeded in some brutal strife,\nthere was lavish provision of games and great enjoyment in feasting. The\namusement was provided by others\u2019 gifts, and, as Mr. Dill remarks, the\npeople were more and more drawn from \u201cinterest in the things of the\nmind\u201d. The games of Rome were steps in the decline and fall of Rome.\n\nThe lesson which modern and ancient experience offers is that people\nmust be as thoughtfully and as seriously prepared for their recreation\nas for their work.\n\nThe first illusion which must, I think, be destroyed is that a holiday\nmeans a vacation or an empty time. It is not enough to close the school\nand let the children have no lessons. It is not enough to enact an eight\nhours\u2019 day and leave the people without resources. If the spirit of toil\nbe turned out of men\u2019s lives and they be left swept and garnished, there\nare spirits of leisure that will return which may be ten times worse. It\nis a pathetic sight often presented in a playground, when after some\naimless running and pushing, the children gradually grow listless,\nfractious, and quarrelsome. They came to enjoy themselves and cannot.\nMany a boy for want of occupation for his leisure has taken to crime. It\nis not always love of evil or even greed which makes him a thief, it is\nin the pure spirit of adventure that he stalks his prey on the coster\u2019s\ncart, risks his liberty and dodges the police. It is because they have\nno more interesting occupation that eager little heads pop out of\nwindows when the police make a capture, and eager little tongues tell\nexperiences of arrests which baby eyes have seen. The empty holiday is a\nburden to a child, and every one has heard of the bus driver who could\nthink of nothing better to do on his off day than to ride on a bus\nbeside a mate. The idea that, given leisure, the people will find\nrecreation is not justified. A kitten may be satisfied with aimless\nplay, but a spark disturbs mankind\u2019s clod and his play needs direction.\n\nThe other illusion which must be dissipated is that amusement should\ncall for no effort on the part of those to be amused. It is the common\nmistake of benevolence that it tries to remove difficulties, rather than\nstrengthen people to surmount difficulties. The gift which provides food\nis often destructive of the powers which earn food. In the same way the\nbenevolence which, as among the Romans, provides shows, entertainments,\nand feasts, destroys at last the capacity for pleasure. Toys often\nstifle children\u2019s imaginations and develop a greed for possession;\nchildren enjoy more truly what they themselves help to create, so that a\nbit of wood with inkspots for eyes, which they themselves have made, is\nmore precious than an expensive doll. Grown people\u2019s amusements to be\nsatisfying must also call out effort.\n\nThe shattering of these two illusions leaves society face to face with\nthe obligation to teach people to play as well as to work. It is not\nenough to give leisure and leave amusement to follow. Neither is it\nenough to provide popular amusement. James I was not a great King but he\nwas a collector of wisdom, and he laid down for his son a guide for his\ngames as well as for his work. Teachers and parents with greater\nexperience might, like the King, guide their children.\n\n(1) It is not, I think, waste of time to watch infants when at play, to\nencourage their efforts, to welcome their calls to look, and to enter\ninto their imaginings. This watching, so usual among the children of the\nricher classes, is missed by the children of the poorer and often leaves\na gap in their development.\n\n(2) It would not either be wasted expenditure to employ game-teachers in\nthe elementary schools, who, on Saturdays and out of school hours would\nteach children games, indoor and outdoor, conduct small parties to\nplaces of interest, and organize country walks or excursions such as are\ncommon in Swiss schools.\n\n(3) It is, I think, reasonable to ask that the great school buildings\nand playgrounds should be more continually at the children\u2019s service.\nThey have been built at great expense. They are often the most airy and\nlargest space in a crowded neighbourhood. Why should they be in the\nchildren\u2019s use for only some twenty-five hours a week? Why should they\nbe closed during two whole months? The experience gained in the vacation\nschools advocated by Mrs. Humphry Ward gives an object lesson in what\nmight be done. During the afternoon hours between five and seven, and in\nthe summer holidays, the children, with the greatest delight to\nthemselves, might be drawn to see new things, to use new faculties of\nadmiration or develop new tastes. Every child might thus be given a\nhobby. Recreation means, as we have seen, change. If the children ended\ntheir school days with more interests, with eyes opened to see in the\ncountry not only a nest to be taken but a brood of birds to be watched,\nwith hands capable not only to make things but to create beauty, the\nlimits within which they could find change would be greatly enlarged.\n\nIf I may now extend my suggestion to parents I would say that those of\nall classes might do more in planning holidays for their children. There\nis now a strong disposition to leave all responsibility to the teachers,\nand parents are in the danger of losing parental authority. In the\nholidays is their chance of regaining authority; for every day they\ncould plan occupation, put aside time to join in some common pursuit,\narrange visits, and make themselves companions of their own children.\nThe teacher may be held responsible, but his work is often spoiled in\nthe idle hours of a holiday, when bad books are read, vulgar sights\nenjoyed, low companions found, and habits of loafing developed. But it\nis not only teachers and parents by whom children are guided. There is a\nhost of men and women who plan treats, excursions, and country holidays.\nTheir efforts could, I think, be made more valuable. The monster day\ntreats, which give excitement and turn the children\u2019s minds in a\ndirection towards the excitements of crowds and of stimulants from\nwithout, might be exchanged for small treats where ten or twenty\nchildren in close companionship with their guide would enjoy one\nanother\u2019s company, find new interests, and store up memories of things\nseen and heard. Tramps through England might be organized for elder boys\nand girls in which visits might be paid to historic fields and scenes of\nbeauty, and objects of interest sought. Children about to be sent to the\ncountry by a Holiday Fund might, as is now very happily done by a\ncommittee in connexion with the Children\u2019s Country Holiday Fund, by\nmeans of pictures and talk be taught what to look for and be encouraged\nto tell of their discoveries. Habits of singing might be developed, as\namong the Welsh or the Swiss. And in a thousand ways thought might be\ndrawn to the observation of nature. Good people might, if I may say so,\ngive up the provision of those entertainments which now, absorbing so\nmuch of the energy of curates and laywomen, seem only to prepare the\nchildren to look for the entertainment of the music halls. They might\ninstead teach children one by one to find amusement, each one in his own\nbeing.\n\nThe hope of the future lies obviously in the training of the children,\nbut the elder members of the community might also have more chances of\ngrowth. Employers, for instance, might more generally substitute\nholidays of weeks for holidays of days, and so encourage the workpeople\nto plan their reasonable use. They might also enlarge their minds by\ninforming them about the material on which they work, whence it comes\nand whither it goes. Miss Addams tells of a firm in Ohio where the hands\nare gathered to hear the reports of the travellers as they return from\nConstantinople, Italy, or China, and learn how the goods they have made\nare used by strange people. In the same firm lantern lectures are given\non the countries with which the firm has dealings, and generally the\nhands are made partners in the thoughts of the heads. \u201cThis,\u201d as Miss\nAddams says, \u201cis a crude example of the way in which a larger framework\nmay be given to the worker\u2019s mind,\u201d and she adds, \u201cas a poet bathes the\nouter world for us in the hues of human feeling, so the workman needs\nsome one to bathe his surrounding with a human significance.\u201d Employers\nalso, following the example of Messrs. Cadbury, might require their\nyoung people not only to attend evening classes to make them fitter for\nwork, but also to attend one class which will fit them to ride hobbies,\nwhich will carry them from the strain and routine of work into other and\nrecreating surroundings. Municipal bodies have in these latter days done\nmuch in the right direction by opening playing fields, picture\ngalleries, and libraries, and by giving free performances of high-class\nmusic. They might perhaps do more to break up the monotony of the\nstreets, introducing more of the country into town, and requiring\ndignity as well as healthiness in the great buildings. Such variety adds\ngreatly to the joy of living, diverts the minds of weary workers, and\nstimulates the admiration which is one-third of life.\n\nBut, after all, improvement starts from individuals, and it is the\naction of individual men and women which will reform popular reaction.\nThey must, each one as if the reform depended on him alone, be morally\nthoughtful about the amusements they encourage or patronize, and be\nconsiderate in preparing for their own pleasure. Each one must develop\nhis own being, and stir up the faculties of his own mind. Each one must\npractise the muscles of his mind as a racer practises the muscles of his\nlegs.\n\nThe most completely satisfying recreation is possibly in the intercourse\nof friends, and it is a sad feature in English holidays that men and\ntheir wives, who are naturally the closest friends, seem to find so\nlittle pleasure in one another\u2019s company. They walk one behind the other\nin the country, they are rarely found together at places of\nentertainment, and they are seldom seen talking with any vivacity. The\nfault lies in the fact that they have not developed their own being,\nthey have neither interests nor hobbies nor ideas, and so have nothing\nto talk about save wages, household difficulties, and the shortest way\nhome.\n\nEnough, however, in the way of suggestion as to what may be done in\nguiding people towards recreation. Under guidance recreations would take\nanother than their present character. People, having a wider range of\ninterests, would find change within those interests, and cease to turn\nfrom sensation to sleep and from sleep to sensation. People having\nactive minds would look to exercise their minds in a game of skill, in\nsearching Nature\u2019s secrets, in spirited talk, in some creative activity,\nin following a thought-provoking drama, in the use, that is, of their\nhighest human faculties. The forms of recreation would be changed. Much\nof the difficulty about what seems Sunday desecration would then vanish.\nThe play of the people would no longer be fatal to the quiet of the day,\nor inconsistent with the worship which demands the consecration of the\nwhole being. It is not recreation so much as the form of recreation\nwhich desecrates Sunday. This, however, is part of another subject.\n\nAs a conclusion of the whole matter I would say how it seems to me that\nMerrie England need be not only in the past. The present time is the\nbest of times. There are to-day resources for men\u2019s enjoyment such as\nnever existed in any other age or country. There are fresh and pure\ncapacities in human nature which are evident in many signs of energy, of\nadmiration, and of good will. If the resources were used, if the\ncapacities were developed, there would soon be popular recreations to\nattract human longings, and encourage the hope of a future when the\nglory of England shall not be in its possessions of gold and territory,\nbut in a people happy in the full use of their powers of heart and of\nhead.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    THE HOPES OF THE HOSTS.[1]\n\n    BY MRS. S. A. BARNETT.\n\n    January, 1886.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Toynbee Journal\u201d.\n\n\nCertainly a great deal of entertaining goes on in Toynbee Hall. From the\nhalf-hours spent in the little room, where its Entertainment Committee\nmeets, there issue some prominent if not exactly big results, and,\nperhaps, its members are not without a hope that deep consequences as\nwell may follow. This method of helping people has not been without its\ncritics, one of whom uttered the opinion, \u201cthat the Toynbee Hall plan\nwas to save the people\u2019s souls alive by pictures, pianos, and parties,\u201d\nand though the remark was made derisively, there may be some doubt if it\nwas altogether without truth: only the speaker should have added that it\nwas _one_ of the Toynbee Hall plans, instead of using only the definite\narticle.\n\nIf the Toynbee Hall aim is to help to make it possible that men should\ncarry out the command given long ago of \u201cBe ye perfect,\u201d and if, as a\nmodern lover of righteousness has put it, \u201cthe power of social life and\nmanners is one of the great elements in our humanization, and unless we\ncultivate it we are incomplete\u201d; then it is not an error that \u201cpictures,\npianos, and parties\u201d should be pressed into service to fill up some of\nthe incompleteness in the East London dweller\u2019s life, and to help him to\n\u201csave his soul alive\u201d.\n\nIt is one of the saddest facts of life in this crowded, busy, tiring,\nand hurried part of London that it is more difficult to keep one\u2019s soul\n(like one\u2019s plants) alive than it is in gentler places, where folk get\nthe aid of some of nature\u2019s beauties, and some moments of that outside\nquiet which help to make it possible to fancy \u201cthe peace which passeth\nall understanding\u201d. But because Whitechapel is Whitechapel and Toynbee\nHall is in its midst, more artificial methods for gaining and keeping\nlife must be adopted.\n\nIt is true that the Entertainment Committee prefer those gatherings\nwhich can take place out of doors in the country, where the guests gain\nall that comes from the charm of being graciously entertained under \u201cthe\nwider sky\u201d; but still town parties are not to be despised, and, judging\nfrom the glad acceptance of those many who \u201ccannot bid again,\u201d they are\ngenerally enjoyed.\n\nThe method of food entertainment is very simple, so simple that it\nsometimes wars against the generous instincts of the hosts; but, after\ncareful thought, it has been decided that the object of Toynbee Hall\nentertainments and parties will be more surely gained if \u201cplain living\nand high thinking\u201d can be maintained--not to mention the more mundane\nconsideration that more friends can be welcomed as guests, if each is\nnot so expensive. So the pleasure to be gained from rich or dainty food\nis neglected, and the guests are summoned in order to give them\npleasures by increasing their interests. And among the means of doing\nthis may be reckoned the fine thoughts of the great dumb teachers, the\nartists, of which those who care can learn as they turn over the\nportfolios, look at the photograph books, or study the gift pictures on\nthe walls. The great in the musical world are called upon for offerings\nas the musically generous among the friends of Toynbee Hall pass on the\nplaintive ideas of Schumann, or the grand soul-stirring aspirations of\nBeethoven and Mozart.\n\nTo give pleasure is now almost universally considered to be a righteous\nduty, and when it is taken into consideration that the homes of most\nEast Londoners are too narrow, their daily labour too great, and their\nresources too limited to permit them taking pleasure by entertaining in\ntheir own houses, it cannot but be considered as a gladdening sight when\nthe Toynbee reception rooms are full of a happy, an amused, and an\nenjoying company.\n\nTo increase interests is not perhaps as yet recognized as so deep a\nhuman need, but it may be so, none the less for this; and to the young\nor to the much tempted, this opportunity of increasing their interests\nis of untold value.\n\nMost young folk are better educated than their parents, and, with a keen\nsense of enjoyment, a belief in their own powers of self-guidance, and a\nhappy blank on their page of disappointments, they are eager for \u201cfuller\nlife,\u201d and will take its pleasure in some guise, warn their elders never\nso wisely. To give it them free from temptation, and in such a form that\nwhen the first novelty is worn off, it will still be true that \u201cthe best\nis yet to be\u201d; to increase interests, until a self-centred and\nself-seeking existence shows itself in its true and despicable colours;\nto increase scientific interests with microscopes, magic lanterns, and\nexperiments; literary interests with talks on books, recitations from\nthe poets, scenes from Shakespeare; to increase musical interests with\nthe aid of glee clubs, string quartettes, and solo and chorus songs; to\nincrease interests on all sides is the aim of the Entertainment\nCommittee, hoping that thus for some \u201call earth will seem aglow where\n\u2019twas but plain earth before\u201d.\n\n\u201cThe cultivation of social life and manners is equal to a moral impulse,\nfor it works to the same end.... It brings men together, makes them feel\nthe need of one another, be considerate of one another, understand one\nanother.\u201d So teaches Matthew Arnold. And the introduction of the guests\nto each other is no neglected feature in the Toynbee Hall gatherings. It\nis for this reason that guests of all classes are summoned together,\nthat the hand-worker may have sympathy with the head-labourer, that the\neager reformer may gather hints from the clear-visioned thoughts of the\nuntried lad, or that the boy living a club life far removed from women\u2019s\npower, may be introduced to a \u201cladye faire,\u201d who may (if she will)\nbecome to him a \u201csheltering cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night,\u201d\nguiding him safely through stonier wastes than ever the old Israelites\nweathered. It is no slight duty this, to introduce one human being to\nanother--to help them to pass quickly along the dull road of\nacquaintanceship and out into the sweet valley of knowledge and\nfriendship, and there gain, the comfort, refreshment, and inspiration,\nwithout which it almost seems impossible to believe in and hold on to an\nideal good.\n\nThe highest and noblest thing yet revealed to man is the human\ncreature\u2019s soul, \u201cthe very pulse of the machine,\u201d and if Toynbee Hall\nparties do something to reveal the depths of one creature to another; if\nthey do a little to keep alive and weld into solidarity the floating\nhopes and aspirations, which idly live in every human heart, but, alas!\nso often die from loneliness; if they do something to help people to\ncare for one another and to see the higher vision; and if those thus\ncaring are stirred to take thought for the growth and development of the\nlarger, sadder world, then, perhaps, the \u201cpictures, pianos, and parties\u201d\nwill not so ill have played their part in the work of Toynbee Hall.\n\n  HENRIETTA O. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    EASTER MONDAY ON HAMPSTEAD HEATH.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    April, 1905.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Westminster Gazette\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\nBank Holiday on Hampstead Heath sets moving many thoughts. No\ndrunkenness, no bad temper, no brutal rowdiness--but where are the\nfamily parties? Three-quarters of the people seem to be under twenty\nyears of age. Where are the family groups such as are found in France\nor in the colder Denmark making pleasure by talk, or by gaiety,\nsinging, or dancing, or acting--finding interest in things beautiful or\nnew? There were, indeed, some families at Hampstead, and perambulators\nwere driven through the thickest crowd, every one making room for the\nbaby. But the father often looked bored and the mother worried. They\nwere doing their duty, giving the children pleasure, and getting fresh\nair. The crowd was a young persons\u2019 crowd--boys by themselves, girls by\nthemselves, and a smaller number paired. They had come to be amused,\nand the caterers of amusement had established by the roadside the shows\nand shooting-galleries and swings such as are to be found within the\nreach of most crowded neighbourhoods. Organ-grinders played, sweets\nwere exposed for sale, and the Heath Road was as packed with people as\nPetticoat Lane on a Sunday morning. The people wandered over the Heath,\nbut while they wandered they seemed listless, or on the watch for\nanything to occupy their attention. A few children dancing as every day\nthey dance in Whitechapel at once drew together a crowd. Golder\u2019s Hill\nPark, which was never more radiant in its beauty, was comparatively\nempty. The road outside, where public-houses had provided various\nattractions, was packed, not by people who were customers but by people\nwatching one another and waiting for something to happen. But inside\nthe park, where the County Council\u2019s restaurant had spread its tables\nfor tea, where from the Terrace there is a view of unequalled beauty,\nwhere the gardens are rich in flowers, there were only a few scattered\ngroups.\n\nThe holiday is not a feast of brutality or drunkenness. No one need have\nbeen offended by sight or sound. The Shows, thanks to the County Council\nregulations, were all decent, and there was everywhere the courtesy of\ngood temper. An observer, thinking of twenty years ago, would say, \u201cWhat\nan improvement!\u201d but his next thought would be, \u201cHow much better things\nare possible!\u201d In the first place, the arrangements for the supply of\nfood might be different. In Golder\u2019s Hill itself the regulation that no\nteas should be served on the grass for fear of its injury shows a\ncurious ignorance of relative values when, for the want of very slight\nprotection, boys are allowed to tear away the banks on the side of\nSpaniard\u2019s Road. The injured grass would revive in a month; the torn\nbanks are irreparably damaged. There is no reason why the London County\nCouncil\u2019s restaurants both on Golder\u2019s Hill and in other parts of the\nHeath should not attract people by the daintiness of their display, and\nwhy the people should not be held by music and singing. Family parties\nwould be more likely to frequent the place if the elders could be\nassured of pleasant resting-places. How differently, how very much\nbetter, they manage feeding abroad! People are always hungry and thirsty\non holidays, and from the public-house to the whelk-stall, from the\ntea-gardens to the coffee-stand, there was evidence of English\nincapacity to supply the most persistent of holiday needs. The first\nimprovement possible is, therefore, more dainty and more frequent\nprovision of refreshment. The next improvement, which especially applies\nto Golder\u2019s Hill, is the addition of objects of interest. There might be\nan aviary, the greenhouses might be filled with flowers and opened,\nrooms in the house might be decorated with pictures of the neighbourhood\nor with a collection of local objects. People who are unconsciously\ntaking in memories through their eyes need some illusion; they must\nthink they are going to see something they understand, if they are to be\nled to see the better things beyond their understanding. Then, surely,\nsome more care might be taken of the tender places on the Heath--there\nare acres of grass on which boys may play, who might thereby be kept\nfrom scouring the surface of the light sand soil, making highways\nthrough the gorse, opening waterways to starve the trees.\n\nThese improvements are possible at once. There are others longer in the\ndoing which are also necessary. People must be educated not only to be\nwage-earners but to enjoy their being. They too much depend on\nstimulants, on some outside excitement always liable to excess. They\nmight find pleasure in themselves, in the use of their own faculties, in\ntheir powers of observation or activity, in their own intelligence and\ncuriosity. They might with better education be \u201cgood company\u201d for\nthemselves and for one another. The people possess in Hampstead Heath a\nproperty a king might envy, but they only partially enjoy its\nopportunities.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    HOLIDAYS AND SCHOOLDAYS.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    July, 1911.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Daily Telegraph\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\nHolidays, as well as schooldays, help to form the minds of the citizens.\nHabits, tastes, friendships, are fixed in the hours when restraints are\nrelaxed, and the Will takes its shape when it is most free. Our school\nholidays, when in play we commanded or obeyed, when we learnt to know\nthe country sights and objects, when, with different companions, we\ntravelled to new places, have been largely responsible for such\nsatisfaction as we have found in life.\n\nMen and women are what their holidays have made them, and a nation\u2019s use\nof its holidays may almost be said to determine its position in the\nworld\u2019s order of greatness. A nation whose pleasures are coarse and\nbrutal, whose people delight in the excitement of their senses by\nactions in which their minds take no part, and where solitude is\nunendurable, can hardly do great things. It is not likely that it will\nbe remembered, as the poets are remembered, by its care for any\nprinciple of action. It will hardly be generous in its foreign policy or\nhappy in its homes.\n\nThe use of holidays is thus most important, and everywhere there are\nsigns of their increase. The schools for the richer classes lengthen the\nperiod of their vacations till they extend, in some cases, to a quarter\nof the year. The King asked that his Coronation year may be marked by an\nextra week of exemption from school. Business people shorten hours of\nbusiness, and workmen\u2019s organizations demand more time for holidays.\nSeaside resorts grow up which live mainly by the pleasures of the\npeople, and a vast and increasing body of workers find employment in the\nprovision of amusement.\n\nMore time and more money are being given to holidays. Their use or\nmisuse is a matter of importance, and it is reasonable to demand that\nmore thought should also be given to this subject. People--this fact is\noften forgotten--need to be taught to play as they need to be taught to\nearn or to love. Leisure is as likely to produce weariness as joy, and\nthe Devil still finds most of his occupation among the idlers.\n\nThe public schoolboy who has eight weeks\u2019 vacation, and this year an\nextra week, will hardly be happy if he acquires habits of loafing at the\nseaside shows or picks up acquaintance with despisers of knowledge, or\ncomes to think that learning is a \u201cgrind,\u201d and he certainly will not in\nafter years bless his holiday givers. The workman who obtains holidays\nand shorter hours will hardly be the better if he spends them in eating\nand sleeping, or in exciting himself over a match or race where he does\nnot even understand the skill, or in watching an entertainment which\ncalls for no effort of his mind.\n\nRich people, who can do what they like in the time they themselves\nchoose, add excitement to excitement; they invent new methods of\nexpenditure; they go at increasing speed from place to place; they come\nnearer and nearer to the brinks of vice; they have what they like; and\nyet, like the millionaire in the American tale, they are not happy.\nPeople need to be taught the use of leisure. The question is, how is\nsuch teaching practicable?... I would offer two suggestions: one which\nmay be applied to the schools of the rich and of the poor, and the other\nto the free provision of means of recreation:--\n\n1. As to schools. The authorities may, it seems to me, keep in mind the\nfact that the children are meant to enjoy life as well as to make a\nliving. Enjoyment comes largely by the use of the power of imagination.\nWe enjoy ourselves before the beauty of nature, before a work of art, in\nlistening to music, and in imagining the life of other climes and\ncountries. How little is done in any school to develop this power of\nimagination! The great public schools, though often they are established\nin buildings of much beauty, rarely do anything to develop in the boys\nany understanding of the beauty. There is but little art in the\nschoolrooms and little attempt to teach the value of pictures. There are\nfew flowers about the windows and very often the time given to music is\ngrudged by the chief authorities.\n\nThe elementary schools have not even the advantage of beauty in their\nbuildings, and although the children may be taught art, they have their\nlessons in rooms made ugly by decorations, or wearying by untidiness.\nWhat wonder is it that boys and girls become destructive of the beauty\nin the admiration of which they and others might have found pleasure?\n\nThe authorities might thus do something by the curriculum to make\nleisure time a happy time, but they might do more by making holiday\narrangements. Richer parents may justly be expected to care for their\nown children, and many seize the opportunity of becoming their\nplaymates, so that holiday times develop the memories that bind together\nold and young. But few parents can take themselves from business for\neight or nine weeks together, and not all parents have the knowledge or\nthe sympathy to lead the young in their pleasures. A solution might be\nthe arrangement by the school authorities of travelling parties--such as\nthose organized at Manchester Grammar School; or of walking tours with\nsome object, such as the collection of specimens or the investigation of\nplaces of interest,--or of holiday homes in the school houses or\nelsewhere, where, under the guidance of sympathetic teachers, the\nchildren could enjoy freer life and more varied interests than are\npossible in school, or of the interchange of visits between the children\nof English and foreign homes. Once let it be realized that the long\nholiday period--if necessary for the teachers--is full of danger for the\nchildren, and something will be done to make that period healthy as well\nas happy.\n\nFor the children in elementary schools it is easy to make arrangements.\nDuring the three summer months the curriculum might be like that of the\nVacation Schools. The buildings, often the only pleasant place in a\ncrowded neighbourhood--would thus be in continuous use, while the\nchildren and teachers could get away for their country or foreign\nholiday, without breaking into any school routine. The children would\nthen go into the country prepared to see and enjoy its interests, not\nonly in the month of August, but at times when they might play in the\nhayfields, pick the spring flowers, and hear the birds sing. The\nteachers could have, not four, but six weeks\u2019 vacation, in which there\nwould be time for a foreign visit when the hotels were less crowded. The\nchildren, at the end of their fortnight in the country, would return,\nnot just to loaf about the streets amid the dirt and the noise and\ndegrading temptation, but to take their places in the open and pleasant\nsurroundings of the school, with its manifold interests.\n\nThe end of the summer would, if this arrangement could be carried out,\nfind teachers and children alike refreshed and ready for the hard work\nof the ordinary school routine; and, greatest gain of all, the children\nwould have learned how to enjoy their leisure. They would have planted\nmemories which would call for refreshment; they would have developed\npowers of admiration which would need to be used; they would have found\ninterests to occupy their thoughts, and they would look forward to\nholidays in which to go to the country--not to play \u201cAunt Sally,\u201d or\neven to find fresh air from town pursuits, but to visit old haunts,\ndiscover more secrets of nature and taste its quiet. They would, as men\nand women, make \u201cgood company\u201d for one another, and learn to require\nsome distinction of quiet or beauty to make a British holiday. They\nwould find, in the appreciation of English scenery, new reasons for\nbeing patriots.\n\nSatisfying pleasure, it must always be remembered, comes from within,\nand not from without a man. Outside stimulants always fail at last,\nwhether they be drink, shows, sensational tales, or games of chance; but\nthe pleasures which come from the activity of head, or heart, or of\nlimbs last as long as strength and life last.\n\nThis leads to the other practicable suggestion which I would offer. The\nCommunity might provide freely the means which would give the people the\npleasures which come from culture. Much has been done in this direction.\nOpen spaces in our great towns have been made more common, but their use\nhas not been developed as has been done in American cities, where\nsuperintendents teach the children how to play, and the playgrounds\nbecome centres of common enjoyments. Museums and picture galleries are\nsometimes provided, but they are still rare and often dull. Personal\nguidance is necessary if the objects in a museum are to have any meaning\nfor the ordinary visitor, and the pictures in a gallery need to be\nchanged frequently if attention is to be held. The Japanese wisely, even\nin their private rooms, have a succession of pictures, relegating those\nnot hung to the seclusion of the \u201cGodown\u201d. Music is given in the parks\nand sometimes in the town halls, but the best is not made common, and\nmuch is so poor that it fails to reach or express the thoughts which, if\ndeeply buried, are to be found in the hearts of common people.\n\nNo attempts are made to open dull ears, to listen to good music, though\nteachers in public schools report how it is possible by a few talks to\nmake athletes enthusiastic for Beethoven. The total amount of good free\nmusic is very small and certainly not enough to raise the common taste\nand attract minds capable of thought and admiration.\n\nThe duty of the Community to provide means of recreation is recognized,\nbut too often it has seemed enough if it provides amusement which can be\nmeasured by popular applause. The duty should, I submit, have for its\naim the provision of such recreation as would gradually lead the people\nin the way of enjoyment, and raise the character of all holidays by\nmaking them more satisfying to the higher demands of human nature.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    THE FAILURE OF HOLIDAYS.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    May, 1912.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Daily Telegraph,\u201d May, 1912. By permission of the\nEditor.\n\n\nEight hundred thousand children are every August turned out of the airy\nand spacious Schools which London has built for their use, and for\nfour weeks they can do what they like. To the people whose opinions\nform public opinion, \u201cto do what one likes\u201d seems the very essence of\na holiday. The forgotten fact is that the majority of these children\ndo not know what they like. All children, indeed, need to be taught\nto enjoy themselves, just as they are taught to earn for themselves;\nand children whose parents are without money to take them to the\ncountry or the seaside, where nature would give them playmates, and\nwithout leisure to be referees in their first attempts at games, miss\nthe necessary teaching. They get tired of trying to find out what they\nlike, tired of waiting for the sensation of a street fight or accident,\ntired of aimless play in the parks, tired even of doing what they had\nbeen told not to do. A few--40,000 of the 800,000--are sent by the\nChildren\u2019s Country Holiday Fund to spend a fortnight of the month in\ncountry cottages; a few others go to stay with friends or accompany\ntheir parents, but the greater number--it is said that 480,000 children\nnever sleep one night out of London during the year--have no other\nbreak than a day treat, which, with its intoxicating excitements and\nits distracting noises, can hardly claim to be a lesson in the art of\nenjoyment or to be a fair introduction to country pleasures. The August\nholiday under present conditions, cannot be described as a time in\nwhich working-class children store up memories of childhood\u2019s joys, nor\ndoes it prepare them as men and women to make good use of the leisure\ngained by shorter hours of labour.\n\nThe use of leisure has not, I think, been sufficiently considered from a\nNational point of view. It concerns the happiness, the health, and also\nthe wealth of the nation. If their leisure dissipates the strength of\nmen\u2019s minds, leaves them the prey to stimulants, and at the same time\nabsorbs the wages of work, there is a continual loss, which must at last\nbe fatal. The children\u2019s August holiday, with its dullness and its\ndependence on chance excitements, prepares the way for Beanfeasts where\nparties of men find nothing better to do amid the beauty of the country\nthan to throw stones at bottles, or for the vulgar futilities of Margate\nsands, Hampstead Heath and the music hall, or for the soul-numbing\nvariety of sport.\n\nThe recent report issued by the London County Council tells the result\nof an experiment in a better use of the holiday by means of Vacation\nSchools. The word \u201cSchool\u201d may suggest restraint, and put off some of my\nreaders, who are apt to think of \u201cheaven as a place where there are no\nmasters\u201d. They will say, \u201cLet the children alone\u201d. But they do not\nrealize what \u201cletting alone\u201d means for children whose homes have no\nresources in space or interests. They do not remember that the\nschoolhouse is the Mansion of the neighbourhood, and that the Vacation\nSchool curriculum includes visits to the parks and to London sights,\nsuch as the Zoological Gardens, Hampton Court, and the Natural History\nMuseum; manual occupations in which really useful things are made,\npainting and cardboard modelling, by which the children\u2019s own\nimaginations have play; lessons on nature, illustrated by plants and by\npictures, readings from interesting books, about which the teachers are\nready to talk, and organized games. When relieved from the trouble of\nhaving to choose at what to play, the children find untroubled\nenjoyment. Vacation Schools thus understood have no terror, but let the\nchildren themselves give evidence whether they prefer to be let alone.\n\nIn a Battersea Vacation School there was an average attendance of 91\u00b76\nper cent, and on one day 153 children out of 154 on the roll voluntarily\nattended. \u201cThe high rate of actual attendance at the Vacation Schools,\nwhich compares not unfavourably with that of the ordinary day schools,\nin spite of the fact that compulsion is completely absent from the\nformer, may be taken as an indication that the London child does not\nknow what to do during the long vacation, and is anxious and ready to\ntake advantage of any opportunity that may be afforded for work and play\nunder conditions more healthy and congenial than the street or his home\ncan offer.\u201d In another school the teachers report: \u201cWe had been asked to\ndo our best to keep up the numbers. Our difficulty was to keep them\ndown.\u201d \u201cThe discipline of the boys specially surprised the staff; a hint\nof possible expulsion was quite sufficient in dealing with two or three\nboys reported during the month.\u201d\n\nThe children, by their attendance, give the best evidence that the\nVacation School is in their opinion a good way of spending a holiday and\nthe report gives greater detail as to the reason. The teachers tell how\n\u201clistless manners give place to animation and energy, and how the\ntendency prevalent among the boys to loaf or aimlessly to idle away\ntheir holidays was checked by the introduction of an objective, the\nabsence of which is chiefly responsible for the loafing tendency.... The\nabsence of restraint appears to lead to more honourable and more\nthoughtful conduct, and little acts of courtesy and politeness increased\nin frequency as the holidays drew to an end.... Educationally the\nchildren benefit in increased manual dexterity, by the creation of\nmotive, the training of the powers of observation, and the development\nof memory and imagination.... In many cases ... new capabilities were\ndiscovered, and talents awakened by the more congenial surroundings.\nSome children, who at first appeared dull and inattentive, brightened up\nand became most interested in one or more of their varied\noccupations.... Little chats on the Excursions revealed a marked\nwidening of outlook.\u201d\n\nIn such testimony as this it is quite easy to find the reason why the\nchildren so greatly enjoyed themselves. They had a variety of new\ninterests and they had the sense of \u201clife\u201d which comes in the exercise\nof new capacities. They were never bored and they felt well. The\nparents, whose burden during holidays is often forgotten, seem to have\nexpressed great appreciation at the provision for the children\u2019s care,\nand as for the teachers, one goes so far as to say that \u201cthe kind of\nexperience gained is a teacher\u2019s liberal education and training\u201d.\n\nThe Report as a result of such testimony, naturally recommends an\nextension of the plan of Vacation Schools, so that this summer a greater\nnumber may be provided. I would, however, submit that the testimony\njustifies something more thorough.\n\nThe proposals of the Report assume that holidays must fall in the month\nof August. Now there are many parents whose occupation keeps them in\ntown during that month, and who cannot therefore take their children\nto the country. August too, is the period when all health resorts are\nmost crowded and expensive. And lastly, if holidays are taken only\nin this autumn season the country of the spring and summer, with its\nhaymaking, its flowers and its birds, remains unknown to the children.\nThe obvious change--so obvious that one wonders why it has not long\nago been adopted--is to let some schools take their holidays in the\nmonths of June and July. But I would myself suggest the best plan\nwould be to keep all, or most, of the school in session during the\nwhole summer, establishing for the three months a summer curriculum\non the lines of those adopted in the Vacation Schools. The children\nwould then be able to go with their friends, or through the Children\u2019s\nCountry Holiday Fund for their Country Holiday without any interference\nwith the regular school regime; and all, while they were at home,\nwould have those resources in the school hours which have proved to\nbe powerful to attract them from the streets. The teachers, free at\nlast to take some of their holidays in June or July, would be able to\nbenefit by the lower charges, to get, perhaps, a recreative holiday in\nthe Alps instead of one at the English seaside in the somewhat stale\ncompanionship of a party of fellow-teachers.\n\nThis more thorough plan would do for all London children everything\nwhich Vacation Schools attempt, and it has the further advantage that it\nwould put refreshing country visits within the reach of more children\nand teachers.\n\nMiddle-class families recognize the necessity of an annual visit to the\nsea or country, as a consequence of which great towns exist almost\nwholly as holiday resorts. The necessity of the middle class is much\nmore the necessity of the working class, whose children have less room\nin their houses and fewer interests for their leisure. A pressure which\ncannot be resisted will insist that for their health\u2019s sake and for the\nchild\u2019s sake, who is the father of the man, the children shall have each\nyear the opportunity of breathing for at least a fortnight country air,\nand of learning to be Nature\u2019s playmates. The only practicable way in\nwhich such holidays may be provided is by the extension of the holiday\nperiod to include other than the month of August.\n\nThe plan I have suggested would make such extension practicable with the\nleast possible interference with school work, while it would secure for\nall children some guidance in the use and enjoyment of the leisure,\nwhich the experiment of Vacation Schools has proved to be so acceptable.\nThat guidance, by widening children\u2019s minds and awakening their powers\nof taking notice, would make the country visits more full of interests,\nand develop a love of Nature, to be a valuable resource in later life.\nIf the Council\u2019s Report succeeds in moving London opinion it may mark a\nnew departure in the use and enjoyment of holidays.\n\nIt almost seems as if the education given at such cost ran to waste\nduring the holidays. There is a call for another Charles Booth, to make\nan inquiry into \u201cthe life and leisure of the people\u201d which might be as\nepoch-making as that into \u201cthe life and labour of the people\u201d. Such an\ninquiry would show, I believe, the need of energetic effort if leisure\nis to be a source of strength and not of weakness to national life, a\nway to recreation and not to demoralization.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    RECREATION IN TOWN AND COUNTRY.[1]\n\n    RECREATION AND CHARACTER.\n\n    BY MRS. S. A. BARNETT.\n\n    October, 1906.\n\n  [1] A paper written for the Church Congress, and read at its meeting\nat Barrow-in-Furness by the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Truro, the\nlate C. W. Stubbs.\n\n\nA people\u2019s play is a fair test of a people\u2019s character. Men and women in\ntheir hours of leisure show their real admiration and their inner faith.\nTheir \u201cidle words,\u201d in more than one sense, are those by which they are\njudged.\n\nNo one who has reached an age from which he can overlook fifteen or\ntwenty years can doubt but that pleasure-seeking has greatly increased.\nThe railway statistics show that during the last year more people have\nbeen taken to seaside and pleasure resorts than ever before. On Bank\nHolidays a larger number travel, and more and more facilities are\nannually offered for day trips and evening entertainments.\n\nThe newspapers give many pages to recording games, pages which are\neagerly scanned even when, as in the case of the \u201cDaily News,\u201d the\nbetting on their results is omitted.\n\nFace to face with these facts we need some principles to enable us to\nadvise this pleasure-seeking generation what to seek and what to avoid.\nTo arrive at principles one has to probe below the surface, to seek the\ncause of the pleasure given by various amusements. Briefly, what persons\nof all ages seek in pleasure is (1) excitement, (2) interest, (3)\nmemories. These are natural desires; no amount of preaching or scolding,\nor hiding them away will abolish them. It is the part of wisdom to\nrecognize facts and use them for the uplifting of human nature.\n\nMay I offer two principles for your consideration?\n\n1. Pleasure, while offering excitement, should not depend on excitement;\nit should not involve a fellow-creature\u2019s loss or pain, nor lay its\nfoundation on greed or gain.\n\n2. Pleasure should not only give enjoyment, it should also increase\ncapacities for enjoyment. It should strengthen a man\u2019s whole being,\nenrich memory and call forth effort.\n\n\n    THE QUALITY OF ENGLISH PLAYING.\n\nIf these principles have a basis of truth, the questions arise, \u201cAre the\ncommon recreations of the people such as to encourage our hope of\nEnglish progress? Do they make us proud of the growth of national\ncharacter, and give us a ground of security for the high place we all\nlong that England shall hold in the future?\u201d The country may be lost as\nwell as won on her playing fields.\n\nRecreation means the refreshment of the sources of life. Routine wears\nlife, and \u201cIt is life of which our nerves are scant\u201d. The excitement\nwhich stirs the worn or sleeping centres of a man\u2019s body, mind or\nspirit, is the first step in such refreshment, but followed by nothing\nelse it defeats its own ends. It uses strength and creates nothing, and\nif unmixed with what endures it can but leave the partaker the poorer.\nThe fire must be stirred, but unless fuel be supplied the flames will\nsoon sink in ashes.\n\nIt behoves us then to accept excitement as a necessary part of\nrecreation, and to seek to add to it those things which lead to\nincreased resources and leave purer memories. Such an addition is skill.\nA wise manager of a boys\u2019 refuge once said to me that it was the first\nstep upwards to induce a lad to play a game of skill instead of a game\nof chance. Another such addition is co-operation, that is a call on the\nreceiver to give something. It is better for instance to play a game\nthan to watch a game. It may, perhaps, be helpful to recall the\nprinciple, and let it test some of the popular pleasures.\n\n\n    POPULAR PLEASURES.\n\nPleasure, while offering excitement, should not depend on excitement; it\nshould not involve a fellow-creature\u2019s loss or pain, nor lay its\nfoundation on greed or gain.\n\nThis principle excludes the recreations which, like drink or gambling,\nstir without feeding, or the pleasures which are blended with the\nsorrows of the meanest thing that feels. It excludes also the dull\nMuseum which feeds without stirring, and makes no provision for\nexcitement. Tried by this standard, what is to be said of Margate,\nBlackpool, and such popular resorts, with their ribald gaiety and inane\nbeach shows? Of music halls, where the entertainment was described by\nMr. Stead as the \u201cmost insufferable banality and imbecility that ever\nfell upon human ears,\u201d disgusting him not so much for its immorality as\nby the vulgar stupidity of it all. Of racing, the acknowledged interest\nof which is in the betting, a method of self-enrichment by another\u2019s\nimpoverishment, which tends to sap the very foundations of honesty and\nintegrity; of football matches, which thousands watch, often ignorant of\nthe science of the game, but captivated by the hope of winning a bet or\nby the spectacle of brutal conflict; of monster school-treats or\nexcursions, when numbers engender such monopolizing excitement that all\nelse which the energetic curate or the good ladies have provided is\nruthlessly swallowed up; shooting battues, where skill and effort give\nplace to organization and cruelty; of plays, where the interest centres\nround the breaking of the commandments and \u201cfools make a mock of sin\u201d.\n\nSuch pleasures may amuse for the time, but they fail to be recreative in\nso far as they do not make life fuller, do not increase the powers of\nadmiration, hope and love; do not store the memory to be \u201cthe bliss of\nsolitude\u201d. Of most of them it can be easily foretold that the \u201ccrime of\nsense will be avenged by sense which wears with time\u201d. Such pleasures\ncannot lay the foundation for a glad old age.\n\nDoes this sound as if all popular pleasures are to be condemned? No!\nbrought to the test of our second principle, there are whole realms of\npleasure-lands which the Christian can explore and introduce to others,\nto the gladdening, deepening, and strengthening of their lives. May I\nread the principle again?\n\nPleasure should not only give enjoyment, it should also increase the\ncapacity for enjoyment. It should strengthen a man\u2019s whole being, enrich\nmemory and call forth effort and co-operation.\n\nMusic, games of skill, books, athletics, foreign travel, cycling,\nwalking tours, sailing, photography, picture galleries, botanical\nrambles, antiquarian researches, and many other recreations too numerous\nto mention call out the growth of the powers, as well as feed what\nexists; they excite active as well as passive emotions; they enlist the\nreceiver as a co-operator; they allow the pleasure-seekers to feel the\njoy of being the creating children of a creating God.\n\nAs we consider the subject, the chasm between right and wrong pleasures,\nworthy and unworthy recreations, seems to become deeper and broader,\noften though crossed by bridges of human effort, triumphs of dexterity,\nevidences of skill wrought by patient practice, which, though calling\nfor no thought in the spectator, yet rouses his admiration and provides\nstandards of executive excellence, albeit directed in regrettable\nchannels.\n\nStill, broadly, recreations may be divided between those which call\nfor effort, and therefore make towards progress, and those which\nbreed idleness and its litter of evils; but (and this is the inherent\ndifficulty for reformers) the mass of the people, rich and poor alike,\nwill not make efforts, and as the \u201cTimes\u201d once so admirably put\nit--\u201cThey preach to each other the gospel of idleness and call it the\ngospel of recreation\u201d.\n\nThe mass, however, is our concern. Those idle rich, who seek their\nstimulus in competitive expenditure; those ignorant poor, who turn to\nthe examples of brute force for their pleasure; those destructive\nclasses, whose delight is in slaying or eliminating space; they are all\nalike in being content to be \u201cVacant of our glorious gains, like a beast\nwith lower pleasures, like a beast with lower pains\u201d.\n\n\n    OUR CHURCH AND RECREATION.\n\nWhat can the clergymen and the clergy women do? It is not easy to reply,\nbut there are some things they need not do. They need not promote\nmonster treats, they need not mistake excitement for pleasure, and call\ntheir day\u2019s outing a \u201chuge success,\u201d because it was accompanied by much\nnoise and the running hither and thither of excited children; they need\nnot use their Institutes and Schoolrooms to compete with the\nprofessional entertainer, and feel a glow of satisfaction because a low\nprogramme and a low price resulted in a full room; they need not accept\nthe people\u2019s standard for songs and recitations, and think they have\n\u201chad a capital evening,\u201d when the third-rate song is clapped, or the\ncomic reading or dramatic scene appreciated by vulgar minds. Oh! the\nwaste of curates\u2019 time and brain in such \u201cparish work\u201d. How often it has\nleft me mourning.\n\nWhat the clergymen and women can do is to show the people that they have\nother powers within them for enjoyment, that effort promotes pleasure,\nand that the use of limbs, with (not instead of) brains, and of\nimagination, can be made sources of joy for themselves and refreshment\nfor others. Too often, toys, playthings, or appliances of one sort or\nanother are considered necessary for pleasure both of the young and the\nmature. Might we not concentrate efforts to provide recreation on those\nmethods which show how people can enjoy _themselves_, their own powers\nand capacities? Such powers need cultivation as much as the powers of\nbread-winning, and they include observation and criticism. \u201cWhat did you\nthink of it?\u201d should be asked more frequently than \u201cHow did you like\nit?\u201d The curiosity of children (so often wearying to their elders) is a\nnatural quality which might be directed to observation of the wonders of\nNature, and to the conclusion of a story other than its author\nconceived.\n\n\u201cFrom change to change unceasingly, the soul\u2019s wings never furled,\u201d\nwrote Browning; and change brings food and growth to the soul; but the\nlimits of interest must be extended to allow of the flight of the soul,\nand interests are often, in all classes, woefully restricted. It is no\nchange for a blind man to be taken to a new view. Christ had to open the\neyes of the blind before they could see God\u2019s fair world, and in a\nlesser degree we may open the eyes of the born blind to see the hidden\nglories lying unimagined in man and Nature. In friendship also there are\nsources of recreation which the clergy could do much to foster and\nstrengthen, and the introduction and opportunities which allow of the\ncultivation of friendship between persons of all classes with a common\ninterest, is peculiarly one which parsons have opportunities to develop.\n\nAnd last but not least, there are the joys which come from the\ncultivation of a garden--joys which continue all the year round, and\nwhich can be shared by every member of the family of every age. These\nmight be more widely spread in town as well as country. Municipalities,\nBoards of Guardians, School Managers, and private owners often have\nboth the control of people and land. If the Church would influence\nthem, more children and more grown-ups might get health and pleasure\non the land. I must not entrench on the subject of Garden Cities and\nGarden Suburbs--but the two subjects can be linked together, inasmuch\nas the purest, deepest, and most recreative of pleasures can be found\nin the gardens which are the distinctive feature of the new cities and\nsuburbs.\n\n\n    THE CLERGY AND THE PRESS.\n\nIf the clergy knew more of the people\u2019s pleasures they would yearn more\nover their erring flocks and talk more on present-day subjects. Take\nhorse-racing for instance, who can defend it? Who can find one good\nresult of it, and its incalculable evils of betting, lying, cheating,\ndrinking? Yet the clergy are strangely loth to condemn it! Is it because\nKing Edward VII (God bless him for his love of peace) encourages the\nTurf? The King has again and again shown his care for his people\u2019s good,\nand maybe he would modify his actions--and the world would follow his\nlead--if the Church would speak out and condemn this baneful national\npleasure.\n\nIt is not for me to preach to the clergy, but they have so often\npreached to me to my edification, that I would in gratitude give them in\nreturn an exhortation; and so I beg you good men to give more thought to\nthe people\u2019s pleasures; and then give guidance from the Pulpit and the\nPress concerning them.\n\n  HENRIETTA O. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    SECTION III.\n\n    SETTLEMENTS.\n\nSettlements of University Men in Great Towns--Twenty-one Years of\nUniversity Settlements--The Beginning of Toynbee Hall.\n\n\n\n\n    SETTLEMENTS OF UNIVERSITY MEN IN GREAT TOWNS.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n  [1] A paper read at a meeting in the rooms of Mr. Sidney Ball at St.\nJohn\u2019s College, Oxford, November, 1883.\n\n\n\u201cSomething must be done\u201d is the comment which follows the tale of\nhow the poor live. Those who make the comment have, however, their\nbusiness--their pieces of ground to see, their oxen to prove, their\nwives to consider, and so there is among them a general agreement\nthat the \u201cSomething\u201d must be done by Law or by Societies. \u201cWhat can\nI do?\u201d is a more healthy comment, and it is a sign of the times that\nthis question is being widely asked, and by none more eagerly than by\nmembers of the Universities. Undergraduates and graduates, long before\nthe late outcry, had become conscious that social conditions were not\nright, and that they themselves were called to do something. It is nine\nyears since four or five Oxford undergraduates chose to spend part of\ntheir vacation in East London, working as Charity Organization Agents,\nbecoming members of clubs, and teaching in classes or schools. It is\nlong since a well-known Oxford man said, \u201cThe great work of our time is\nto connect centres of learning with centres of industry\u201d. Freshmen have\nbecome fellows, since the Master of Balliol recommended his hearers, at\na small meeting in the College Hall, to \u201cfind their friends among the\npoor\u201d.\n\nThus slowly has men\u2019s attention been drawn to consider the social\ncondition of our great towns. The revelations of recent pamphlets have\nfallen on ears prepared to hear. The fact that the wealth _of_ England\nmeans only wealth _in_ England, and that the mass of the people live\nwithout knowledge, without hope, and often without health has come home\nto open minds and consciences. If inquiry has shown that statements have\nbeen exaggerated, and the blame badly directed, it is nevertheless\nevident that the best is the privilege of the few, and that the\nGospel--God\u2019s message to this age--does not reach the poor. A workman\u2019s\nwages cannot procure for him the knowledge which means fullness of life,\nor the leisure in which he might \u201cpossess his soul\u201d. Hardly by saving\ncan he lay up for old age, and only by charity can he get the care of a\nskilled physician. If it be thus with the first-class workman, the case\nof the casual labourer, whose strength of mind and body is consumed by\nanxiety, must be almost intolerable. Statistics, which show the number\nin receipt of poor relief, the families which occupy single rooms, the\ndeath rate in poor quarters, make a \u201ccry\u201d which it needs no words to\nexpress.\n\nThe thought of the condition of the people has made a strange stirring\nin the calm life of the Universities, and many men feel themselves\ndriven by a new spirit, possessed by a master idea. They are eager in\ntheir talk and in their inquiries, and they ask \u201cWhat can we do to help\nthe poor?\u201d\n\nA College Mission naturally suggests itself as a form in which the idea\nshould take shape. It seems as if all the members of a college might\nunite in helping the poor, by adopting a district in a great town,\nfinding for it a clergyman and associating themselves in his work.\n\nA Mission, however, has necessarily its limitations.\n\nThe clergyman begins with a hall into which he gathers a congregation,\nand which he uses as a centre for \u201cMission\u201d work. He himself is the only\nlink between the college and the poor. He gives frequent reports of his\nprogress, and enlists such personal help as he can, always keeping it in\nmind that the \u201cdistrict\u201d is destined to become a \u201cparish\u201d. Many\ndistricts thus created in East London now take their places among the\nregular parishes, and the income of the clergyman is paid by the\nEcclesiastical Commissioners, the patronage of the living is probably\nwith the Bishop, and the old connexion has become simply a matter of\nhistory. Apart from the doubt whether this multiplication of parochial\norganizations, with its consequent division of interests, represents a\nwise policy, it is obvious that a college mission does not wholly cover\nthe idea which possessed the college. The social spirit fulfils itself\nin many ways, and no one form is adequate to its total expression.\n\nThe idea was that all members of the college should unite in good work.\nA college mission excludes Nonconformists. \u201cCan we do nothing,\u201d\ncomplained one, \u201cas we cannot join in building a church?\u201d\n\nThe idea was to bring to bear the life of the University on the life of\nthe poor. The tendency of a mission is to limit efforts within the\nrecognized parochial machinery. \u201cCan I help,\u201d I am often asked, \u201cin\nsocial work, which is not necessarily connected with your church or\ncreed?\u201d A college mission may--as many missions have done--result in\nbringing devoted workers to the service of the poor--where a good man\nleads, good must follow--but it is not, I think, the form best fitted to\nreceive the spirit which is at present moving the Universities.\n\nAs a form more adequate, I would suggest a Settlement of University men\nin the midst of some great industrial centre.\n\nIn East London large houses are often to be found; they were formerly\nthe residences of the wealthy, but are now let out in tenements or as\nwarehouses. Such a house, affording sufficient sleeping rooms and large\nreception rooms, might be taken by a college, fitted with furniture, and\n(it may be) associated with its name. As director or head, some graduate\nmight be appointed, a man of the right spirit, trusted by all parties;\nqualified by character to guide men, and by education to teach. He would\nbe maintained by the college just as the clergyman of the mission\ndistrict. Around such a man graduates and undergraduates would gather.\nSome working in London as curates, barristers, government clerks,\nmedical students, or business men would be glad to make their home in\nthe house for long periods. They would find there less distraction and\nmore interest than in a West-End lodging. Others engaged elsewhere would\ncome to spend some weeks or months of the vacation, taking up such work\nas was possible, touching with their lives the lives of the poor, and\nlearning for themselves facts which would revolutionize their minds.\nThere would be, of course, a graduated scale of payment so as to suit\nthe means of the various settlers, but the scale would have to be so\nfixed as to cover the expense of board and lodging.\n\nLet it, however, be assumed that the details have been arranged, and\nthat, under a wise director, a party of University men have settled in\nEast London. The director--welcomed here, as University men are always\nwelcomed--will have opened relations with the neighbouring clergy, and\nwith the various charitable agencies; he will have found out the clubs\nand centres of social life, and he will have got some knowledge of the\nbodies engaged in local government. His large rooms will have been\noffered for classes, directed by the University Extension or Popular\nConcert Societies, and for meetings of instruction or entertainment. He\nwill have thus won the reputation of a man with something to give, who\nis willing to be friendly with his neighbours. At once he will be able\nto introduce the settlers to duties, which will mean introductions to\nfriendships. Those to whom it is given to know the high things of God,\nhe will introduce to the clergy, who will guide them to find friends\namong those who, in trouble and sickness, will listen to a life-giving\nmessage. Honour men have confessed that they have found a key to life in\nteaching the Bible to children, and not once nor twice has it happened\nthat old truths have seemed to take new meaning when spoken by a man\nbrought fresh from Oxford to face the poor. Those with the passion for\nrighteousness the director will bring face to face with the victims of\nsin. In the degraded quarters of the town, in the wards of the\nworkhouses, they will find those to whom the friendship of the pure is\nstrange, and who are to be saved only by the mercy which can be angry as\nwell as pitiful. As I write, I recall one who was brought to us by an\nundergraduate out of a wretched court, overwhelmed by the look and words\nof his young enthusiasm. I recall another who was taken from the police\ncourt by a Cambridge man, put to an Industrial School, and is now\ntouchingly grateful, not to him, but to God for the service. Some, whose\nspare time is in the day, will become visitors for the Charity\nOrganization Society, Managers of Industrial and Public Elementary\nSchools, Members of the Committees which direct Sanitary, Shoe Black,\nand other Societies, and in these positions form friendships, which to\nofficials, weary of the dull routine, will let in light, and to the\npoor, fearful of law, will give strength. Others who can spare time only\nin the evening will teach classes, join clubs, and assist in\nCo-operative and Friendly Societies, and they will, perhaps, be\nsurprised to find that they know so much that is useful when they see\nthe interest their talk arouses. In one club, I know, whist ceases to be\nattractive when the gentleman is not there to talk. There are friendly\nsocieties worked by artisans, which owe their success to the inspiration\nof University men, and there is one branch of the Charity Organization\nSociety which still keeps the mark impressed on it, when a man of\nculture did the lowest work.\n\nThe elder settlers will, perhaps, take up official positions. If they\ncould be qualified, they might be Vestry-men and Guardians, or they\nmight qualify themselves to become Schoolmasters. What University men\ncan do in local government is written on the face of parishes redeemed\nfrom the demoralizing influence of out-relief, and cleansed by\nwell-administered law. Further reforms are already seen to be near, but\nit has not entered into men\u2019s imaginations to conceive the change for\ngood which might be wrought if men of culture would undertake the\neducation of the people. The younger settlers will always find\noccupation day or night in playing with the boys, taking them in the\ndaytime to open spaces, or to visit London sights, amusing them in the\nevening with games and songs. Unconsciously, they will set up a higher\nstandard of man\u2019s life, and through friendship will commend to these\nboys respect for manhood, honour for womanhood, reverence for God. Work\nof such kind will be abundant, and, as it must result in the settlers\nforming many acquaintances, the large rooms of the house will be much\nused for receptions. Parties will be frequent, and whatever be the form\nof entertainment provided, be it books or pictures, lectures or reading,\ndancing or music, the guests will find that their pleasure lies in\nintercourse. Social pleasure is unknown to those who have no large rooms\nand no place for common meeting. The parties of the Settlement will thus\nbe attractive just in so far as they are useful. The more means of\nintercourse they offer, the more will they be appreciated. The pleasure\nwhich binds all together will give force to every method of good-doing,\nbe it the words of the preacher, spoken to the crowd, hushed, perhaps,\nby the presence of death, or be it the laughter-making tale told during\nthe Saturday ramble in the country.\n\nIf something like this is to be the work of a College Settlement, \u201cHow\nfar,\u201d it may be asked, \u201cis it adequate to the hope of the college to do\nsomething for the poor?\u201d Obviously, it _affords an outlet for every form\nof earnestness_. No man--call himself what he may--need be excluded from\nthe service of the poor on account of his views. No talent, be it called\nspiritual or secular, need be lost on account of its unfitness to\nexisting machinery. If there be any virtue, if there be any good in man,\nwhatsoever is beautiful, whatsoever is pure in things will find a place\nin the Settlement.\n\nThere is yet a fuller answer to the question. A Settlement enables men\nto _live within sight of the poor_. Many a young man would be saved from\nselfishness if he were allowed at once to translate feeling into action.\nIt is the facility for talk, and the ready suggestion that a money gift\nis the best relief, which makes some dread lest, after this awakening of\ninterest, there may follow a deeper sleep. He who has, even for a month,\nshared the life of the poor can never again rest in his old thoughts. If\nwith these obvious advantages, a Settlement seems to want that something\nwhich association with religious forms gives to the mission, I can only\nsay that such association does not make work religious, if the workers\nhave not its spirit. If the director be such a man as I can imagine, and\nif there be any truth in the saying that \u201cEvery one that loveth knoweth\nGod,\u201d then it must be that the work of settlers, inspired and guided by\nlove, will be religious. The man in East London, who is the simplest\nworker for God I know, has added members to many churches, and has no\nsect or church of his own. The true religious teacher is he who makes\nknown God to man. God is manifest to every age by that which is the Best\nof the age. The modern representatives of those who healed diseases,\ntaught the ignorant, and preached the Gospel to the poor, are those who\nmake common the Best which can be known or imagined. Christ the Son of\nGod is still the \u201cChrist which is to be\u201d--and even through our Best He\nwill be but darkly seen.\n\nThat such work as I have described would be useful in East London, I\nmyself have no doubt. The needs of East London are often urged, but they\nare little understood. Its inhabitants are at one moment assumed to be\nwell paid workmen, who will get on if they are left to themselves; at\nanother, they are assumed to be outcasts, starving for the necessaries\nof living. It is impossible but that misunderstanding should follow\nignorance, and at the present moment the West-End is ignorant of the\nEast-End. The want of that knowledge which comes only from the sight of\nothers\u2019 daily life, and from sympathy with \u201cthe joys and sorrows in\nwidest commonalty spread,\u201d is the source of the mistaken charity which\nhas done much to increase the hardness of the life of the poor.\n\nThe much-talked of East London is made up of miles of mean streets,\nwhose inhabitants are in no want of bread or even of better houses; here\nand there are the courts now made familiar by descriptions. They are few\nin number, and West-End visitors who have come to visit their\n\u201cneighbours\u201d confess themselves--with a strange irony on their\nmotives--\u201cdisappointed that the people don\u2019t look worse\u201d.\n\nThe settlers will find themselves related to two distinct classes of\n\u201cthe poor,\u201d and it will be well if they keep in mind the fact that they\nmust serve both those who, like the artisans, need the necessaries for\n_life_, and also those who, like casual labourers, need the necessaries\nfor _livelihood_. They will not of course come believing that their\nSettlement will make the wicked good, the dull glad, and the poor rich,\nbut they may be assured that results will follow the sympathy born of\nclose neighbourhood. It will be something, if they are able to give to a\nfew the higher thoughts in which men\u2019s minds can move, to suggest other\nforms of recreation, and to open a view over the course of the river of\nlife as it flows to the Infinite Sea. It will be something if they\ncreate among a few a distaste for dirt and disorder, if they make some\ndiscontented with their degrading conditions, if they leaven public\nopinion with the belief that the law which provides cleanliness, light\nand order should be applied equally in all quarters of the town. It will\nbe something, if thus they give to the one class the ideal of life, and\nstir up in the other those feelings of self-respect, without which\nincreased means of livelihood will be useless. It will be more if to\nboth classes they can show that selfishness or sin is the only really\nbad thing, and that the best is not \u201ctoo good for human nature\u2019s daily\nfood\u201d. Nothing that is divine is alien to man, and nothing which can be\nlearnt at the University is too good for East London.\n\nMany have been the schemes of reform I have known, but, out of eleven\nyears\u2019 experience, I would say that none touches the root of the evil\nwhich does not _bring helper and helped into friendly relations_. Vain\nwill be higher education, music, art, or even the Gospel, unless they\ncome clothed in the life of brother men--\u201cit took the Life to make God\nknown\u201d. Vain, too, will be sanitary legislation and model dwellings,\nunless the outcast are by friendly hands brought in one by one to habits\nof cleanliness and order, to thoughts of righteousness and peace. \u201cWhat\nwill save East London?\u201d asked one of our University visitors of his\nmaster. \u201cThe destruction of West London\u201d was the answer, and, in so far\nas he meant the abolition of the influences which divide rich and poor,\nthe answer was right. Not until the habits of the rich are changed, and\nthey are again content to breathe the same air and walk the same streets\nas the poor, will East London be \u201csaved\u201d. Meantime a Settlement of\nUniversity men will do a little to remove the inequalities of life, as\nthe settlers share their best with the poor and learn through feeling\nhow they live. It was by residence among the poor that Edward Denison\nlearned the lessons which have taken shape in the new philanthropy of\nour days. It was by visiting in East London that Arnold Toynbee fed the\ninterest which in later years became such a force at Oxford. It was\naround a University man, who chose to live as our neighbour, that a\ngroup of East Londoners gathered, attracted by the hope of learning\nsomething and held together after five years by the joy which learning\ngives. Men like Mr. Goschen and Professor Huxley have lately spoken out\ntheir belief that the intercourse of the highest with the lowest is the\nonly solution of the social problem.\n\nSettlers may thus join the Settlement, looking back to the example of\nothers and to the opinions of the wise--looking forward to the grandest\nfuture which has risen on the horizon of hope. It may not be theirs to\nsee the future realized, but it is theirs to cheer themselves with the\nthought of the time when the disinherited sons of God shall be received\ninto their Father\u2019s house, when the poor will know the Higher Life as it\nis being revealed to those who watch by the never silent spirit, when\ndaily drudgery will be irradiated with eternal thought, when neither\nwealth nor poverty will hinder men in their pursuit of the Perfect life,\nbecause everything which is Best will be made in love common to all.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\nThis paper was reprinted in February, 1884, when the following words and\nnames were added.\n\nThe following members of the University have undertaken to receive the\nnames of any graduates or undergraduates who feel disposed to join a\n\u201cSettlement\u201d shortly or at any future time:--\n\n    The Rev. the Master of University.\n    The Hon. and Rev. W. H. Fremantle, Balliol.\n    A. Robinson, Esq., New College.\n    A. H. D. Acland, Esq., Christ Church.\n    A. Sidgwick, Esq., C.C.C.\n    W. H. Forbes, Esq., Balliol.\n    A. L. Smith, Esq., Balliol.\n    T. H. Warren, Esq., Magdalen.\n    S. Ball, Esq., St. John\u2019s.\n    C. E. Dawkins, Esq., Balliol.\n    B. King, Esq., Balliol.\n    M. E. Sadler, Esq., Trinity.\n    H. D. Leigh, Esq., New College.\n    G. C. Lang, Esq., Balliol.\n\n    _Names should be sent in as soon as possible._\n\n  OXFORD, Feb., 1884.\n\n\n\n\n    THE BEGINNINGS OF TOYNBEE HALL.[1]\n\n    BY MRS. S. A. BARNETT.\n\n    1903.\n\n  [1] From \u201cTowards Social Reform\u201d. By kind permission of Messrs. Fisher\nUnwin.\n\n\n\u201cHow did the idea of a University Settlement arise?\u201d \u201cWhat was the\nbeginning?\u201d are questions so often asked by Americans, Frenchmen,\nBelgians, or the younger generations of earnest English people, that it\nseems worth while to reply in print, and to trundle one\u2019s mind back to\nthose early days of effort and loneliness before so many bore the burden\nand shared the anxiety. The fear is that in putting pen to paper on\nmatters which are so closely bound up with our own lives, the sin of\negotism will be committed, or that a special plant, which is still\ngrowing, may be damaged, as even weeds are if their roots are looked at.\nAnd yet in the tale which has to be told there is so much that is\ngladdening and strengthening to those who are fighting apparently\nforlorn causes that I venture to tell it in the belief that to some our\nexperiences will give hope.\n\nIn the year 1869, Mr. Edward Denison took up his abode in East London.\nHe did not stay long nor accomplish much, but as he breathed the air of\nthe people he absorbed something of their sufferings, saw things from\ntheir standpoint, and, as his letters in his memoirs show, made frequent\nsuggestions for social remedies. He was the first settler, and was\nfollowed by the late Mr. Edmund Hollond, to whom my husband and I owe\nour life in Whitechapel. He was ever on the outlook for men and women\nwho cared for the people, and hearing that we wished to come Eastward,\nwrote to Dr. Jackson, then Bishop of London, when the living of St.\nJude\u2019s fell vacant in the autumn of 1872, and asked that it might be\noffered to Mr. Barnett, who was at that time working as Curate at St.\nMary\u2019s, Bryanston Square, with Mr. Fremantle, now the Dean of Ripon. I\nhave the Bishop\u2019s letter, wise, kind and fatherly, the letter of a\ngeneral sending a young captain to a difficult outpost. \u201cDo not hurry in\nyour decision,\u201d he wrote, \u201cit is the worst parish in my diocese,\ninhabited mainly by a criminal population, and one which has I fear been\nmuch corrupted by doles\u201d.\n\nHow well I remember the day Mr. Barnett and I first came to see it!--a\nsulky sort of drizzle filled the atmosphere; the streets, dirty and ill\nkept, were crowded with vicious and bedraggled people, neglected\nchildren, and overdriven cattle. The whole parish was a network of\ncourts and alleys, many houses being let out in furnished rooms at 8d. a\nnight--a bad system, which lent itself to every form of evil, to\nthriftless habits, to untidiness, to loss of self-respect, to unruly\nliving, to vicious courses.\n\nWe did not \u201churry in our decision,\u201d but just before Christmas, 1872, Mr.\nBarnett became vicar. A month later we were married, and took up our\nlife-work on 6 March, 1873, accompanied by our friend Edward Leonard,\nwho joined us, \u201cto do what he could\u201d; his \u201ccould\u201d being ultimately the\nestablishment of the Whitechapel Committee of the Charity Organization\nSociety, and a change in the lives and ideals of a large number of young\npeople, whom he gathered round him to hear of the Christ he worshipped.\n\nIt would sound like exaggeration if I told my memories of those times.\nThe previous vicar had had a long and disabling illness, and all was out\nof order. The church, unserved by either curate, choir, or officials,\nwas empty, dirty, unwarmed. Once the platform of popular preachers, Mr.\nHugh Allen, and Mr. (now Bishop) Thornton, it had had huge galleries\nbuilt to accommodate the crowds who came from all parts of London to\nhear them--galleries which blocked the light, and made the subsequent\nemptiness additionally oppressive. The schools were closed, the\nschoolrooms all but devoid of furniture, the parish organization nil; no\nMothers\u2019 meeting, no Sunday School, no communicants\u2019 class, no library,\nno guilds, no music, no classes, nothing alive. Around this barren empty\nshell surged the people, here to-day, gone to-morrow. Thieves and worse,\nreceivers of stolen goods, hawkers, casual dock labourers, every sort of\nunskilled low-class cadger congregated in the parish. There was an Irish\nquarter and a Jews\u2019 quarter, while whole streets were given over to the\nhangers-on of a vicious population, people whose conduct was brutal,\nwhose ideal was idleness, whose habits were disgusting, and among whom\ngoodness was laughed at, the honest man and the right-living woman being\nscorned as impracticable. Robberies, assaults, and fights in the street\nwere frequent; and to me, a born coward, it grew into a matter of\ndistress when we became sufficiently well known in the parish for our\npresence to stop, or at least to moderate, a fight; for then it seemed a\nduty to join the crowd, and not to follow one\u2019s nervous instincts and\npass by on the other side. I recall one breakfast being disturbed by\nthree fights outside the Vicarage. We each went to one, and the third\nwas hindered by a hawker friend who had turned verger, and who fetched\nthe distant policeman, though he evidently remained doubtful as to the\nvalue of interference.\n\nWe began our work very quietly and simply: opened the church (the first\ncongregation was made up of six or seven old women, all expecting doles\nfor coming), restarted the schools, established relief committees,\norganized parish machinery, and tried to cauterise, if not to cure, the\ndeep cancer of dependence which was embedded in all our parishioners\nalike, lowering the best among them and degrading the worst. At all\nhours, and on all days, and with every possible pretext, the people came\nand begged. To them we were nothing but the source from which to obtain\ntickets, money, or food; and so confident were they that help would be\nforthcoming that they would allow themselves to get into circumstances\nof suffering or distress easily foreseen, and then send round and demand\nassistance.\n\nI can still recall my emotions when summoned to a sick woman in Castle\nAlley, an alley long since pulled down, where the houses, three stories\nhigh, were hardly six feet apart; the sanitary accommodation--pits in\nthe cellars; and the whole place only fit for the condemnation it got\ndirectly Cross\u2019s Act was passed. This alley, by the way, was in part\nthe cause of Cross\u2019s Act, so great an impression did it make on Lord\nCross (then Mr. Cross) when Mr. Barnett induced him to come down and\nsee it.\n\nIn this stinking alley, in a tiny dirty room, all the windows broken and\nstuffed up, lay the woman who had sent for me. There were no bedclothes;\nshe lay on a sacking covered with rags.\n\n\u201cI do not know you,\u201d said I, \u201cbut I hear you want to see me.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, ma\u2019am!\u201d replied a fat beer-sodden woman by the side of the bed,\nproducing a wee, new-born baby; \u201cwe don\u2019t know yer, but \u2019ere\u2019s the\nbabby, and in course she wants clothes, and the mother comforts like. So\nwe jist sent round to the church.\u201d\n\nThis was a compliment to the organization which represented Christ, but\none which showed how sunken was the character which could not make even\nthe simplest provision for an event which must have been expected for\nmonths, and which even the poorest among the respectable counts sacred.\n\nThe refusal of the demanded doles made the people very angry. Once the\nVicarage windows were broken, once we were stoned by an angry crowd, who\nalso hurled curses at us as we walked down a criminal-haunted street,\nand howled out as a climax to their wrongs \u201cAnd it\u2019s us as pays \u2019em\u201d.\nBut we lived all this down, and as the years went by reaped a harvest of\nlove and gratitude which is one of the gladdest possessions of our\nlives, and is quite disproportionate to the service we have rendered.\nBut this is the end of the story, and I must go back to the beginning.\n\nIn a parish which occupies only a few acres, and was inhabited by 8,000\npersons, we were confronted by some of the hardest problems of city\nlife. The housing of the people, the superfluity of unskilled labour,\nthe enforcement of resented education, the liberty of the criminal\nclasses to congregate and create a low public opinion, the\nadministration of the Poor Law, the amusement of the ignorant, the\nhindrances to local government (in a neighbourhood devoid of the\nleisured and cultured), the difficulty of uniting the unskilled men and\nwomen, in trade unions, the necessity for stricter Factory Acts, the\njoylessness of the masses, the hopefulness of the young--all represented\ndifficult problems, each waiting for a solution and made more\ncomplicated by the apathy of the poor, who were content with an\nunrighteous contentment and patient with an ungodly patience. These were\nnot the questions to be replied to by doles, nor could the problem be\nsolved by kind acts to individuals nor by the healing of the suffering,\nwhich was but the symptom of the disease.\n\nIn those days these difficulties were being dealt with mainly by good\nkind women, generally elderly; few men, with the exception of the clergy\nand noted philanthropists, as Lord Shaftesbury, were interested in the\nwelfare of the poor, and economists rarely joined close experience with\ntheir theories.\n\n\u201cIf men, cultivated, young, thinking men, could only know of these\nthings they would be altered,\u201d I used to say, with girlish faith in\nhuman goodwill--a faith which years has not shaken; and in the spring of\n1875 we went to Oxford, partly to tell about the poor, partly to enjoy\n\u201ceights week\u201d with a group of young friends. Our party was planned by\nMiss Toynbee, whom I had met when at school, and whose brother Arnold\nwas then an undergraduate at Pembroke. Our days were filled with the\nhospitality with which Oxford still rejoices its guests; but in the\nevenings we used to drop quietly down the river with two or three\nearnest men, or sit long and late in our lodgings in the Turl, and\ndiscuss the mighty problems of poverty and the people.\n\nHow vividly Canon Barnett and I can recall each and all of the first\ngroup of \u201cthinking men,\u201d so ready to take up enthusiasms in their boyish\nstrength--Arnold Toynbee, Sidney Ball, W. H. Forbes, Arthur Hoare,\nLeonard Montefiore, Alfred Milner, Philip Gell, John Falk, G. E.\nUnderhill, Ralph Whitehead, Lewis Nettleship! Some of these are still\nhere, and caring for our people, but others have passed behind the veil,\nwhere perhaps earth\u2019s sufferings are explicable.\n\nWe used to ask each undergraduate as he developed interest to come and\nstay in Whitechapel, and see for himself. And they came, some to spend a\nfew weeks, some for the Long Vacation, while others, as they left the\nUniversity and began their life\u2019s work, took lodgings in East London,\nand felt all the fascination of its strong pulse of life, hearing, as\nthose who listen always may, the hushed, unceasing moans underlying the\ncry which ever and anon makes itself heard by an unheeding public.\n\nFrom that first visit to Oxford in the \u201ceights week\u201d of 1875, date many\nvisits to both the Universities. Rarely a term passed without our going\nto Oxford, where the men who had been down to East London introduced us\nto others who might do as they had done. Sometimes we stayed with Dr.\nJowett, the immortal Master of Balliol, sometimes we were the guests of\nthe undergraduates, who would get up meetings in their rooms, and\norganize innumerable breakfasts, teas, river excursions, and other\nopportunities for introducing the subject of the duty of the cultured to\nthe poor and degraded.\n\nNo organization was started, no committee, no society, no club formed.\nWe met men, told them of the needs of the out-of-sight poor; and many\ncame to see Whitechapel and stayed to help it. And so eight years went\nby--our Oxford friends laughingly calling my husband the \u201cunpaid\nprofessor of social philosophy\u201d.\n\nIn June, 1883, we were told by Mr. Moore Smith that some men at St.\nJohn\u2019s College at Cambridge were wishful to do something for the poor,\nbut that they were not quite prepared to start an ordinary College\nMission. Mr. Barnett was asked to suggest some other possible and more\nexcellent way. The letter came as we were leaving for Oxford, and was\nslipped with others in my husband\u2019s pocket. Soon something went wrong\nwith the engine and delayed the train so long that the passengers were\nallowed to get out. We seated ourselves on the railway bank, just then\nglorified by masses of large ox-eyed daisies, and there he wrote a\nletter suggesting that men might hire a house, where they could come for\nshort or long periods, and, living in an industrial quarter, learn to\n\u201csup sorrow with the poor\u201d. The letter pointed out that close personal\nknowledge of individuals among the poor must precede wise legislation\nfor remedying their needs, and that as English local government was\nbased on the assumption of a leisured cultivated class, it was necessary\nto provide it artificially in those regions where the line of leisure\nwas drawn just above sleeping hours, and where the education ended at\nthirteen years of age and with the three R\u2019s.\n\nThat letter founded Toynbee Hall. Insomnia had sapped my health for a\nlong time, and later, in the autumn of that year, we were sent to\nEaux Bonnes to try a water-cure. During that period the Cambridge\nletter was expanded into a paper, which was read at a college meeting\nat St. John\u2019s College, Oxford, in November of the same year.\nMr. Arthur Sidgwick was present, and it is largely due to his\npractical vigour that the idea of University Settlements in the\nindustrial working-class quarters of large towns fell not only on\nsympathetic ears, but was guided until it came to fruition. The first\nmeeting of undergraduates met in the room of Mr. Cosmo Lang now (1908),\nabout to become Archbishop of York. Soon after the meeting a small but\nearnest committee was formed; later on the committee grew in size and\nimportance, money was obtained on debenture bonds, and a Head sought who\nwould turn the idea into a fact. Here was the difficulty. Such men as\nhad been pictured in the paper which Mr. Knowles had published in the\n\u201cNineteenth Century Review\u201d of February, 1884, are not met with\nevery-day; and no inquiries seemed to discover the wanted man who would\nbe called upon to give all and expect nothing.\n\nMr. Barnett and I had spent eleven years of life and work in\nWhitechapel. We were weary. My health stores were limited and often\nexhausted, and family circumstances had given us larger means and\nopportunities for travel. We were therefore desirous to turn our backs\non the strain, the pain, the passion and the poverty of East London, at\nleast for a year or two, and take repose after work which had aged and\nweakened us. But no other man was to be found who would and could do the\nwork; and, if this child-thought was not to die, it looked as if we must\nundertake to try and rear it.\n\nWe went to the Mediterranean to consider the matter, and solemnly, on a\nSunday morning, made our decision. How well I recall the scene as we sat\nat the end of the quaint harbour-pier at Mentone, the blue waves dancing\nat our feet, everything around scintillating with light and movement in\ncontrast to the dull and dulling squalor of the neighbourhood which had\nbeen our home for eleven years, and which our new decision would make\nour home for another indefinite spell of labour and effort. \u201cGod help\nus,\u201d we said to each other; and then we wired home to obtain the refusal\nof the big Industrial School next to St. Jude\u2019s Vicarage, which had\nrecently been vacated, and which we thought to be a good site for the\nfirst Settlement, and returned to try and live up to the standard which\nwe had unwittingly set for ourselves in describing in the article the\nunknown man who was wanted for Warden.\n\nThe rest of the story is soon told. The Committee did the work, bought\nthe land, engaged the architect (Mr. Elijah Hoole), raised the money,\nand interested more and more men, who came for varying periods, either\nto live, to visit, or to see what was being done.\n\n                  ------------------------------------\n\nOn 10 March, 1883, Arnold Toynbee had died. He had been our beloved and\nfaithful friend, ever since, as a lad of eighteen, his own mind then\nbeing chiefly concerned with military interests and ideals, he had\nheard, with the close interest of one treading untrodden paths, facts\nabout the toiling, ignorant multitude whose lives were stunted by\nlabour, clouded by poverty, and degraded by ignorance. He had frequently\nbeen to see us at St. Jude\u2019s, staying sometimes a few nights, oftener\ntempting us to go a day or two with him into the country; and ever\nwooing us with persistent hospitality to Oxford. Once in 1879 he had\ntaken rooms over the Charity Organization Office in Commercial Road,\nhoping to spend part of the Long Vacation, learning of the people; but\nhis health, often weakly, could not stand the noise of the traffic, the\nsullenness of the aspect, nor the pain which stands waiting at every\ncorner; and at the end of some two or three weeks he gave up the plan\nand left East London, never to return except as our welcome guest. His\nshare of the movement was at Oxford, where with a subtle force of\npersonality he attracted original or earnest minds of all degrees, and\nturned their thoughts or faces towards the East End and its problems.\nThrough him many men came to work with us, while others were stirred by\nthe meetings held in Oxford, or by the pamphlet called the \u201cBitter Cry,\u201d\nwhich, in spite of its exaggerations, aroused many to think of the poor;\nor by the stimulating teaching of Professor T. H. Green, and by the\nconstant, kindly sympathy of the late Master of Balliol, who startled\nsome of his hearers, who had not plumbed the depths of his wide, wise\nsympathy, by advising all young men, whatever their career, \u201cto make\nsome of their friends among the poor\u201d.\n\nThe 10th of March, 1884, was a Sunday, and on the afternoon of that day\nBalliol Chapel was filled with a splendid body of men who had come\ntogether from all parts of England in loving memory of Arnold Toynbee,\non the anniversary of his death. Dr. Jowett had asked my husband to\npreach to them, and they listened, separating almost silently at the\nchapel porch, filled, one could almost feel, by the aspiration to copy\nhim in caring much, if not doing much, for those who had fallen by the\nway or were \u201cvacant of our glorious gains\u201d.\n\nWe had often chatted, those of us who were busy planning the new\nSettlement, as to what to call it. We did not mean the name to be\ndescriptive; it should, we thought, be free from every possible savour\nof a Mission, and yet it should in itself be suggestive of a noble aim.\nAs I sat on that Sunday afternoon in the chapel, one of the few women\namong the crowd of strong-brained, clean-living men assembled in\nreverent affection for one man, the thought flashed to me, \u201cLet us call\nthe Settlement Toynbee Hall\u201d. To Mr. Bolton King, the honorary secretary\nof the committee, had come the same idea, and it, finding favour with\nthe committee, was so decided, and our new Settlement received its name\nbefore a brick was laid or the plans concluded.\n\nOn the first day of July, 1884, the workmen began to pull down the old\nIndustrial School, and to adapt such of it as was possible for the new\nuses; and on Christmas Eve, 1884, the first settlers, Mr. H. D. Leigh,\nof Corpus, and Mr. C. H. Grinling, of Hertford, slept in Toynbee Hall,\nquickly followed by thirteen residents, some of whom had been living in\nthe neighbourhood of Whitechapel, some for a considerable length of\ntime, either singly or in groups, one party inhabiting a small disused\npublic-house, others in model dwellings or in lodgings, none of them\nbeing altogether suitable for their own good or the needs of those whom\nthey would serve. Those men had become settlers before the Settlement\nscheme was conceived, and as such were conversant with the questions in\nthe air. It was an advantage also, that they were of different ages,\nfriends of more than one University generation, and linked together by a\ncommon friendship to us.\n\nThe present Dean of Ripon had for many years lent his house at No. 3,\nShip Street, for our use, and so had enabled us to spend some\nconsecutive weeks of each summer at Oxford; and during those years we\nhad learnt to know the flower of the University, counting, as boy\nfriends, some men who have since become world-widely known; some who\nhave done the finest work and \u201cscorned to blot it with a name\u201d; and\nothers who, as civil servants, lawyers, doctors, country gentlemen,\nbusiness men, have in the more humdrum walks of life carried into\npractice the same spirit of thoughtful sympathy which first brought them\nto inquire concerning those less endowed and deprived of life\u2019s joys, or\nthose who, handicapped by birth, training, and environment, had fallen\nby the way.\n\nAs to what Toynbee Hall has done and now is doing, it is difficult for\nany one, and impossible for me, to speak. Perhaps I cannot be expected\nto see the wood for the trees. Those who have cared to come and see for\nthemselves what is being done, to stay in the house and join in its\nwork, know that Toynbee Hall, Whitechapel, is a place where twenty\nUniversity men live in order to work for, to teach, to learn of the\npoor. Since 1884 the succession of residents has never failed. Men of\nvaried opinions and many views, both political and religious, have lived\nharmoniously together, some staying as long as fifteen years, others\nremaining shorter periods. All have left behind them marks of their\nresidence; sometimes in the policy of the local Boards, of which they\nhave become members; or in relation to the Student Residences; or the\nAntiquarian, Natural History, or Travelling Clubs which individuals\namong them have founded; or by busying themselves with classes, debates,\nconferences, discussions. Their activities have been unceasing and\nmanifold, but looking over many years and many men it seems to my\ninferior womanly mind that the best work has been done by those men who\nhave cared most deeply for individuals among the poor. Out of such deep\ncare has grown intimate knowledge of their lives and industrial\nposition, and from knowledge has come improvement in laws, conditions,\nor administration. It is such care that has awakened in the people the\ndesire to seek what is best. It is the care of those, who, loving God,\nhave taught others to know Him. It is the care of those who, pursuing\nknowledge and rejoicing in learning, have spread it among the ignorant\nmore effectively than books, classes or lectures could have done. It is\nthe care for the degraded which alone rouses them to care for\nthemselves. It is the care for the sickly, the weak, the oppressed, the\nrich, the powerful, the happy, the teacher and taught, the employed and\nthe employer, which enables introduction to be made and interpretation\nof each other to be offered and accepted. From this seed of deep\nindividual care has grown a large crop of friendship, and many flowers\nof graceful acts.\n\nIt is the duty of Toynbee Hall, situated as it is at the gate of East\nLondon, to play the part of a skilful host and introduce the East to the\nWest; but all the guests must be intimate friends, or there will be\nsocial blunders. To quote some words out of a report, Toynbee Hall is\n\u201can association of persons, with different opinions and different\ntastes; its unity is that of variety; its methods are spiritual rather\nthan material; it aims at permeation rather than conversion; and its\ntrust is in friends linked to friends rather than in organization\u201d....\n\nIt was a crowded meeting of the Universities Settlements Association\nthat was held in Balliol Hall in March, 1892, it being known that Dr.\nJowett, who had recently been dangerously ill, would take the chair. He\nspoke falteringly (for he was still weakly), and once there came an\nawful pause that paled the hearers who loved him, in fear for his\nwell-being. He told something of his own connexion with the movement; of\nhow he had twice stayed with us in Whitechapel, and had seen men\u2019s\nefforts to lift this dead weight of ignorance and pain. He referred to\nArnold Toynbee, one of the \u201cpurest-minded of men,\u201d and one who \u201ctroubled\nhimself greatly over the unequal position of mankind\u201d. He told of the\nforce of friendship which was to him sacred, and \u201csome of which should\nbe offered to the poor\u201d. He dwelt on his own hopes for Toynbee Hall, and\nof its uses to Oxford, as well as to Whitechapel; and he spoke also of\nus and our work, but those words were conceived by his friendship for\nand his faith in us, and hardly represented the facts. They left out of\nsight what the Master of Balliol could only imperfectly know--the\ncountless acts of kindness, the silent gifts of patient service, and the\nunobtrusive lives of many men; their reverence before weakness and\npoverty, their patience with misunderstanding, their faith in the power\nof the best, their tenderness to children and their boldness against\nvice. These are the foundations on which Toynbee Hall has been built,\nand on which it aims to raise the ideals of human life, and strengthen\nfaith in God.\n\n  HENRIETTA O. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENTS.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    June, 1905.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe University Review\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\nTwenty-five years ago many social reformers were set on bringing about a\nco-operation between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and the\nindustrial classes. Arnold Toynbee thought he could study at Oxford\nduring term time and lecture in great cities during the vacation.\nProfessor Stuart thought that University teaching might be extended\namong working people by means of centres locally established. There were\nothers to whom it seemed that no way could be so effective as the way of\nresidence, and they advocated a plan by which members of the University\nshould during some years live their lives among the poor.\n\nPresent social reformers have, however, other business on hand. They\nthink that something practical is of first importance, some alteration\nin the land laws, which would make good houses more possible--some\nmodification of the relation between labour and capital, which would\nspread the national wealth over a larger number of people. They see\nsomething which Parliament or the municipal bodies could do, which seems\nto be very good, and they are not disposed to spend time on\ndemocratizing the old Universities or on humanizing the working-man.\n\nThe present generation of reformers claim to be practical, but one who\nbelongs to the past generation and is not without sympathy with the\npresent, may also claim that much depends on the methods by which good\nobjects are secured. There is truth in the saying that means are more\nimportant than ends. Many present evils are due to the means--the force,\nthe flattery, the haste--by which good men of old time achieved their\nends. \u201cGod forgive all good men\u201d was the prayer of Charles Kingsley.\n\nReformers may to-day pass laws which would exalt the poor and bring down\nthe rich, but if in the passing of such laws bitterness, anger, and\nuncharitableness were increased, and if, as the result, the exalted poor\nproved incapable of using or of enjoying their power--another giant\nbehaving like a giant--where would be the world\u2019s gain? The important\nthing surely is not that the poor shall be exalted, but that rich and\npoor shall equally feel the joy of their being and, living together in\npeace and goodwill, make a society to be a blessing to all nations.\n\nCo-operation between the Universities and working men, between\nknowledge and industry, might--it seemed to the reformers of old\ndays--make a force which would secure a reform not to be reformed, a\nrepentance not to be repented of, a sort of progress whose means would\njustify its end.\n\nThe Universities have the knowledge of human things. Their professors\nand teachers have, in some measure, the secret of living, they know that\nlife consists not in possessions, and that society has other bonds than\nforce or selfishness, and they offer in their homes the best example of\nsimple and refined living. They have studied the art of expression, and\ncan put into words the thoughts of many hearts. They look with the eye\nof science over the fields of history, they appreciate tradition at its\nproper value, and are familiar with the mistakes which, in old times,\nbroke up great hopes. Their minds are trained to leap from point to\npoint in thought. They have followed the struggles of humanity towards\nits ideals, they know something of what is in man, and something of what\nhe can possibly achieve.\n\nIf these national Universities, with their wealth of knowledge, felt\nat the same time the pressure of those problems which mean suffering\nto the workmen, they would be watch-towers from which watchmen would\ndiscern the signs of the times, those movements on the horizon now\nas small as a man\u2019s hand but soon to cover the sky. If by sympathy\nthey felt the unrest, which all over the world is giving cause for\ndisquietude to those in authority, they would give a form to the wants,\nand show to those who cry, and those who listen, the meaning of the\nunrest. If they were in touch with the industrial classes, they would\nadapt their teaching to the needs and understandings of men, struggling\nto secure their position in a changing industrial system, and better\nacquainted with facts than with theories about facts. A democratized\nUniversity would be constrained to give forth the principles which\nunderlie social progress, to show the nation what is alterable and\nunalterable in the structure of society--what there is for pride or\nfor shame in its past history, what is the expenditure which makes or\ndestroys wealth--it would be driven to help to solve the mystery of the\nunemployed, why there should be so much unemployment when there must\nbe so great a demand for employment if people are to be fitly clothed\nand fed and housed. It would, at any rate, guide the nation to remedies\nwhich would not be worse than the disease.\n\n\u201cHow,\u201d it was once asked of an Oxford professor, \u201ccan the University be\nadapted to take its place in modern progress.\u201d His answer was \u201cBy\nestablishing in its neighbourhood a great industrial centre.\u201d The\npresence, that is to say, of workmen would bring the Universities to\nface the realities of the day, raise their policy to something more\nimportant than that of compulsory Greek, and direct their teaching to\nother needs than those felt by the limited class, whose children become\nundergraduates or listeners to an \u201cextension lecturer\u201d. A committee of\nthe University dons has been described as a meeting where each member is\nonly a critic, where nothing simple or practical has a chance of\nadoption, and only a paradox gets attention. If labour were heard\nknocking at its doors, and demanding that the national knowledge, of\nwhich the Universities are the trustees, should be put at its service,\nthe same committee would cease criticizing and begin to be practical.\nKnowledge without industry is often selfishness.\n\nIf Oxford and Cambridge need what workmen can give, the workmen have\nno less need of the Universities. Workmen have the strength of\ncharacter which comes of daily contact with necessity, the discipline\nof labour, sympathy with the sorrow and sufferings of neighbours with\nwhose infirmities they themselves are touched. The working classes\nhave on their side the force of sacrifice and the power of numbers.\nThey have the future in their hands. If they had their share of the\nknowledge stored in the National Universities they would know better\nat what to aim, what to do, and how to do it. They, as it is, are\noften blind and unreasoning. Blind to the things which really satisfy\nhuman nature while they eagerly follow after their husks, unable to\npursue a chain of thought while they readily act on some gaudy dogma,\ninclined to think food the chief good, selfishness the one motive of\naction, and force the only remedy. The speeches of candidates for\nworkmen\u2019s constituencies--their promises--their jokes--their appeals are\nthe measure of the industrial mind. How would a Parliament of workmen\ndeal with those elements which make so large a part of the nation\u2019s\nstrength--its traditions--its literature--its natural scenery--its art?\nWhat sort of education would it foster? Would it recognize that the\nimagination is the joy of life and a commercial asset, that unity\ndepends on variety, that respect and not only toleration is due to\nhonest opponents? How would it understand the people of India or deal\nreverently with the intricate motives, the fears and hopes of other\nnations? How would workmen themselves fulfil their place in the future\nif well-fed, well-clothed, and well-housed, they had no other\nrecreation than the spectacle of a football match? Industry without\nknowledge is often brutality.\n\nWorkmen have the energy, the honesty, the fellow feeling, the habit of\nsacrifice which are probably the best part of the national inheritance,\nbut as a class they have not knowledge of human things, the delicate\nsense which sees what is in man--the judgment which knows the value of\nevidence--the feeling which would guide them to distinguish idols from\nideals and set them on making a Society in which every human being shall\nenjoy the fullness of his being. They have not insight nor far-sight and\ntheir frequent attitude is that of suspicion. If sometimes I am asked\nwhat I desire for East London I think of all the goodness, the\nstruggles, the suffering I have seen--the sorrows of the poor and the\nmany fruitless remedies--and I say \u201cmore education,\u201d \u201chigher education\u201d.\nPeople cannot really be raised by gifts or food or houses. A healthy\nbody may be used for low as for high objects. People must raise\nthemselves--that which raises a man like that which defiles a man comes\nfrom within a man. People therefore must have the education which will\nreveal to them the powers within themselves and within other men, their\ncapacities for thinking and feeling, for admiration, hope and love. They\nmust be made something more than instruments of production, they must be\nmade capable of enjoying the highest things. They need therefore\nsomething more than technical teaching, it is not enough for England to\nbe the workshop of the world, it must export thoughts and hopes as well\nas machines. The Tower of London would be a better defence for the\nnation if it were a centre of teaching, than as a barracks for soldiers.\nThe working class movement which is so full of promise for the nation\nseems to me likely to fail unless it be inspired by the human knowledge\nwhich the Universities represent. Working-men without such knowledge\nwill--to say nothing else--be always suspicious as to one another and as\nto the objects which they seek.\n\nThe old Universities and industry must, if this analysis be near the\ntruth, co-operate for social reform. There are many ways to bring\nthem together. The University extension movement might be worked by\nthe hands of the great labour organizations--legislation might adapt\nthe constitution of the Universities to the coming days of labour\nascendancy--workmen might be brought up to graduate in colleges, and\nthey might, as an experiment, be allowed to use existing colleges\nduring vacations.\n\nBut the subject of this paper is the \u201cway of Settlements\u201d. Members of\nthe Universities, it is claimed, may for a few years settle in\nindustrial centres, and in natural intercourse come into contact with\ntheir neighbours. There is nothing like contact for giving or getting\nunderstanding. There is no lecture and no book so effective as life.\nCulture spreads by contact. University men who are known as neighbours,\nwho are met in the streets, in the clubs, and on committees, who can be\nvisited in their own rooms, amid their own books and pictures, commend\nwhat the University stands for as it cannot otherwise be commended. On\nthe other hand workmen who are casually and frequently met, whose idle\nwords become familiar, whose homes are known, reveal the workman mind as\nit is not revealed by clever essayists or by orators of their own class.\nThe friendship of one man of knowledge and one man of industry may go\nbut a small way to bring together the Universities and the working\nclasses, but it is such friendship which prepares the way for the\nunderstanding which underlies co-operation. If misunderstanding is war,\nunderstanding is peace. The men who settle may either take rooms by\nthemselves, or they may associate themselves in a Settlement. There is\nsomething to be said for each plan. The advantage of Settlement is that\na body of University men living together keep up the distinctive\ncharacteristics of their training, they better resist the tendency to\nput on the universal drab, and they bring a variety into their\nneighbourhood. They are helped, too, by the companionship of their\nfellows, to take larger views of what is wanted, their enthusiasm for\nprogress is kept alive and at the same time well pruned by friendly and\nsevere criticism.\n\nBut whether men live in lodgings or in Settlements, there is one\nnecessary condition besides that of social interest if they are to be\nsuccessful in uniting knowledge and industry in social reform. They must\nlive their own life. There must be no affectation of asceticism, and no\nconsciousness of superiority. They must show forth the taste, the mind\nand the faith that is in them. They have not come as \u201cmissioners,\u201d they\nhave come to settle, that is, to learn as much as to teach, to receive\nas much as to give.\n\nSettlements which have been started during the last twenty years have\nnot always fulfilled this condition. Many have become centres of\nmissionary effort. They have often been powerful for good, and their\nworks done by active and devoted men or women have so disturbed the\nwater, that many unknown sick folk have been healed. They, however, are\nprimarily missions. A Settlement in the original idea was not a mission,\nbut a means by which University men and workmen might by natural\nintercourse get to understand one another, and co-operate in social\nreform.\n\nThere are many instances of such understanding and co-operation.\n\nTwenty years ago primary education was much as it had been left by Mr.\nLowe. Some University men living in a Settlement soon became conscious\nof the loss involved in the system, they talked with neighbours who by\nthemselves were unconscious of the loss till inspired, and inspiring\nthey formed an Education Reform League. There were committees, meetings,\nand public addresses. The league was a small affair, and seems to be\nlittle among the forces of the time. But every one of its proposals have\nbeen carried out. Some of its members in high official positions have\nwielded with effect the principles which were elaborated in the forge at\nwhich they and working men sweated together. Others of its members on\nlocal authorities or as citizens have never forgotten the inner meaning\nof education as they learnt it from their University friends.\n\nAnother instance may be offered. The relief of the poor is a subject on\nwhich the employing and the employed classes naturally incline to take\ndifferent views. They suspect one another\u2019s remedies. The working men\nhate both the charity of the rich and the strict administration of the\neconomist, while they themselves talk a somewhat impracticable\nsocialism. University men who assist in such relief, are naturally\nsuspected as members of the employing class. A few men, however, who as\nresidents had become known in other relations, and were recognized as\nhuman, induced some workmen to take part in administering relief.\nTogether they faced actual problems, together they made mistakes,\ntogether they felt sympathy with sorrow, and saw the break-down of their\ncarefully designed action. The process went on for years, the personnel\nof the body of fellow-workers has changed, but there has been a gradual\napproach from the different points of view. The University men have more\nacutely realized some of the causes of distress, the need of preserving\nand holding up self-respect, the pressure of the industrial system, and\nthe claim of sufferers from this system to some compensation. They have\nlearnt through their hearts. The workmen, on the other hand, have\nrealized the failure of mere relief to do permanent good, the importance\nof thought in every case, and the kindness of severity. The result of\nthis co-operation may be traced in the fact that workmen, economists and\nsocialists have been found advocating the same principle of relief, and\nnow more lately in the establishment of Mr. Long\u2019s committee which is\ncarrying those principles into effect. Far be it from me to claim that\nthis committee is the direct outcome of the association of University\nand working-men, or to assert that this committee has discovered the\nsecret of poverty, but it is certain that this committee represents the\napproach of two different views of relief, and that among some of its\nactive members are workmen and University men who as neighbours in\nfrequent intercourse learnt to respect and trust one another.\n\nThere is one other instance which is also of interest. Local Government\nis the corner-stone in the English Constitution. The people in their own\nneighbourhoods learn what self-government means, as their own Councils\nand Boards make them happy or unhappy. The government in industrial\nneighbourhoods is often bad, sometimes because the members are\nself-seekers, more often because they are ignorant or vainglorious. How\ncan it be otherwise? If the industrial neighbourhood is self-contained,\nas for example in East London, it has few inhabitants with the necessary\nleisure for study or for frequent attendance at the meetings. If it is\npart of a larger government--as in county boroughs--it is unknown to the\nmajority of the community. The consequence is that the neighbourhoods\nwanting most light and most water and most space have the least, and\nthat bodies whose chief concern should be health and education waste\ntheir time and their rates arranging their contracts so as to support\nlocal labour. In a word, industrial neighbourhoods suffer for want of a\nvoice to express their needs and for the want of the knowledge which can\ndistinguish man from man, recognize the relative importance of spending\nand saving, and encourage mutual self-respect.\n\nUniversity men may and in some measure have met this want. They, by\nresidence, have learnt the wants, and their voice has helped to bring\nabout the more equal treatment which industrial districts are now\nreceiving. They have often, for instance, been instrumental in getting\nthe Libraries\u2019 Act adopted. They have as members of local bodies learnt\nmuch and taught something. They have always won the respect of their\nfellow-members, and if not always successful in preventing the\nneighbourly kindnesses which seem to them to be \u201cjobs,\u201d or in forwarding\nexpenditure which seems to them the best economy, they have kept up the\nlights along the course of public honour.\n\nThere are other examples in which results cannot be so easily traced.\nThere have been friendships formed at clubs which have for ever changed\nthe respective points of view affecting both taste and opinion. There\nhave been new ideas born in discussion classes, which, beginning in\nspecial talk about some one subject, have ended in fireside confidences\nover the deepest subjects of life and faith. There have been common\npleasures, travels, and visits in which every one has felt new interest,\nseeing things with other eyes, and learning that the best and most\nlasting amusement comes from mind activity. The University man who has a\nfriend among the poor henceforth sees the whole class differently\nthrough that medium, and so it is with the workman who has a University\nman as his friend. The glory of a Settlement is not that it has spread\nopinions, or increased temperance, or relieved distress, but that it has\npromoted peace and goodwill.\n\nBut enough has been said to illustrate the point that by the way of\nresidence the forces of knowledge and industry are brought into\nco-operation. The way, if long, is practicable. More men might live\namong the poor. The effort to do so involves the sacrifice of much which\nhabits of luxury have marked as necessary. It involves the daring to be\npeculiar, which is often especially hard for the man who in the public\nschool has learnt to support himself on school tradition.\n\nNothing has been said as to the effect of Settlements on Oxford and\nCambridge. There does not seem to be much change in the attitude of\nthese Universities to social reform, and they are not apparently moved\nby any impulse which comes from workmen. But judgment in this matter\nmust be cautious as changes may be going on unnoticed. It is certain, at\nany rate, that the individual members who have lived among the poor are\nchanged. If a greater number would live in the same way that experience\ncould not fail ultimately to influence University life.\n\nSocial reform will soon be the all-absorbing interest as the modern\nrealization of the claims of human nature and the growing power of the\npeople, will not tolerate many of the present conditions of industrial\nlife. The well-being of the future depends on the methods by which\nreform proceeds. Reforms in the past have often been disappointing. They\nhave been made in the name of the rights of one class, and have ended in\nthe assertion of rights over another class. They have been made by force\nand produced reaction. They have been done for the people not by the\npeople, and have never been assimilated. The method by which knowledge\nand industry may co-operate has yet to be tried, and one way in which to\nbring about such co-operation is the way of University Settlements.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    SECTION IV.\n\n    POVERTY AND LABOUR.\n\nThe Ethics of the Poor Law--Poverty, its Cause and Cure--Babies of the\nState--Poor Law Reform--The Unemployed--The Poor Law Report--Widows\nunder the Poor Law--The Press and Charitable Funds--What is Possible\nin Poor Law Reform--Charity Up To Date--What Labour wants--Our Present\nDiscontents.\n\n\n\n\n    THE ETHICS OF THE POOR LAW.[1]\n\n    BY MRS. S. A. BARNETT.\n\n    October, 1907.\n\n  [1] A Paper read at the Church Congress at Yarmouth.\n\n\nFor the purpose of this paper, I propose to divide the history of the\nPoor Laws into five divisions, and briefly to trace for 500 years the\ngrowth of thought which inspired their inception and directed their\nadministration.\n\nDuring the first period, from the reign of Richard II (1388) to that of\nHenry VII, such laws as were framed were mainly directed against\nvagrancy. There was no pretence that these enactments, which controlled\nthe actions of the \u201cvaliant rogue\u201d or \u201csturdy vagabond,\u201d were instituted\nfor the good of the individual. It was for the protection of the\ncommunity that they were framed, the recognition that a man\u2019s poverty\nwas the result of his own fault being the root of many statutes.\n\nAgainst begging severe penalties were enforced: men were forbidden to\nleave their own dwelling-places, and the workless wanderer met with no\npity and scant justice. Later, as begging seemed but little nearer to\nextinction, the justices were instructed to determine definite areas in\nwhich beggars could solicit alms.\n\nThus was inaugurated the first effort to make each district responsible\nfor its own poor. Persons who were caught begging outside such areas\nwere dealt with with a severity which now seems almost incredible. For\nthe first offence they were beaten, for the second they had their ears\nmutilated (so that all men could see they had thus transgressed), and\nfor the third they were condemned to suffer \u201cthe execution of death as\nan enemy of the commonwealth\u201d. Later, the further sting was added,\n\u201cwithout benefit of clergy\u201d.\n\n_Put briefly, these laws said, \u201cPoverty demands punishment\u201d._\n\nBut men could not deny that all the dependent poor were not so by\nchoice. In the reign of Henry VIII (1536), discrimination was made\nbetween \u201cthe poor impotent sick and diseased persons not being able to\nwork, who may be provided for, holpen, and relieved,\u201d and \u201csuch as be\nlusty and able to get their living with their own hands\u201d. For the\nassistance of the former, the clergy were bidden to exhort their people\nto give offerings into their hands so that the needy should be\nsuccoured. This began what I may call the second period, when pity\nscattered its ideas among the leaves of the statute book. In the reign\nof Edward VI (the child King), the first recognition of the duty of\nrescuing children appears to be the subject of an Act whereby persons\nwere \u201cauthorized to take neglected children between five and fourteen\naway from their parents to be brought up in honest labour\u201d. This was\nfollowed by the declaration that the neglect of parental duties was\nillegal, and punishments were specified for those who \u201cdo run away from\ntheir parishes and leave their families\u201d.\n\n_Put briefly, these laws said, \u201cPoverty demands pity\u201d._\n\nDuring the fifty years (1558-1603) when Elizabeth held the sceptre,\nimportant changes took place. Her realm, we read, was \u201cexceedingly\npestered\u201d by \u201cdisorderly persons, incorrigible rogues, and sturdy\nbeggars,\u201d while the lamentable condition of \u201cthe poor, the lame, the\nsick, the impotent and decayed persons\u201d was augmented by the suppression\nof the monasteries and other religious organizations which had hitherto\ndone much to assuage their sufferings. The noble band of men, whom that\ngreat woman attracted and stimulated, faced the subject as statesmen,\nand the epoch-making enactment of 1601 still bears fruit in our midst.\nBroadly, the position of the supporters in relation to the supported was\nconsidered, and for the advantage of both it was enacted that \u201ca stock\nof wool, hemp, flax, iron, and other stuff\u201d should be bought \u201cto be\nwrought by those of the needy able to labour,\u201d so that they might\nmaintain themselves. \u201cHouses of correction\u201d were established, to which\nany person refusing to labour was to be committed, where they were to be\nclothed \u201cin convenient apparel meet for such a body to weare,\u201d and \u201cto\nbe kept straitly in diet and punished from time to time\u201d. In this Act\nthe duty of supporting persons in \u201cunfeigned misery\u201d was made\ncompulsory, power being given to tax the \u201cfroward persons\u201d who \u201cresisted\nthe gentle persuasions of the justices\u201d and \u201cwithheld of their\nlargesse\u201d.\n\nThus the system of poor rating was established, and the maintenance of\nthe needy drifted out of the hands of the Church into the hands of the\nState.\n\nNeither of the motives which had ruled action in the previous centuries\nwas disclaimed. That the idle poor deserve punishment, and that the\nsuffering poor demand pity, were still held to be true, but to these\nprinciples was added the new one that the State was responsible for\nboth. In order to ease the burdens of the charitable, the idle must be\ncompelled to support themselves, and in the almost incredible event of\nany one who, having this world\u2019s goods, yet refused to be charitable,\nprovision was made to compel him to contribute, so as to hinder\ninjustice being done to the man who gave willingly.\n\n_Put briefly, these laws said, \u201cPoverty demands scientific treatment\u201d._\n\nDuring the next two centuries great strides were made in the directions\nindicated by each of these three principles. The right to punish persons\nwho would not work \u201cfor the ordinary wages\u201d was extended from that\nlegalized in Elizabeth\u2019s time of being \u201copenly whipped till his body was\nbloody,\u201d to the drastic statute of the reign of Charles II, when it\nbecame lawful to transport the beggars and rogues \u201cto any of the English\nplantations beyond the seas,\u201d while the effort to create the shame of\npauperism was made by the legislators of William III, who commanded that\nevery recipient of public charity should wear \u201ca large \u2018P\u2019 on the\nshoulder of the right sleeve of his habilement\u201d. Pity was shown to the\nold, for whom refuges were provided and work such as they could perform\narranged; the lame were apprenticed; the lives of the illegitimate\nprotected; the blind relieved; the children whose parents could not or\nwould not keep them were set to work or supported; lunatics were\nprotected; and infectious diseases recognized.\n\nThe whole gamut of the woes of civilization as they gradually came into\nbeing were brought into relation with the State, whose sphere of duty to\nrelieve suffering or assuage the consequences of sin was ever enlarging,\nuntil, in the reign of George III, we find it including penitentiaries,\nand the apprenticing of lads to the King\u2019s ships. The organization to\nmeet these needs grew apace; guardians were appointed, unions were\nformed, workhouses were built (the first erected at Bristol in 1697), a\nsystem of inspection was instituted, relieving officers were\nestablished, areas definitely laid down, and the function of officials\nprescribed. But abuses crept in, and in 1691 we find that an Act recites\n\u201cthat overseers, upon frivolous pretences, but chiefly for their own\nprivate ends, do give relief to what persons and number they think fit\u201d.\nAnd yet another Act was passed to enable parish authorities to be\npunished for paying the poor their pittances in bad coin.\n\nStill, it is probable that out of the two principles (roughly consistent\nwith the unwritten laws of God in nature) there would have been evolved\nsome practicable method of State-administered relief, had it not\nhappened that the high cost of provisions (following the war with\nFrance) and the consequent sufferings of the \u201cindustrious indigent\u201d so\nmoved the magistrates at the end of the eighteenth century, that in 1795\nthey decided to give out-relief to every labourer in proportion to the\nnumber of his family and the price of wheat, without reference to the\nfact of his being in or out of employment. The effect was disastrous.\nThe rich found no call to give their charity, and the poor no call to\nwork. The rates ate up the value of the land, and farms were left\nwithout tenants, because it became impossible to pay the rates, which\noften reached \u00a31 per acre. But an even worse effect was the\ndemoralization of society. The stimulus towards personal effort and\nself-control was removed, for the idle and incompetent received from the\nrates what their labour or character failed to provide for them; and\nwages were reduced because employers realized that their workmen would\nget relief. Drink and dissipation, deception and dependence, cheating\nand chicanery, became common.\n\nSociety threatened in those years to break up. It is a curious comment\nthat a humane poor law stands out as chief amid the dissolving forces,\nso blind is pity if it be not instructed.\n\nThis condition of things pressed for reform, and in 1832 a Poor Law\nCommission was appointed, which has left an indelible mark on English\nlife.\n\nThe Commissioners, like able physicians, diagnosed the disease, and\ndealt directly with its cause, prescribing for its cure remedies which\nmay be classed under two heads:--\n\n_I.--The Principle of National Uniformity._\n\n_II.--The Principle of Less Eligibility._\n\nThe principle of national uniformity--that is, identity of treatment\nof each class of destitute persons from one end of the kingdom to the\nother--had for its purpose the reduction of the \u201cperpetual shifting\u201d\nfrom parish to parish, and the prevention of discontent in persons who\nsaw the paupers of a neighbouring parish treated more leniently than\nthemselves.\n\nThe principle of less eligibility, or, to put it in the words of the\nreport, that \u201cthe situation of the individual relieved\u201d shall not \u201cbe\nmade really or apparently so eligible as the situation of the\nindependent labourer of the lowest class,\u201d had for its purpose the\nrestoration of the dignity of work and the steadying of the labour\nmarket.\n\n_Put briefly, the Commission said, \u201cPoverty demands principles.\u201d_\n\nThe workhouse system, with all its ramifications, has grown out of these\ntwo principles, and in its development it has, if not wholly dropped the\nprinciples, at least considerably confused them. National uniformity no\nlonger exists, even as an ideal. Less eligibility is forgotten, as\nboards vie with each other to produce more costly and up-to-date\ninstitutions. Out-relief is still given, after investigation and to\ncertain classes of applicants and under particular conditions; but the\ncreation of the spirit of institutionalism is the main result of the\n1834 commission.\n\nAnd now, to-day, what do we see? An army of 602,094 paupers, some\n221,531 of whom are hidden away in monster institutions. Let us face the\nfacts, calmly realize that one person in every thirty-eight is dependent\non the rates, either wholly or partially.\n\nWhere are the old, the honoured old? In their homes, teaching their\ngrand-children reverence for age and sympathy for weakness? No; sitting\nin rows in the workhouse wards waiting for death, their enfeebled lives\nempty of interest, their uncultivated minds feeding on discontent, often\nmade querulous or spiteful by close contact.\n\nWhere are the able-bodied who are too ignorant and undisciplined to earn\ntheir own livelihood? Are they under training, stimulated to labour by\nthe gift of hope? No; for the most part they are in the workhouses. Have\nyou ever seen them there? Resentment on their faces, slackness in their\nlimbs, individuality merged in routine, kept there, often fed and housed\nin undue comfort, but sinking, ever sinking, below the height of their\ncalling as human beings and Christ\u2019s brothers and sisters?\n\nWhere are the 69,080 children who at the date of the last return were\nwholly dependent on the State? In somebody\u2019s home? Sharing somebody\u2019s\nhearth? Finding their way into somebody\u2019s heart? No; 8,659 are boarded\nout, but 21,366 are still in workhouses and workhouse infirmaries, and\n20,229 in large institutions; disciplined, taught, drilled, controlled,\nit is true, often with kindliness and conscientious supervision, but for\nthe most part lacking in the music of their lives that one note of love,\nwhich alone can turn all from discord to harmony.\n\nWhere are the sick, the imbecile, the decayed, worn out with their\nlifelong fight with poverty? Are they adequately classified? Are the\nconsumptive in open-air sanitoria? the imbeciles tenderly protected,\nwhile encouraged to use their feeble brains? No; they are in\ninfirmaries, often admirably conducted, but divorced from normal life\nand its refreshment or stimulus, deprived of freedom, put out of sight\nin vast mansions; all sorts of distress often so intermingled as to\naggravate disorders and embitter the sufferer\u2019s dreary days.\n\nAnd yet we all know that the rates are very heavy, and that the\nstruggling poor are cruelly handicapped to keep the idle, the old, the\nyoung, the sick. We have all read of the culpable extravagance and\ndishonest waste which goes on behind the high walls of the palatial\ninstitutions governed by the \u201cguardians,\u201d who should be the guardians of\nthe public purse as well as of the helpless poor.\n\nThe village built for the children of the Bermondsey Union has cost over\n\u00a3320 per bed, and last year each child kept there cost \u00a31 0s. 6\u00bdd. per\nweek. It is said that the porcelain baths provided for the children of\nthe Mile End Union were priced at from \u00a318 to \u00a320 each, while it is\nstated that the cost of erecting and equipping the pauper village for\nthe children chargeable to the Liverpool Select Vestry worked out at\n\u00a3330 per inmate. For England and Wales the pauper bill was in 1905\n\u00a313,851,981, or \u00a315 13s. 3\u00bcd. for each pauper.\n\nAnd are we satisfied with what we are purchasing with the money? Is even\nthe Socialist content with the giant workhouses--\u201c\u2019Omes of rest for them\nas is tired of working,\u201d as a tourist tram-conductor described the\nBrighton Workhouse? With the children\u2019s pauper villages composed of\nelectrically-lit villa residences? With the huge barrack schools,\noppressively clean and orderly, where many apparatus for domestic\nlabour-saving are considered suitable for training girls to be workmen\u2019s\nwives?\n\nAre we, as Londoners, proud to reply to the intelligent foreigner that\nthe magnificent building occupying one of the best and most expensive\nsites on a main thoroughfare of West London is the \u201crubbish heap of\nhumanity,\u201d where, cast among enervating surroundings, a full stop is put\nto any effortful progress for character building?\n\nNo; and I know I shall find an echo of that emphatic \u201cNo\u201d in the heart\nof each of my hearers. We, as Christians, are _not_ satisfied with the\ntreatment of our dependent poor. The spirit of repression which was\nparamount before Elizabeth\u2019s time is with us still; the spirit of\nhumanitarianism which arose in her great reign is with us still; but\nboth have taken the form of institutionalism, and with that no one who\nbelieves in the value of the individual can be rightfully satisfied; for\nwhile the body is pampered no demands are made on the soul, no calls for\nachievement, for conquest of bad tendencies or idle habits.\n\nBroadly speaking, the repression policy failed because it was not\nhumanitarian; the humanitarian policy failed because it was not\nscientific; the scientific policy is failing because by institutionalism\nindividualism is crushed out.\n\nWhat is it we want? There is discontent among the thoughtful who\nobserve; discontent among the workers who pay; discontent among the\npaupers who receive. But discontent is barren unless married to ideals,\nand they must be founded on principles. May I suggest one?\n\n\u201cAll State relief should be educational, aiming by the strengthening of\ncharacter to make the recipient independent.\u201d\n\nIf the applicant be idle, the State must develop in him an interest in\nwork. It must, therefore, detain him perhaps for years in a workhouse or\non a farm; but not to do dull and dreary labour at stone-breaking or\noakum-picking. It must give him work which satisfies the human longing\nto make something, and opens to him the door of hope. If the applicant\nbe ignorant and workless, it must teach him, establishing something like\nday industrial schools, in which the man would learn and earn, but in\nwhich he would feel no desire to stay when other work offers.\n\nWe must revive the spirit of the principle of 1834, and see that the\nposition of the pauper be not as eligible as that of the independent\nworkman; there must always be a centrifugal force from the centre of\nrelief, driving the relieved to seek work; but this force need not be\nterror or repression. A system of training, a process of development,\nwould be equally effective in deterring imposition. Scientific treatment\nof the poor need not, therefore, be inconsistent with that which is most\nhumane.\n\nThe same principle as to the primary importance of developing character\nmust be kept in view, though with somewhat different application, when\nthe people to be helped are the sick, the old, and the children.\n\nThus the sick, by convalescent homes, by the best nursing and the most\nskilled attention, should be as quickly as possible made fit for\nwork.[2]\n\n  [2] How does this harmonize with the practice of turning the lying-in\nmother out after fourteen days?\n\nThe children should be absorbed into the normal life of the population,\nand helped to forget they are paupers.[3]\n\n  [3] How does this harmonize with the practice of keeping them in\nbarrack schools, in pauper villages?\n\nThe aged should be left in their own homes, supported by some system of\nState pensions, unconsciously teaching lessons of patience to those who\ntend them, and giving of their painfully obtained experience lessons of\nhope or warning.[4]\n\n  [4] How does this harmonize with the fact that there are thousands\nof people over sixty years of age in our State institutions? Has it ever\noccurred to the statistical inquirers to ascertain the death-rate of\nbabies in relation to the absence of their grand-parents?\n\nThe revelation to this age is the law of development, and it can be seen\nin the laws which govern Society as well as those which govern Nature.\nSlowly has been evolved the knowledge of the duty of the State to its\nmembers. Repression of evil, pity for suffering, systematizing of\nrelief; each has given place to the other, and all have left the\nChristian conscience ill at ease. Development of character is before us,\nand it is for the Church to \u201csee visions\u201d and to open the eyes of the\nblind to its ideals. What shall they be? As teachers of the reality of\nthe spiritual life I would ask you, as clergy, first, to serve on\npoor-law boards, and, secondly, to consider each individual as an\nindividual capable of development; each drunken man, each lawless woman,\neach feeble-minded creature, each unruly child, each plastic baby, each\nold crone, each desecrated body: let us place each side by side with\nChrist and their own possibilities, and then vote and work to give each\nan upward push, remembering that to allow freedom for choice and to\nwithhold aid are often duties, for on all individual souls is laid the\ncommand to \u201cwork out their _own_ salvation in fear and trembling\u201d.\n\n_Put briefly, Christians must say, \u201cPoverty demands prayer\u201d._\n\n  HENRIETTA O. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    POVERTY, ITS CAUSE AND ITS CURE.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n  [1] A Paper read at the Summer School for the Study of Social\nQuestions held at Hayfield, June 22nd to 29th, 1907.\n\n\nPoverty is a relative term. The citizen whose cottage home, with its\nbright housewife and happy children, is as light in our land, is poor in\ncomparison with the occupant of some stately mansion. But his poverty is\nnot an evil to be cured. It is a sign that life does not depend on\npossessions, and the existence of poor men alongside of rich men, each\nof whom lives a full human life in different circumstances, make up the\nsociety of the earthly paradise. The poverty which has to be cured is\nthe poverty which degrades human nature, and makes impossible for the\nordinary man his enjoyment of the powers and the tastes with which he\nwas endowed at his birth. This is the poverty familiar in our streets,\nmore familiar, we are told, than in the streets of any foreign town.\nThis is the poverty by which men and women and children are kept from\nnourishment and sent out to work weak in body and open to every\ntemptation to drink. This is the poverty which makes men slaves to work\nand uninterested in the magnificent drama of nature or life. This is the\npoverty which lets thousands of our people sink into pauperism.\n\nWhat is the cause and the cure of this poverty?\n\nThe cause may be said to be the sin or the selfishness of rich and poor,\nand its cure to be the raising of all men to the level of Christ. The\nworld might be as pleasant and as fruitful as Eden, but so long as some\nmen are idle and some men are greedy, poverty and other evils are sure\nto invade. Man is always stronger than his environment. He may be a\nprisoner in the midst of pleasures, and he may prove that walls cannot a\nprison make. Character may thus be truly said to be the one necessary\nequipment for climbing the hill of life, and every remedy which is\nsuggested for those who stumble and fall must be judged by its effect on\ncharacter. The dangers of the relief which weakens self-reliance have\nbeen recognized, the kindness which removes every hindrance from the way\nhas been seen to relax effort; but even so there is no justification for\nlaw and custom to intrude obstacles to make the way harder or to bind on\nlife\u2019s wayfarer extra burdens.\n\nOur subject thus presents two questions: 1. How is character to be\nstrengthened? 2. How are the obstacles imposed by law and custom to be\nremoved?\n\n1. Character largely depends on health and education. Children born of\noverworked parents; fed on food which does not nourish; brought up in\nclose air and physicked over-much cannot have the physical strength\nwhich is the basis of courage. The importance of health is recognized,\nand every year more is done to spread knowledge and enforce sanitary\nlaw. But the neglect of past generations has to be made up, and few of\nus yet realize what is necessary. The rate of infant mortality is a safe\nindex of unhealthy conditions, and until that is lowered we may be sure\nof a drift towards poverty.\n\nThere are two directions in which energy should push effort: (_a_) More\nspace should be secured about houses so that in the fullest sense every\ninhabited house might be a \u201cliving\u201d house, with a sufficiency of air and\nspace and water to enable every inmate to feel in himself the spring of\nbeing. (_b_) The Medical Officer of Health should be responsible for the\nhealth of every one in his district. He should be at the head of the\nPoor Law Medical Officers, of the Dispensary, of the Hospitals, and of\nthe Infirmary. He should be able not only to report on unhealthy areas\nbut to order for every sick person the treatment which is necessary.\nMedical relief and direction should be a right, not a favour grudgingly\ngiven through Relieving Officers. He should be able to prevent mothers\nworking under conditions prejudicial to the health of their children. He\nshould be the authorized recognized centre of information and direct the\nspread of knowledge. Disraeli, years ago, set up as a Reform cry,\n_Sanitas sanitatum, omnia sanitas_. Much money has been spent in the\nname of health, and hospitals have been doubled in efficiency, but\nbecause of physical weakness recruits are unfit for the army, and family\nafter family drop into poverty. The need is some authority to bring the\nmany efforts into order, and that authority should be, I submit, a\nMedical Officer responsible for the health of every person in his\ndistrict.\n\nBut when children are strong in body they do not necessarily become\nstrong characters. They must be educated. Perhaps it might be said that\nit would be a fair division of labour if, while the school developed\nchildren\u2019s minds, the home developed their characters. But the fact\nmust be faced that either through neglect or greed the home has largely\nfailed in its part. The schools of the richer classes recognize this\nfact and set themselves to develop character. They produce, as a rule,\nself-reliant men and women, wanting, perhaps, in sympathy and moral\nthoughtfulness, careless, perhaps, of others\u2019 poverty, not always\nintelligent, but strong in qualities which keep them from poverty.\nThe schools of the industrial classes are models of order, the\nteachers teach admirably and work hard, the children satisfy examiners\nand inspectors, their handwriting is good, their pronunciation--in\nschool--is careful, they can answer questions on hygiene, on thrift,\non history, on chemistry, and a half a dozen other subjects. But they\nhave not resourcefulness, they are without interests which occupy their\nminds, they shun adventure and seek safe places, they have not the\ncharacter which enjoys a struggle and resists the inroads of poverty,\nthey have little hold on ideals which force them to sacrifice, they\nsoon become untidy, they are an easy prey to excitement, and depend on\nothers rather than on themselves. The problem how to educate character\nis full of difficulties. Happily there are workmen\u2019s homes where, by\nthe example of the parents and by the order of the household, children\nenter the world well equipped, and become leaders in industry and\npolitics, but how in the twenty-seven hours of school time each week\nto educate mind _and_ character is a problem not to be solved in a few\nwords.\n\nPerhaps the first thing to be done is to extend the hours of school\ntime; children might come to the school buildings on Saturdays, and\ndaily between five and seven, to play ordered games, and learn to take a\nbeating without crying; boys and girls might be compelled to attend\ncontinuation schools up to the age of eighteen, and experience the joy\nof new interests; the age of leaving might be raised; the classes in the\nday schools might be smaller; the subjects taught might be fewer; the\nteachers might be left more responsible; and the recreation of the\nchildren might be more considered. Persons, not subjects, make\ncharacter. The teachers in our elementary schools must, therefore, be\nmore in number, have more time to know their pupils, and feel more\nresponsible for each individual.\n\nReligion is, of course, the great character former, but our unhappy\ndivisions put the subject outside friendly discussion. All that can be\nsaid is that the religious teacher who recognizes in all his ways that\nhe is \u201cunder Authority\u201d unconsciously moulds character, and all we can\nwish is that he may have more time and a smaller class. We, who set\nourselves to root out poverty, will do well to look above the cries and\nclaims of religious denominations, while we consider how our national\nschools may help to form the character, without which neither health nor\nwealth, nor even denominational equality, will avail much.\n\n2. It is time, however, to consider the second question. Character may\novercome every obstacle, and our memories tell of men like Adam Bede or\nAbraham Lincoln or some of the present labour members, who have\ntriumphed in the hardest circumstances. Circumstances must always be\nhard. God has so ordered the world; but there is no justification for\nlaw and custom to make them harder. Many men might have strength to get\nover what may be called natural difficulties, but fail upon those which\nhave been artificially made.\n\nOur second question, therefore, in considering the cure of poverty is:\nHow are the obstacles imposed by law and custom to be removed? I take as\nan example the laws which govern the use of land. The land laws were\nmade by our forefathers, because in those days such laws seemed the best\nto force from the land its greatest use to the community. These laws\nmade one man absolute owner, so that by his energy the land might become\nmost productive. But times have changed, and now these laws, instead of\nmaking wealth, seem to help in making poverty. The country labourer may\nhave strong arms; he may have some ambition to use his arms and his\nknowledge to make a home in which to enjoy his old age; but he sees land\nall around him which is serving the pleasures of the few, and not the\nneeds of the many; he is shut out from applying his whole energy to its\ndevelopment, for he cannot hope to get secure tenure of a small plot. He\nleaves the country and goes to the town, where his strong arms are\nwelcomed. But here, again, because the land is in the absolute control\nof its owner, house is crowded against house, so that health and\nenjoyment become almost impossible; and here, also, because so large a\nportion of profit must go to the owner who has done no share of his\nwork, his wage must be reduced. He gives in, and his wife lets dirt and\nuntidiness master his home, and he at last comes into poverty. Law, with\ngood intention, created the obstacle which he could not surmount. Law\ncould remove the obstacle. Law for the common good could interfere with\nthat absolute ownership which for the common good it in the old days\ncreated. Country men might have the possibility of holding land, with\nsecurity of tenure, which they could cultivate for their own and their\nchildren\u2019s enjoyment. Town municipalities might be given the right to\ntake possession of the land in their environment, on which houses could\nbe built with space for air and for gardens.\n\nThe subject is a large one, but the point I would make is that poverty\nis increased by the obstacles which our land laws have put in the man\u2019s\nway. The landlord prevents the application of energy to the soil, and so\ntaxes industry that a large share of others\u2019 earnings automatically\nreach his pocket. The change of law may involve great cost to\nindividuals, or to the State. But patriotism compels sacrifice, and a\npeople which willingly gives its hundreds of millions to be for ever\nsunk in a war, may even more willingly surrender rights and pay taxes,\nso that its fellow-citizens may develop the common-wealth, and escape\npoverty.\n\nCustom is perhaps as powerful as law in putting obstacles in the way of\nlife\u2019s wayfarers. It is by custom that the poor are treated as belonging\nto a lower, and the rich to a higher class; that employers expect\nservility as well as work for the wages they pay; that property is more\nhighly regarded than a man\u2019s life; that competition is held in a sort of\nway sacred. It is custom which exalts inequality, and makes every one\ndesirous of securing others\u2019 service, and to be called Master. Many a\nman is, I believe, hindered in the race because he meets with treatment\nwhich marks him out as an inferior. He is discouraged by discourtesy, or\nhe is tempted to cringe by assertions of inferiority. Charity to-day is\noften an insult to manhood. Many of our customs, which survive from\nfeudalism, prevent the growth of a sense of self-respect and of human\ndignity. Men breathe air which relaxes their vigour, they complain of\nneglect, they seek favour, they follow after rewards, they give up, and\nthus sink into poverty.\n\nIt may not seem a great matter, but among the cures for poverty I may\nput greater courtesy; a wider recognition of the equality in human\nnature; a more set determination to regard all men as brothers. It is\nnot only gifts which demoralize; it is the attitude of those who think\nthat gifts are expected of them, and of those who expect gifts. Gifts\nare only safe between those who recognize one another as equals.\n\nThe subject is so vast that one paper can hardly scratch the surface,\nbut I hope I have suggested some lines of thought. In conclusion, I\nwould repeat that for the cure of poverty, nothing avails but personal\ninfluence. He does best who turns one sinner to righteousness, that is,\nwho helps to make one poor man more earnest of purpose, and one rich man\nmore thoughtfully unselfish. But circumstances also are important, and\nhe does second best who helps to alter the laws and customs which put\nstumbleblocks in the ways of the simple.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    THE BABIES OF THE STATE.[1]\n\n    BY MRS. S. A. BARNETT.\n\n    July, 1909.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Cornhill Magazine\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\nWithout organization and without combination a widespread and effective\nstrike has been slowly taking place--the strike of the middle and\nupper-middle class women against motherhood.\n\nMonth by month short paragraphs can be seen in the newspapers\nchronicling in stern figures the stern facts of the decrease of the\nbirth rate. At the same time the marriage rate increases, and the\nphysical facts of human nature do not change. The conclusion is,\ntherefore, inevitable that the wives have struck against what used to be\nconsidered the necessary corollary of wifehood--motherhood.\n\nThe \u201cCornhill Magazine\u201d is not the place to discuss either the physics\nor the ethics of this subject, but it is the place to suggest thoughts\non the national and patriotic aspects of this regrettable fact.\n\nThe nation demands that its population should be kept up to the standard\nof its requirements; the classes which, for want of a better term, might\nbe called \u201ceducated\u201d are refusing adequately to meet the need; the\nclasses whose want of knowledge forbids them to strike, or whose lack of\nimagination prevents their realizing the pains, responsibilities, and\npenalties of family duties, still obey brute nature and fling their\nunwanted children on to the earth. \u201cHorrible!\u201d we either think or say,\nand inclination bids us turn from the subject and think of something\npleasanter. But two considerations bring us sharply back to the point:\nfirst, that the nation, and all that it stands for, needs the young\nlives; and, secondly, that the babies, with their tiny clinging fingers,\ntheir soft, velvety skins, their cooey sounds and bewitching gestures,\nare guiltless of the mixed and often unholy motives of their creation.\nThey are on this wonderful world without choice, bundles of\npotentialities awaiting adult human action to be developed or stunted.\n\nHow does the nation which wants the children treat them? The annals\nof the police courts, the experience of the attendance officers of\nthe London County Council, the reports of the National Society for\nPrevention of Cruelty to Children, the stories of the vast young army\nin truant or industrial schools, the tales of the Waifs and Strays\nSociety and Dr. Barnardo\u2019s organization are hideously eloquent of the\ncruelty, the neglect, and the criminality of thousands of parents.\nFor their action the State can hardly be held directly responsible (a\nprice has to be paid for liberty), but for the care of the children\nwhose misfortunes have brought them to be supported by the State\nthe nation is wholly responsible. Their weal or woe is the business\nof every man or woman who reads these pages. To ascertain the facts\nconcerning their lives every tax-payer has dipped into his pocket\nto meet the many thousands of pounds which the Royal Commission on\nthe Poor Laws has cost, and yet the complication of the problem and\nthe weight of the Blue-books are to most people prohibitive, and\nfew have read them. Even the thoughtful often say: \u201cI have got the\nReports, and hope to tackle them some day, but----,\u201d and then follow\napologies for their neglect owing to their size, the magnitude of the\nsubject, or the pressure of other duties or pleasures. Meanwhile the\nchildren! The children are growing up, or are dying. The children,\nalready handicapped by their parentage, are further handicapped by the\nconditions under which the State is rearing them. The children, which\nthe nation needs--the very life-blood of her existence, for which she\nis paying, are still left under conditions which for decades have been\ncondemned by philanthropists and educationists, as well as by the Poor\nLaw Inspectors themselves.\n\nOn 1 January, 1908, according to the Local Government Board return:\n234,792 children were dependent on the State, either wholly or\npartially. Of these:--\n  22,483 were in workhouses and workhouse infirmaries;\n  11,602 in district and separate, often called \u201cbarrack,\u201d schools;\n  17,090 in village communities, scattered,\n      receiving, and other Guardians\u2019 homes;\n  11,251 in institutions other than those mentioned above;\n   8,565 boarded out in families of the industrial classes; and\n 163,801 receiving relief while still remaining with their parents. It\nis a portentous array, of nearly a quarter of a million of children,\nand each has an individual character.\n\nPageants are now the fashion. Let us stand on one side of the stage (as\ndid Stow, the historian, in the Whitechapel children\u2019s pageant) and pass\nthe verdict of the onlooker, as, primed with the figures and facts\nvouched for by the Royal Commissioners, we see the children of the State\nexhibit themselves in evidence of the care of their guardians.\n\nFirst the babies. Here they come, thousands of them, some born in the\nworkhouse, tiny, pink crumpled-skinned mites of a few days old; others\ntoddlers of under three, who have never known another home.\n\n\u201cWhat a nice woman in the nurse\u2019s cap and apron! I would trust her with\nany child. The head official, I suppose. But her under staff! What a\nterrible set! Those old women look idiotic and the young ones wicked.\nThe inmates told off to serve in the nurseries you say they are! Surely\nno one with common humanity or sense would put a baby who requires wise\nobservation under such women!\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas! but the Guardians do.\u201d\n\nThe Report states:--\n\n  \u201cThe whole nursery has often been found under the charge of a\n  person actually certified as of unsound mind, the bottles sour, the\n  babies wet, cold, and dirty. The Commission on the Care and Control\n  of the Feeble-minded draws attention to an episode in connexion\n  with one feeble-minded woman who was set to wash a baby; she did so\n  in boiling water, and it died.\u201d\n\nBut this is no new discovery made by the recent Royal Commission. In\n1897 Dr. Fuller, the Medical Inspector, reported to the Local Government\nBoard that\n\n  \u201cin sixty-four workhouses imbeciles or weak-minded women are\n  entrusted with the care of infants, as helps to the able-bodied or\n  inferior women who are placed in charge by the matron, without the\n  constant supervision of a responsible officer\u201d.\n\n\u201cWe recognise,\u201d acknowledges the Report of the Royal Commissioners,\n\u201cthat some improvement has since taken place; but, as we have ourselves\nseen, pauper inmates, many of them feeble-minded, are still almost\neverywhere utilized for handling the babies.... As things are, the\nvisitor to a workhouse nursery finds it too often a place of intolerable\nstench, under quite insufficient supervision, in which it would be a\nmiracle if the babies continued in health.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow thin and pale and undersized many of them are! Surely they are\nproperly fed and clothed and exercised!\u201d\n\n\u201cIn one large workhouse,\u201d writes the Commissioners, \u201cit was noticed that\nfrom perhaps about eighteen months to two and a half years of age the\nchildren had a sickly appearance. They were having their dinner, which\nconsisted of large platefuls of potatoes and minced beef--a somewhat\nimproper diet for children of that age.\u201d \u201cEven so elementary a\nrequirement as suitable clothing is neglected.\u201d \u201cThe infants,\u201d states a\nlady Guardian, \u201chave not always a proper supply of flannel, and their\nshirts are sometimes made of rough unbleached calico.\u201d \u201cBabies of twelve\nmonths or thereabouts have their feet compressed into tight laced-up\nboots over thick socks doubled under their feet to make them fit into\nthe boots.\u201d \u201cIn some workhouses the children have no toys, in others the\ntoys remain tidily on a shelf out of reach, so that there may be no\nlitter on the floor.\u201d\n\n  \u201cIn another extensive workhouse it was found that the babies of one\n  or two years of age were preparing for their afternoon sleep. They\n  were seated in rows on wooden benches in front of a wooden table.\n  On the table was a long narrow cushion, and when the babies were\n  sufficiently exhausted they fell forward upon this to sleep! The\n  position seemed most uncomfortable and likely to be injurious.\u201d\n\nIn another place it was stated:--\n\n  \u201cThat the infants weaned, but unable to feed themselves, are\n  sometimes placed in a row and the whole row fed with one spoon ...\n  from one plate of rice pudding. The spoon went in and out of the\n  mouths all along the row.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe were shocked,\u201d continues the Report, \u201cto discover that the infants\nin the nursery of the great palatial establishments in London and other\nlarge towns _seldom or never got into the open air_.\u201d\n\n  \u201cWe found the nursery frequently on the third or fourth story of\n  a gigantic block, often without balconies, whence the only means of\n  access even to the workhouse yard was a flight of stone steps down\n  which it was impossible to wheel a baby carriage of any kind. There\n  was no staff of nurses adequate to carrying fifty or sixty infants\n  out for an airing. In some of these workhouses it was frankly\n  admitted that these babies never left their own quarters (and\n  the stench that we have described), and never got into the open\n  air during the whole period of their residence in the workhouse\n  nursery.\u201d\n\nIn short, \u201cwe regret to report,\u201d say the Commissioners, \u201cthat these\nworkhouse nurseries are, in a large number of cases, alike in structural\narrangements, equipment, organization, and staffing, wholly unsuited to\nthe healthy rearing of infants\u201d.\n\n\u201cSee, here come the coffins!\u201d\n\nCoffins--tiny wooden boxes--of just cheap deal; some with a wreath of\nflowers, and followed by a weeping woman; others just conveyed by\nofficials--unwanted, unregretted babies.\n\nAs far as one\u2019s eye can reach they come. Coffins and coffins, and still\nmore coffins; almost as many coffins as there were babies?\n\nNot quite. The Report repeats the evidence of the Medical Inspector of\nthe Local Government Board for Poor-Law purposes, who some years ago\nmade a careful inquiry and found that one baby out of every three died\nannually. \u201cA long time ago,\u201d did I hear you murmur, \u201cand things are\nbetter now\u201d?\n\nWould that it were so, but a more recent inquiry made by the\nCommissioners shows that \u201cout of every thousand children born in the\nPoor-Law institutions forty to forty-five die within a week, and out of\n8483 infants who were born during 1907, in the workhouses of the 450\nUnions inquired into, no fewer than 1050 (or 13 per cent) actually died\non the premises before attaining one year.\u201d \u201cThe infantile mortality in\nthe population as a whole,\u201d writes the authors of the Minority Report,\n\u201cexposed to all dangers of inadequate medical attendance and nursing,\nlack of sufficient food, warmth, and care, and parental ignorance and\nneglect, is admittedly excessive. The corresponding mortality among the\ninfants in the Poor-Law institutions, where all these dangers may be\nsupposed to be absent, is between two and three times as great.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt must be the fault of the system, it is often said, that children,\nlike chickens, cannot for long be safely aggregated together.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is difficult to say whether it is the system or the administration\nwhich is most to blame, but the facts are incontrovertible. In some\nworkhouses 40 per cent of the babies die within the year. In ten others\n493 babies were born, and only fourteen, or 3 per cent, perished before\nthey had lived through four seasons. In ten other workhouses 333 infants\nsaw the light, and through the gates 114 coffins were borne, or 33 per\ncent of the whole.\u201d\n\nThis variation would appear to point to faults of administration. On the\nother hand, the system is contrary to nature; for the natural law limits\nfamilies to a few children, and usually provides that King Baby should\nrule as sole monarch for eighteen months or two years. On this the\nReport says:--\n\n  \u201cIt has been suggested to us by persons experienced in the peculiar\n  dangers of institutions for infants of tender years, that the\n  high death rate, especially the excessive death rates after the\n  first few weeks of life, right up to the age of three or four,\n  may be due to some adverse influence steadily increasing in its\n  deleterious effect the longer the child is exposed to it. In the\n  scarlet fever wards of isolation hospitals it has been suggested\n  that the mere aggregation of cases may possibly produce, unless\n  there are the most elaborate measures for disinfection, a dangerous\n  \u2018intensification\u2019 of the disease. In the workhouse nursery there is\n  practically no disinfection. The walls, the floors, the furniture,\n  must all become, year after year, more impregnated with whatever\n  mephitic atmosphere prevails. The very cots in which the infants\n  lie have been previously tenanted by an incalculable succession of\n  infants in all states of health and morbidity.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs the long undertaker\u2019s bill to be deplored, considering the parentage\nof this class of children and the way the Guardians rear them?\u201d\n\nThe nation wants the babies; indeed, to maintain its position it must\nhave them, and \u201cthe tendency of nature is to return to the normal\u201d--a\nscientific fact of profound civic importance. Besides, the Report\nsays:--\n\n  \u201cWe find that it is generally assumed that the women admitted\n  to the workhouse for lying-in are either feeble-minded girls,\n  persistently immoral women, or wives deserted by their husbands.\n  Whatever may have been the case in past years, this is no longer\n  a correct description of the patients in what have become, in\n  effect, maternity hospitals. Out of all the women who gave birth to\n  children in the Poor-Law institutions of England and Wales during\n  1907, it appears that about 30 per cent were married women. In the\n  Poor-Law institutions of London and some other towns the proportion\n  of married women rises to 40 and even to 50 per cent.\u201d\n\nAs to how the Guardians rear the babies that is another matter. But let\nus leave Institutions with the high walls, the monotony which stifles,\nthe organization which paralyses energy, the control which alike saps\nfreedom and initiation, and the unfailing provision of food no one\nvisibly earns, so that we may go and visit some of the homes which the\nGuardians subsidize, and where they keep, or partially keep, out of the\nratepayers\u2019 pockets 163,801 children.\n\nI.--A clean home this, mother out at work, earning 4s. 6d. by charing;\nthe Guardians giving 7s. 6d. Four children (thirteen, nine, six, four),\nleft to themselves while she is out, but evidently fond of home and each\nother. A small kitchen garden which would abundantly pay for care, but\nfatigue compels its neglect. No meat is included in her budget, and but\n3d. a week for milk; but 12s. a week, and 4s. 6d. of it depending on her\nnever ailing and her employers always requiring her, is hardly adequate\non which to pay rent and to keep five people, providing the children\nwith their sole items of life\u2019s capital--health, height, and strength.\n\nII.--A dirty home this, in a filthy court. The mother is out; the\nchildren playing among the street garbage. Their clothes are ragged,\ntheir heads verminous, their poor faces sharp with that expression which\nalways wanting and never being satisfied stamps indelibly on the human\ncountenance. One bed and a mattress pulled on to the floor is all that\nis provided for the restful sleep of six people; and 3s. a week is what\na pitiful public subscribes via the rates to show its appreciation of\nsuch a home life. Waste and worse. The Majority Report quotes with\napproval the words of Dr. McVail: \u201cIn many cases the amount allowed by\nthe Guardians for the maintenance of out-door pauper children cannot\npossibly suffice to keep them even moderately well\u201d. This could be\napplied to Case I. \u201cMany mothers having to earn their living ... cannot\nattend to their children at home, so that there is no proper cooking,\nthe house is untidy and uncomfortable, and the living rooms and bedrooms\nunventilated and dirty.\u201d This could be applied to Case II.\n\nIII. A disgraceful home this, best perhaps described in the words of the\nMajority Report:--\n\n  \u201cA widow with three children, a well-known drunken character,\n  was relieved with 3s., one of her children earning 7s. making a\n  total of 10s. It was urged by the relieving officer that it was\n  no case for out relief, as it was encouraging drunkenness and\n  immorality.... It was held that the relief having been suspended\n  for a month, she had suffered sufficient punishment. The officer\n  said: \u2018She still drinks,\u2019 and that 4s. relief was given on 13\n  December, \u2018to tide her over the holidays\u2019. She had been before the\n  police for drunkenness. It was considered (by the Guardians) to\n  meet the disqualification of the case by reducing the relief to 3s.\n  instead of 4s.\u201d\n\nIV. An immoral home this, again best described in official words:--\n\n  \u201cI saw in one instance out-relief children habitually sent out\n  to pilfer in a small way, others to beg, some whose mothers were\n  drunkards or living immoral lives.... These definitely bad mothers\n  were but a small minority of the mothers whom we visited, but\n  there were many of a negatively bad type, people without standard,\n  whining, colourless people, often with poor health. If out relief\n  is given at all ... those who give it must take the responsibility\n  for its right use.\u201d\n\nIn 1898, when Lord Peel was the Chairman of the State Children\u2019s\nAssociation, its Executive Committee brought out a chart which showed\nthat there were children nationally supported under the Local Government\nBoard, under the Home Office, under the Education Department, under the\nMetropolitan Asylums Board, under the Lunacy Commissioners, each using\nits own administrative organization. At that time the same children were\nbeing dealt with by what may be called rival authorities, without any\nmachinery for co-operation or opportunities of interchange of knowledge\nor experience. Since then there has been but little change, the Reports\npoint out forcibly the existence of the same conditions only worse,\ninasmuch as more parents now seek free food and other assistance for\ntheir children from official hands.\n\nFace to face with such a serious confusion of evils, affecting as they\ndo the character of the people--the very foundation of our national\ngreatness; confronted with the complicated problem how to simplify\nmachinery which has been growing for years, and is further entangled\nwith the undergrowth of vast numbers of officials and their vested\ninterests; distressed on the one hand by the clamour of that section of\nsociety who think that everything should be done by the State, and on\nthe other by the insistent demand of those who see the incalculable good\nwhich springs from volunteer effort or agencies, the bewildered\nstatesman might be sympathized with, if not excused, if he did feel\ninclined to agree with Mr. John Burns\u2019s suggestion, and leave it all to\nhim.\n\n\u201cI care for the people,\u201d in effect he said, \u201cI know their needs. I have\nthe officials to do the work. I am the President of the Local Government\nBoard. Be easy, leave it all to me, I will report to the House once in\nthree months. All will be well.\u201d\n\nIt sounds a simple plan, but, before it can be even seriously advocated,\nit would be as well to survey the recent history of the Local Government\nBoard, and see if, even under this President, its past record gives hope\nfor future effective achievement. Once more let us begin with--\n\n(_a_) _The Babies._--Sir John Simon, Chief Medical Officer of the Local\nGovernment Board, wrote forcibly on the subject more than a generation\npast. Dr. Fuller\u2019s Report was made years ago. Again and again reform has\nbeen urged by Poor Law Inspectors and workhouse officials, who have\nasked for additional powers to obtain information or classification or\ndetention. What has the Local Government Board done? The following\nextract from the Minority Report can be the reply:--\n\n  \u201cAlike in the prevention of the continued procreation of the\n  feeble-minded, in the rescue of girl-mothers from a life of\n  sexual immorality, and in the reduction of infantile mortality in\n  respectable but necessitous families, the destitution authorities,\n  in spite of their great expenditure, are to-day effecting no\n  useful results. With regard to the two first of these problems, at\n  any rate, the activities of the Boards of Guardians are, in our\n  judgment, actually intensifying the evil. If the State had desired\n  to maximize both feeble-minded procreation, and birth out of\n  wedlock, there could not have been suggested a more apt device than\n  the provision, throughout the country, of general mixed workhouses,\n  organized as they are now to serve as unconditional maternity\n  hospitals.... While thus encouraging ... these evils they are doing\n  little to arrest the appalling preventible mortality that prevails\n  among the infants of the poor.\u201d\n\n(_b_) _The Children in the Workhouses._--\u201cSo long ago as 1841 the\nPoor-Law Commissioners pointed out forcibly the evils connected with the\nmaintenance of children in workhouses.\u201d In 1896 the Departmental\nCommittee, of which Mr. Mundella was chairman, and on which I had the\nhonour of sitting, brought before the public the opinion of inspectors,\nguardians, officials, educationists and child-lovers, all unanimous in\ncondemning this system. \u201cIn the workhouse the children meet with crime\nand pauperism from day to day.\u201d \u201cThey are in the hands of adult paupers\nfor their cleanliness, and the whole thing is extremely bad.\u201d \u201cThe\nable-bodied paupers with whom they associate are a very bad class,\nalmost verging on criminal, if not quite,\u201d is some of the evidence\nquoted in the Report, and the Committee unanimously signed the\nrecommendation \u201cthat no children be allowed to enter the workhouse,\u201d and\nnow, thirteen years afterwards, the same conditions prevail. The\nMajority Report thus describes cases of children in workhouses:--\n\n  \u201cThe three-year-old children were in a bare and desolate room,\n  sitting about on the floor and on wooden benches, and in dismal\n  workhouse dress. The older ones had all gone out to school ...\n  except a cripple, and a dreary little girl who sat in a cold room\n  with bare legs and her feet in a pail of water as a \u2018cure\u2019 for\n  broken chilblains.... The children\u2019s wards left on our minds a\n  marked impression of confusion and defective administration....\n  In appearance the children were dirty, untidy, ill-kept, and\n  almost neglected. Their clothes might be described with little\n  exaggeration as ragged.... The boys\u2019 day-room is absolutely dreary\n  and bare, and they share a yard and lavatories with the young\n  men.... An old man sleeps with the boys. It is a serious drawback\n  (says the inspector) that every Saturday and Sunday, to say nothing\n  of summer and winter holidays, have for the most part to be spent\n  in the workhouse, where they either live amid rigid discipline and\n  get no freedom, or else if left to themselves are likely to come\n  under the evil influence of adult inmates. The Local Government\n  Board inspectors point out that, even if the children go to the\n  elementary schools for teaching, the practice of rearing them in\n  the workhouse exposes them to the contamination of communication\n  with the adult inmates whose influence is often hideously\n  depraving.\u201d\n\n\u201cTerrible!\u201d my reader will say; \u201cbut surely the reform requires\nlegislation, and the Poor Law is too large a subject to tinker on, it\nmust be dealt with after time has been given for due thought.\u201d To this I\nwould reply that even if it did require legislation there has been time\nenough to obtain it during all these years that the evils have existed;\nbut to quote the Majority Report: \u201cSo far as the \u2018in-and-out\u2019 children\nare concerned it is probable that no further power would be needed,\nsince the Guardians already have power under the Poor Law Act, 1899, to\nadopt children until the age of eighteen.\u201d This Act, I may say in\npassing, was initiated, drafted, and finally secured, not by the\nresponsible authorities but by the efforts of the State Children\u2019s\nAssociation.\n\nWhy, then, has not the Local Government Board removed the children from\nthe workhouses? Why, indeed?\n\n(_c_) _The Ins and Outs._--In 1896 the Departmental Committee quoted the\nevidence of Mr. Lockwood, the Local Government Board Inspector, who\nreferred to \u201ccases of children who are constantly in and out of the\nworkhouse, dragged about the streets by their parents, and who\npractically get no education at all,\u201d and he puts in a table of\n\u201cparticulars of eleven families representing the more prominent \u2018ins and\nouts\u2019\u201d of one Metropolitan West-end workhouse of whom \u201cone family of\nthree children had been admitted and discharged sixty-two times in\nthirteen months.\u201d Other cases were given, for instance:--\n\n  \u201cD----, a general labourer, who has three boys and a girl, who come in\n  and out on an average once a week.\n\n  \u201cA family named W----. The husband drunken, and has been in an asylum;\n  the wife unable to live with him. He would take his boys out in the\n  early morning, leave them somewhere, meet them again at night, and\n  bring them back to the workhouse; they had had nothing to eat, and had\n  wandered about in the cold all day.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis state of things is cruel and disastrous in every respect,\u201d writes\nthe Committee in 1896, appointed, be it remembered, by the Department to\nelicit facts and \u201cto advise as to any changes that may be desirable\u201d.\nYet we find that in 1909 the same conditions exist. To quote the\nReport:--\n\n  \u201cOut of twenty special cases of which details have been obtained,\n  twelve families have been in and out ten or more times; one child\n  had been admitted thirty-nine times in eleven years; another\n  twenty-three times in six years. The Wandsworth Union has a large\n  number of dissolute persons in the workhouse with children in the\n  intermediate schools. The parents never go out without taking the\n  children, and seem to hold the threat of doing so as a rod over the\n  heads of the Guardians. One mother frequently had her child brought\n  out of his bed to go out into the cold winter night. One boy who\n  had been admitted twenty-five times in ten years had been sent more\n  than once to Banstead Schools, but had never stayed there long.\n  Whenever he knew he was to go there he used to write to his mother\n  in the workhouse, when she would apply for her discharge and go out\n  with him.\u201d\n\nIn the thirteen years which have passed since the issue of the two\nReports, what has the Local Government Board done? It has induced some\nof the Boards to establish receiving or intermediary houses at the cost,\nin the Metropolis, of about \u00a3200,000, but that is but attacking the\nsymptom and leaving the disease untouched. Without an ideal for\nchild-life or appreciation of child-nature, it has been content to let\nthis hideous state of things go on. Again to quote the Report:--\n\n  \u201cIt has done nothing to prevent the children from being dragged\n  in and out of the workhouse as it suits their parents\u2019 whim or\n  convenience. The man or woman may take the children to a succession\n  of casual wards or the lowest common lodging-houses. They may go\n  out with the intention of using the children, half-clad and blue\n  with cold, as a means of begging from the soft-hearted, or they may\n  go out simply to enjoy a day\u2019s liberty, and find the children only\n  encumbrances, to be neglected and half-starved.... The unfortunate\n  boys and girls who are dragged backwards and forwards by parents\n  of the \u2018in-and-out\u2019 class practically escape supervision. They pass\n  the whole period of school age alternately being cleansed and \u2018fed\n  up\u2019 in this or that Poor Law institution, or starving on scraps\n  and blows amid filth and vice in their periodical excursions in\n  the outer world, exactly as it suits the caprice or convenience of\n  their reckless and irresponsible parents.\u201d\n\nAnd the Local Government Board has stood it for years and stands by\nstill and lets the evils go on. Meanwhile it is the children who suffer\nand die; it is the children who are being robbed of their birthright of\njoy as they pass a miserable childhood in poverty in workhouses or in\nhuge institutions; it is the children whose potentialities for good, and\nstrength, and usefulness are being allowed to wither and waste and turn\ninto evil and pain. It is the children who are needed for the nation; it\nis the nation who supports them; and it is the nation who must decide\ntheir future.\n\nSpeaking for myself (not in any official capacity), twenty-two years\u2019\nexperience as manager of a barrack school, two years\u2019 membership of the\nDepartmental Committee, twelve years\u2019 work as the honorary secretary of\nthe State Children\u2019s Association have brought me to the well-grounded\nopinion that the children should be removed altogether from the care of\nthe Local Government Board and placed under the Board of Education. This\nBoard\u2019s one concern is children. Its inspectors have to consider nothing\nbeyond the children\u2019s welfare, and its organization admits the latest\ndevelopment in the art of training, both in day and boarding schools.\n\nHowever much courtesy demanded moderation, the fact remains that both\nthe Reports are a strong condemnation of the whole of the Poor-Law work\nof the Local Government Board, both in principle and administration. The\ncondition of the aged, the sick, the unemployed, the mentally defective,\nthe vagrant, the out-relief cases, as well as the children, alike come\nin for strong expressions of disapproval or for proposals for reform so\ndrastic as to carry condemnation. If such a report had been issued on\nthe work of the Admiralty or the War Office, the whole country would\nhave demanded immediate change. \u201cThey have tried and failed,\u201d it would\nbe said; \u201clet some one else try\u201d; and a similar demand is made by those\nof us who have seen many generations of children exposed to these evils,\nand waited, and hoped, and despaired, and waited and hoped again. But\nonce more some of the best brains in the country have faced the problem\nof the poor, and demanded reforms, and so far as the children are\nconcerned almost the identical reforms demanded thirteen years ago; once\nmore the nation has been compelled to turn its mind to this painful\nsubject, and there is again ground for hope that the lives of the wanted\nbabies will be saved, and their education be such as to fit them to\ncontribute to the strength and honour of the nation.\n\n  HENRIETTA O. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    POOR LAW REFORM.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    November, 1909.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Contemporary Review\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\nA compromise between kindliness and cruelty often stands--according to\nMr. Galsworthy--for social reform. The Poor Law is an example of such\ncompromise. In kindliness it offers doles of out-relief to the destitute\nand builds institutions at extravagant cost. In cruelty it disregards\nhuman feelings, breaks up family life, suspects poverty as a crime, and\ndegrades labour into punishment.\n\nThe Poor Law, however, receives almost universal condemnation. Its cost\nis enormous, amounting to over fourteen millions a year. The incidence\nis so unfair that its call on the rich districts is comparatively light,\nand in poor districts inordinately heavy. Its administration is both\nconfused and loose. Its relief follows no principle--out-relief is given\nin one district and refused in others;--its institutions sometimes\nattract and sometimes deter applications, and its expenditure is often\nat the mercy of self-seeking Guardians, whose minds are set on securing\ncheap labour or even on secret commissions.\n\nThe poor, whom at such vast cost and with such parade of machinery it\nrelieves, are often demoralized. There is neither worth nor joy to be\ngot out of the pauper, who has learned to measure success in life by\nskill in evading inquiry. And, what is most striking of all, the Poor\nLaw has allowed a mass of poverty to accumulate which has led to the\nerection of charity upon charity, and is still, by its squalor, its\nmisery and hopelessness, a disgrace and a danger to the nation. The\npublic, recognizing the failure of the Poor Law, has become indifferent\nto its existence, and now only a small percentage of the electors record\ntheir votes at an election of the guardians of the poor.\n\nThe case for reform is clear.\n\nWhat that reform should be is a question not to be answered in the\ncompass of a short article. The best I can do is to offer for the\nconsideration of my readers some principles which I believe to underlie\nreform. Those principles once accepted, it will be for every one to\nconsider with what modifications or extensions they may be applied to\nthe different circumstances of town and country, young and old, weak and\nstrong.\n\nThe last great reform of the Poor Law was in 1834. The Reformers of\nthose days took as their main principle _that the position of the person\nrelieved should be less attractive than that of the workman_. They were\ndriven to adopt this principle by the condition to which the Elizabethan\nPoor Law had brought the nation. When, under that Poor Law, the State\nassumed the whole responsibility \u201cfor the relief of the impotent and the\ngetting to work of those able to work,\u201d and when by Gilbert\u2019s Act in\n1782 it was further enacted that \u201cout-relief should be made obligatory\nfor all except the sick and impotent,\u201d it followed that larger and\nlarger numbers threw themselves on the rates. Relief offered a better\nliving than work. The number of workers decreased, the number receiving\nrelief increased. Ruin threatened the nation, and so the Reformers came\nin to enforce the principle that relief should offer a less attractive\nliving than work.\n\nThe principle is good; it is, indeed, eternally true, because it is not\nby what comes from without, but by what comes from within that a human\nbeing is raised. It is not by what a man receives, but by that he is\nenabled to do for himself that he is helped. This principle was applied\nin 1834 by requiring from every applicant evidence of destitution, by\nrefusing relief to able-bodied persons, except on admission to\nworkhouses, and by making the relief as unpleasant or as \u201cdeterrent\u201d as\npossible.\n\nThis harsh application of the principle may have been the best for the\nmoment. The nation required a sharp spur, and no doubt under its\npressure there was a marvellous recovery. Men who had been idle sought\nwork, and men who had saved realized that their savings would no longer\nbe swallowed up in rates. The spur and the whip had their effect, but\nsuch effect, whether on a beast or a man, is always short-lived.\n\nThe tragedy of 1834 is that the reforming spirit, which so boldly\nundertook the immediate need, did not continue to take in other needs as\nthey arose. It is, indeed, the tragedy of the history of the State, of\nthe Church, and of the individual, that moments of reform are followed\nby periods of lethargy. People will not recognize that reform must be a\ncontinuous act, and that the only condition of progress is eternal\nvigilance. Indolence, especially mental indolence, is Satan\u2019s handiest\ninstrument, and so after some great effort a pause is easily accepted as\na right.\n\nAfter the reform of 1834 there was such a pause. New needs soon came to\nthe front, and the face of society was gradually changed. The strain of\nindustrial competition threw more and more men on to the scrap heap, too\nyoung to die, too worn to work, too poor to live. The crowding of house\nagainst house in the towns reduced the vitality of the people so that\nchildren grew up unfit for labour, and young people found less and less\nroom for healthy activities of mind or body. Education, made common and\nfree, set up a higher standard of respectability and called for more\nexpenditure. A growing sense of humanity among all classes made poverty\na greater burden on social life, provoking sometimes charity and\nsometimes indignation.\n\nThese, and such as these, were the changes going on in the latter part\nof the nineteenth century, but the spirit of the reformers of 1834 was\ndead, and in their lethargy the people were content that the old\nprinciple should be applied without any change to meet new needs.\nInstitutions were increased, officials were multiplied, and inspectors\nwere appointed to look after inspectors. Any outcry was met by\nexpedients. Mr. Chamberlain authorised municipal bodies to give work.\nMr. Chaplain relaxed the out-relief order. New luxuries were allowed in\nthe workhouse, the infirmaries were vastly improved, and the children\nwere, to some extent, removed from the workhouses and put, often at\ngreat cost, in village communities or like establishments. But reliance\nwas always placed on making relief disagreeable and deterrent. One of\nthe latest reforms has been the introduction of the cellular system in\ncasual wards, so that men are kept in solitary confinement, while as\ntask work they break a pile of stones and throw them through a narrow\ngrating. Poverty, indeed, is met by a compromise between kindliness and\ncruelty.\n\nThe reformers of 1834 looked out on a society weakened by idleness. They\nfaced a condition of things in which the chief thing wanted was energy\nand effort, so they applied the spur. The reformers of to-day look out\non a very different society, and they look with other eyes. They see\nthat the people who are weak and poor are not altogether suffering the\npenalty of their own faults. It is by others\u2019 neglect that uninhabitable\nhouses have robbed them of strength, that wages do not provide the means\nof living, and that education has not fitted them either to earn a\nlivelihood or enjoy life. The reformers of to-day, under the subtle\ninfluence of the Christian spirit, have learnt that self-respect, even\nmore than a strong body, is a man\u2019s best asset, and that willing work\nrather than forced work makes national wealth.\n\nSir Harry Johnson, who speaks with rare authority, has told us how\nnegroes with a reputation for idleness respond to treatment which,\nshowing them respect, calls out their hope and their manhood. Treat\nthem, he implies, as children, drive them as cattle, and you are\njustified in your belief in their idleness. Treat them as men, give them\ntheir wages in money, open to them the hope of better things, and they\nwork as men.\n\nThe relief given in the casual ward may be sufficient for the body of\nthe casual, but the penal treatment, the prison-like task and the\nsolitary confinement make him set his teeth against work, and he becomes\nthe enemy of the society which has given him such treatment.\n\nThe Reformers of to-day, with their greater knowledge of human nature,\nand in face of a society the fault of which is not just idleness, will\ndo well then to take another principle as the basis of their action.\nSuch a principle is _that relief must develop self-respect_. They will\nhave, indeed, to remember that the form of relief must still be less\nattractive than that offered by work, but less attractiveness must be\nattained not by an insolent inquisition of relief officers into the\ncharacter of applicants, not by treating inmates as prisoners, and not\nby making work as distasteful as possible. It might possibly be\nsufficient if relief, so far as regarded the able-bodied, took the form\nof training for work. There is no degradation in requiring men and women\nto fit themselves to earn,--no loss of self-respect is brought on anyone\nby being called to be a learner;--but, at the same time, opportunities\nfor learning are not attractive to idlers, nor are they likely to\nencourage the reliance on relief which brought disaster on the nation\nbefore 1834.\n\nThe Whitechapel Guardians, many years ago, determined that the workhouse\nshould more and more approximate to an adult industrial school. They did\naway with stone breaking and oakum picking, they abolished cranks turned\nby human labour, they instituted trade work and appointed a mental\ninstructor to teach the inmates in the evening. They had no power of\ndetention, so the training was not of much use, but as a deterrent the\nsystem was most effective, and fewer able-bodied men came to Whitechapel\nUnion than to neighbouring workhouses. Regard for the principle that\nrelief must develop self-respect is not, therefore, inconsistent with\nthe principle that relief must offer a position which is less attractive\nthan that offered by work.\n\nBut let me suggest some further application of the principle.\n\n1. It implies, I think, the abolition of Boards of Guardians and of all\nthe special machinery for relief. It implies, perhaps, the abolition of\nthe Poor Law itself. There is no class of \u201cthe poor\u201d as there is a class\nof criminals. Poverty is not a crime, and there are poor among the most\nhonourable of the people. Poverty is a loose and wide term, involving\nthe greater number of the people. There must, therefore, be some loss of\nself-respect in those of the poor who feel themselves set apart for\nspecial treatment. One poor man goes to the hospital, his neighbour--his\nbrother, it may be--goes to the Poor Law infirmary. Both are in the same\nposition, but the latter, because he comes under the Guardians, loses\nhis self-respect, and has acquired a special term--he is \u201ca pauper\u201d.\n\nThose men and women who through weakness, through ignorance or through\ncharacter are unable to do their work and earn a living are, as much as\nthe rich and the strong, members of the nation. All form one body and\ndepend on one another. Some for health\u2019s sake need one treatment and\nsome another. There is no reason in putting a few of them under a\nspecial law and calling them \u201cpaupers,\u201d the use of hard names is as\ninexpedient for the Statute Book as it is for Christians. Reason says\nthat all should be so treated that they may, as rapidly as possible, be\nrestored to economic health by the use of all the resources of the\nState, educational and social. There is no place for a special law, a\nspecially elected body of administrators and a special rate.\n\nA further objection to Boards of Guardians is that an election does not\ninvolve interests which are sufficiently wide or sufficiently familiar.\nSide issues have to be exalted so as to attract the electors\u2019 attention.\nSuch a side issue was found in the religious question, which gave\ninterest to the old School Board elections; no such side issue has been\nfound in Guardian elections, and so only a small minority of ratepayers\nrecord their votes. Experience, therefore, justifies the proposal that\nwith a view to encouraging the growth of self-respect in the\neconomically unhealthy members of the nation, the present system of Poor\nLaw machinery should be abolished.\n\n2. The principle further implies that the same municipal body which is\nresponsible for the health, for the education, and for the industrial\nfitness of some members of the community should be responsible in like\nmanner for all the members, whatever their position.\n\n(_a_) _The Sick._--The County Council appoints a medical officer of\nhealth and itself administers many asylums. It establishes a sort of\nprivileged class which receives its benefits and, unless it extends its\noperations so that all who are sick may be reached, must lower the\nself-respect of those who are excluded and driven to beg for relief.\n\nThe medical officer might be in fact what he is in name, responsible for\nthe health of the district, and as the superior officer of the visiting\ndoctors see that ill-health was prevented and cured. The interest of the\ncommunity is universal good health; how unreasoning is the system which\ndeters the sick man from trying to get well by making it necessary for\nhim to endure the inquisition of the relieving officer before getting a\ndoctor\u2019s visit! The strength of the community is in the self-respect of\nits members; how extravagant is the system which offers relief only on\ncondition of some degradation.\n\n(_b_) _The Children._--The County Council is responsible for the\neducation of the children; it must--unless one set of children is to be\nkept in a less honourable position--extend its care over all the\nchildren. There must be no such creature as a \u201cpauper child,\u201d and no\ndistinction between schools in which children are taught or boarded. The\nchild who has lost its parents, the child who has been deserted, the\nchild who has no home, must be started in life equipped with equal\nknowledge and on an equal footing with other children. Every child must\nbe within reach of the best which the State can offer. The inclusion of\nthe care of all children under the same municipal authority would help\nto develop in all a sense of self-respect, and at the same time enable\nthe authority to make better use of the existing buildings in the\nclassification of their uses, apportioning some, _e.g._, as technical\nschools, some as infirmaries, and some for industrial training. Dr.\nBarnardo, who has taught the nation how to care better for its children,\nadopted some such method.\n\n(_c_) _The Able-Bodied._--A greater difficulty occurs in applying the\nprinciple to the care of the able-bodied. How, it may be asked, is the\nCounty Council to deal with the unemployed and with the loafer so as to\nrelieve them and at the same time develop their sense of respect? The\nCounty Council has lately been made responsible for dealing with the\nunemployed, and experience has shown that at the bottom of the problem\nlies the custom of casual labour, the use of boys in dissipating work,\nand the ignorance of the people. The Council has in its hands the power\nof dealing with these causes. It can establish labour registers, it can\nprevent much child labour, and it can provide education. It may be\nnecessary to increase its powers, but already it can do something to\nprevent unemployment in the future.\n\nThe need, however, of the present unemployed is training. The Council\nmight be empowered to open for them houses or farms of discipline, in\nwhich such training could be given. The man with a settled home could be\nadmitted for a short period, the loafer could be detained for three or\nfour years. The work in every case, while less attractive than other\nwork, could be such as to interest the worker; the discipline, such as\nto involve no degradation; and the door of hope could be studiously kept\nopen. The farms or houses could indeed be adult industrial schools\noffering a livelihood, not indeed as attractive as that offered by work,\nbut such as any man might take with gain to his sense of self-respect.\n\nThe County Council might thus take over the duties performed by\nGuardians. The same body which now looks after the housing and the\ncleanliness of the streets, would possibly realize the cost of neglect\nin doing those duties, if they also had the care of the broken in body\nand in heart. In other words, a more scientific expenditure of the rates\nmight be expected to ensue if the body responsible for the relief of\npoverty were the same body as is now responsible for its prevention. The\nclaims of education would perhaps become more popular.\n\nEnough, perhaps, has now been said to suggest a line of reform, and\nhours might be spent in discussing a thousand details, each of which\nhas its importance. But not even a slight article could be complete\nwithout some reference to the mass of charity--\u00a310,000,000 is said to\nbe spent in London alone--which is annually poured out on the poor.\nCharity, unless it be personal--from a friend to a friend--is often as\ndegrading as Poor Law relief. Attempts have been made at organization,\nand much has been done to bring about personal relationships between\nthe Haves and the Have-nots. Years ago it was suggested that the\nCharity Organization Society might take as a motto, \u201cNot relief, but a\nfriend\u201d.\n\nMuch has been done, but with a view to putting a further limit on the\ncompetition of charities and on the fostering of cringing habits, some\nreformers suggest that a statutory body of representatives of charities\nshould be formed in each district. Over these a County Council official\nmight preside. At weekly meetings cases of distress which have been\nnoticed by the doctors, the school officers or any private person could\nbe considered. These cases would then be handed over to individuals or\ncharities, who would report progress at the next meeting, or they would\nbe undertaken by the presiding officer and dealt with efficiently by one\nof the committees of the County Council.\n\n\u201cThe strength of a nation,\u201d according to a saying of Napoleon quoted by\nMr. Fisher, \u201cdepends on its history.\u201d No reform is likely to endure\nwhich does not fit in with the traditions of the past. It might be\npossible to elaborate on paper a perfect scheme for the care of the weak\nand the sickly, but it would not avail if it disregarded history. Here\nin England the State has, during many centuries, recognized its\nobligation for the well-being of all its members, and it has performed\nits obligations by the service of individuals. The State, in more senses\nthan one, is identified with the Church. In the new times, in the face\nof new needs and with the command of new knowledge, it is still the\nState which must organize the means to restore the fallen and it must\nstill use as its instruments the willing service of individual men and\nwomen. The sketch of Poor Law reform which I have presumed to offer in\nthis article fulfils, I believe, these requirements.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    THE UNEMPLOYED.[1]\n\n    BY MRS. S. A. BARNETT.\n\n    November, 1904.\n\n  [1] A Paper read at a meeting in a West-End drawing room and\nafterwards printed by request.\n\n\nI am often asked to speak publicly, and when I express wonder as I open\nmy letters at my breakfast-table, my family (with that delightful\ncandour which is so good for one\u2019s character) say, \u201cOh, they ask you\nbecause you always make them hear and sometimes make them laugh\u201d.\nLadies, to-day I shall, I hope, make you hear, but I cannot make you\nlaugh.\n\nThose of us who have lived among the poor, as my dear old friend Emma\nCons and I have done, in Lambeth and Whitechapel for over thirty years,\nknow that there is no joke connected with the unemployed. Those of us\nwho went through the awful winter of 1886, and saw the sad suffering\nwhich caused the still more sad sin, as the people lied and cringed and\nbegged and bullied to get a share--(what they considered a lawful share,\nsome called it \u201cThe ransom of the rich\u201d) of the Mansion House Fund, know\nthat this condition of want of employment is not only an economic\nquestion, but one involving deep and far-reaching moral issues, and it\nis this problem that is before us now.\n\nThe number of unemployed in London is variously estimated, some say\n30,000 some 100,000, no one can tell, for it so much depends on what is\nmeant by unemployed. Do we mean those workers in seasonal trades, such\nas the painters whose labour ceases in the winter? and the bricklayers\u2019\nlabourers who are stopped by a frost? Do we mean those thousands which\nMr. Charles Booth calculates never have an income sufficient to keep\nthe family in health, who are always partially unemployed because their\nlabour is of so inefficient a kind that they are not worth a \u201cliving\nwage\u201d. \u201cWhy,\u201d one may ask the frequenters of the Relief Office, \u201chave\nyou come to this?\u201d the answer in a hundred different forms will be the\nsame. \u201cI fell out of work owing to bad trade--I struggled for a year,\nbut things got worse and worse--I am no longer fit for continuous work\nand I couldn\u2019t do it if I got it\u201d. They have, that is, lost their\npower, which makes efficient labour.\n\nOn this matter there is need of clear thinking, but leaving for a moment\nor two the task of defining and classifying the unemployed, let us\nrealize the large army of men, with the still larger army of women and\nchildren dependent on them, who, on this cold, cheerless day are out of\nwork--what do they want? Food, fire, shelter,--on this we all agree, and\nthe plan of some kind persons is to supply their needs. Thus Soup\nKitchens, Free Breakfasts, Shelters for the Homeless, Meals for the\nChildren, Blankets for the Old, Coals for the Cold, Clothing for the\nDestitute, Doles of all kinds for all kinds of people are begged for,\nand we are told, often with regrettable exaggeration, that to support\nthis charity or that organization will relieve the suffering which\n(whatever our politics) we all combine to deplore.\n\nBut those of us who have thought with our brains, as well as with our\nhearts, know that to ease the symptoms is not to cure the disease, and\nthat this social ulcer needs first an exhaustive diagnosis by the most\nexperienced social physicians, and then infinite patience and great\nfirmness as we build up again the constitution of the unfit, which,\nthrough long years has become physically weakened and morally\ndeteriorated.\n\nI seem to hear my listeners say: \u201cBut at least it cannot do harm to feed\nthe children,\u201d and there I confess my economics break down! I have lived\nlong enough in Whitechapel to see three generations, and I have watched\nthe underfed boy grow into the undersized man, pushed aside by stronger\narms in the labour market. I have seen the underfed girl grown into the\nenfeebled woman, producing in motherhood puny children. But, and it is a\nbig but, if you feed the children, you must feed them adequately, and\nfeed them as individuals by individuals. The practice of giving children\ntwo or three dinner tickets a week is bad economy, bad for the\nchildren\u2019s digestion, bad for the mother\u2019s housekeeping, and bad for the\nfather\u2019s sense of responsibility. We should not like our own children to\nbe fed thus, and indeed if we would consider each child of the poor as\nwe consider our own, the problem of feeding the children would soon be\nsolved. I know you will think me Utopian, but if every one of us here\nwere to have two or three children as kitchen guests daily! Well! It\nperhaps would not do much, but once we were told ten righteous men might\nhave saved the city.\n\nThis is a long digression, but the individual treatment of children is a\nsubject that occupies much of my thought, and one which I would ask you\nto consider carefully as throwing light on many loudly voiced schemes of\nreform, which, lacking the personal touch, are apt to miss the deeper\nand spiritual forces by which character must be nourished if it is to\ngrow.\n\nNow to return to the unemployed. Briefly they can be put into four\nclasses:--\n\n 1. The skilled mechanic.\n\n 2. The unskilled labourer.\n\n 3. The casual worker.\n\n 4. The loafer.\n\nConcerning the first, the Chart published in the \u201cLabour Gazette\u201d shows\nthat the number approaches 7 per cent as against nearly 5 per cent last\nyear. This is the only class about which we have accurate figures, but\nthe returns of pauperism, and the experience of charitable agencies\ncombine in agreeing that there is more want of employment in the other\nthree classes than is usual at this time of the year, and that there are\nfewer \u201cbits of things\u201d to go to the pawnshop than usual, because, owing\nto the war, and some think to the fiscal agitation, the summer trade has\nbeen slack, and wages low and uncertain.\n\nNo one can read the daily papers without seeing how many schemes are\nnow being put forward to aid the unemployed, and in the space of\ntime given to me it is impossible to name all these, let alone to\ndiscriminate between them, but certain principles can be laid down.\n(1) The form of help should be work. (2) The work should be such as\nwill uplift and not degrade character. (3) The work should be paid\nsufficiently to keep up the home and adequately feed the family. (4)\nThe work, if it be relief work--i.e., that not required in the ordinary\nchannels by ordinary employers--should not be more attractive than the\nworker\u2019s normal labour.\n\nIt should never be forgotten that provision of work may become as\ndangerous to character as doles of money have proved to be. Work is of\nso many sorts; that which is effortful to some men may be child\u2019s play\nto others, or it might be so carelessly supervised as to encourage the\ncasual ways and self-indulgent habits which lie at the root of much\npoverty. Human nature in every walk of life has a tendency to take the\neasiest courses, and many men are tempted to relax the efforts which the\nhigher classes of employment demand.\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d I said to a butler who had taken \u00a380 a year in service, \u201cdid you\nbecome a cabman?\u201d \u201cWell, madam,\u201d he said, \u201cin service one has always to\nbe spruce.\u201d In other words he had resented the control of order, and so\nhe had sunk from a skilled trade to a grade lower.\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d I asked an old friend, a Carter Paterson driver, \u201cdid you leave\nyour regular work?\u201d \u201c\u2019Tis like this,\u201d he said, \u201cit means being out in\nall weathers, now I can go home if things is too nasty outside.\u201d He had\nyielded to the temptation of comfort and gone down a grade lower to\ncasual work.\n\n\u201cWhy did you go on the tramp?\u201d was asked of a man in the casual ward.\n\u201cIf yer takes to the road,\u201d he said with perfect candour, \u201cyer never\nknows what\u2019s before yer. Yer may be in luck or yer mayn\u2019t but it\u2019s all\non the chance.\u201d The spirit of gambling had got the better of him and he\nhad gone down a grade lower.\n\nThese examples illustrate the importance of the principles laid down.\nThe help must be work and the work must be steady and continuous, and\ncapable, by drawing forth each man\u2019s best powers, to uplift him in\ncharacter and maintain his own self-esteem. The work must be of many\nkinds. It is folly to expect the tailor, the cigarette-maker, the\nworking jeweller, to do only road sweeping and that badly, and lastly\nthe work, while always strengthening character, must be given only under\nsuch conditions as will not attract men to leave their regular calling,\nwhich makes demands on their powers of self-discipline, and throw\nthemselves on what is charity, even though offered in the form of\nlabour.\n\nLast year the Mansion House Committee carried out on a small scale an\nexperiment in relief, which in many ways followed these principles. It\nsent the men to Labour Colonies, where they had good food and honest\nwork, away from the attractions of the streets, and while they were away\nit provided the women and children with sufficient money for the upkeep\nof health and home. It brought to individuals the care of individuals,\nas week by week superintendents reported on the workers\u2019 work, and\nvisitors carried the money to the families. It offered facilities for\ntraining men for emigration to the colonies, or for migration to the\ncountry. It provided employment which was not so attractive as to draw\nmen from their regular work, nor the loafer from the streets, and it\noffered to every one hope and a way out in the future. The experiment\nhas shown what is possible, and encourages those who worked it to\nbelieve that some year, if not this year, there will be humane and\nscientific dealing with the problem of unemployment.\n\n\u201cOh, yes,\u201d I was told by a young married woman the other day, \u201cpeople\ntalk so much of the unemployed now. It is all the fashion, but I think\nquite half of them could get work if they wanted to.\u201d\n\n\u201cReally,\u201d I said, recalling the hopeless eyes, gaunt figures, and worn\nboots of many an out-of-work friend, the pathetic patience of their\nwomen and white faces of the children, \u201cIs that your experience?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, no!\u201d she replied, \u201cbut I am sure I have heard it said--and I expect\nit is true.\u201d\n\nI could have shaken her--but I did not--only that sort of thing is what\ndiscounts women\u2019s opinion so often with the men (the governing sex), and\nas it is, I fear, not uncommon, it behoves us, the thinking, caring\nwomen, to think more clearly, and to care more deeply. If we bore more\ncontinuously this sad suffering in mind, if we studied, and read, and\nthought in the effort to probe its cause to its roots, if we resolved by\npersonal effort to find or provide labour for at least one family during\nthe winter, the problem would be nearer solution, but we must see to it\nthat reforms go on lines which recognize that character is more\nimportant than comfort, and that a man is more wronged if Society steals\nhis responsibility than if it steals his coat.\n\n  HENRIETTA O. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    THE POOR LAW REPORT.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    April, 1909.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Contemporary Review\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\nThe Poor Law has too long blocked the way of social progress, and its\nending or its mending has become a matter of urgent necessity. The\nReport just issued may thus mark the beginning of a new age. The\n\u201ccondition of the people\u201d is, from some points of view, even more\nserious than it was in 1834, when the first Commissioners brought out\nthe Report which called \u201ccheck\u201d to many processes of corruption. In\nthose days a lax system of relief had so tempted many strong men to\nidleness and so reduced incentives to investment, that the nation was\nthreatened with bankruptcy. In these days, when a confusion of methods\nalternates between kindliness and cruelty in their treatment of the\npoor; when begging is encouraged by gifts, public and private, said to\nreach the amount of \u00a380,000,000 a year; when giving provokes distrust\nand leaves such evidence of human starvation and degradation as may\ndaily be seen amid the splendours of the Embankment, it sometimes seems\nas if the nation were within measurable distance of something like a\nbankruptcy of character.\n\nThe present Poor Law system, valuable as it was in checking \u201cvarious\ninjurious practices,\u201d has been applied to conditions and people who were\nnot within its makers\u2019 range of vision, and is now responsible for more\ntrouble than is at once apparent. It preaches by means of palatial\ninstitutions which every one sees, and of officials who are more\nubiquitous and powerful than parsons. Its sermon is: \u201cLook outside\nyourselves for the means of livelihood; grudge if you are not\nsatisfied\u201d. It preaches selfishness and illwill; it encourages a\nscramble for relief; it discounts energy and trust. The present Poor Law\ndoes not really relieve the poor, and it does tend to weaken the\nnational character.\n\nThe admirable statistical survey which introduces the Report represents\nthe failure of the present system in striking figures. The number of\npaupers--markedly of males--is increasing. In London alone 15,800 more\npaupers are being maintained than there were twenty years ago, and the\nrate of pauperism through the country has reached 47 in the 1000. The\ncost has also increased, and the country is now spending more than\ndouble the amount on each individual which was spent in 1872, \u201cmaking a\ntotal which is now equivalent to nearly one half of the present\nexpenditure on the Army\u201d. The increase goes on, as the Commissioners\nremark, notwithstanding the millions of money now spent on education and\nsanitation, and notwithstanding the rise in wages, affording clear proof\n\u201cthat something in our social organization is seriously wrong\u201d.\n\nThe Commissioners are unanimous in their condemnation of the system\nwhich produces such results. They have gathered evidence upon evidence\nof its failure, and, while they praise the devoted service of many\nGuardians and officials, both the Majority and Minority Reports agree\nrecommending radical changes.\n\nThe revelation of the abuse is itself a valuable contribution to the\nneeds of the time. The public, unless they know the extent of the\nmischief, will never be moved to the necessary effort of reform; and\nteachers of the public, through the Pulpit and the Press, could hardly\ndo better than publish extracts from the Report showing the waste of\nmoney, the demoralization, the ill-will, which gathers round workhouses,\ncasual wards and out relief.\n\nThe ordinary reader of this evidence might naturally inquire, \u201cWhat has\nthe Local Government Board been doing to prevent the abuses which it\nmust have known? Why, if conviction was not possible, was not Parliament\nasked for further powers or for some reform? What is the use of\ninspectors? Why should a controlling department exist if the nation is\nto stand convicted of such neglect, and to be brought into such danger?\u201d\nThe Report implies, indeed, some slight blame to the Local Government\nBoard, because it did not at all times afford sufficient direction; and\nthe Minority Report, in its more trenchant way, sometimes emphasizes the\nconfusion it has caused by its varying decisions; but the thought\nnaturally occurs that if the Board had not been so strongly represented\non the Commission, or if a body representative of the best guardians\nwere called on to render a report, the supreme authority which has so\nlong known the evil and done so little for its reform would have been\nroundly condemned.\n\nThe Commissioners, however, pass their judgment on the system, and\nproceed to make their recommendations. There are two sets, those of the\nMajority and those of the Minority. They extend over 1238 large pages,\nand deal with thousands of details. A close examination is therefore\nimpossible in a short article, but there are certain tests by which the\nprincipal recommendations may be tried. I would try just two such tests:\n(1) Do they make it possible to relieve needs without demoralizing\ncharacter? (2) Do they stimulate energy without raising the devil in\nhuman nature?\n\nThe people who need relief are roughly divided into two great classes,\n\u201cthe unable\u201d and \u201cthe able\u201d. The recommendations of the Report--Majority\nand Minority--as they affect these two classes may be tried by the\nsuggested test.\n\n\n    THE UNABLE.\n\nI. \u201cThe unable\u201d include the sick, the old, the children and infirm,\nand--although on this matter the Local Government Board gave uncertain\nguidance--widows with children. The present system, starting from the\nprinciple laid down in 1834, aims at deterring people from application\nby a barbed-wire fence of regulations. The sick can only have a doctor\nafter inquiry by the relieving officer. The old and infirm are herded in\na general workhouse together with people whose contact often wounds\ntheir self-respect. The children are isolated from other children, and\ntreated as a class apart. Widows with children can only get means of\nmaintenance by applying at the relief table in company with the\ndegraded, by enduring the close inquisition of the relieving officer,\nand then by attendance at the Board of Guardians, where, standing in the\nmiddle of the room, they have to face their gaze, answer their\nquestions, and at the end be grateful for a pittance of relief.\n\nThis system does not, in the first place, relieve the necessities of the\npoor. Many of the sick defer their application till their condition\nbecomes serious, or they set themselves to beg for hospital letters.\nMany of the old and infirm, rather than submit to the iniquities of the\nworkhouse, live a life of semi-starvation. Few of the widows who receive\na few shillings a week for the maintenance of their families, are able\nunaided to look after their children and give them the necessary care\nand food.\n\n\u201cA few Boards,\u201d says the Minority Report, \u201crestrict to the uttermost the\ngrant of out relief to widows with children; many refuse it to the widow\nwith only one child or with only two children, however young these may\nbe; others grant only the quite inadequate sum of 1s. or 1s. 6d. a week\nper child, and nothing for the mother. Very few Guardians face the\nproblem of how the widow\u2019s children ... can under these circumstances be\nproperly reared.... In at least 100,000 cases their children are growing\nup stunted, under-nourished, and to a large extent neglected, because\nthe mother is so hard driven that she cannot properly attend to them.\nThe irony of the situation appears in the fact that if the mother\nthereupon dies the children will probably be \u2018boarded out\u2019 with a\npayment of 4s. or 5s. per week each, or three or four times as much as\nthe Guardians paid for them before, or else be taken into the Poor Law\nschool or cottage homes at a cost of 12s. to 21s. per week each.\u201d\n\nThe vast sum of money--this \u00a320,000,000 a year--which is spent misses\nto a large extent its object to give relief, and, further than this,\ncauses widespread demoralization. The sick who have overcome their\nshrinking to face the relieving officer to ask for a medical officer,\nare found readily treading the same path to ask for other relief. The\nworkhouses--one of which, lately built, has cost \u00a3126,612, or \u00a3286 a\nbed--\u201care,\u201d we read, \u201clargely responsible for the considerable increase\nof indoor pauperism,\u201d and evidence is given \u201cthat life in a workhouse\ndeteriorates mentally, morally, and physically the habitual inmates\u201d.\nIt must be so, indeed, when young girls are put \u201cto sleep with women\nadmitted by the master to be frequently of bad character\u201d.\n\nOut relief has been the battlefield of rival schools of administrators,\nand the Commissioners find in the system \u201cof trying to compensate for\ninadequacy of knowledge by inadequacy of relief\u201d two obvious points:\n\u201cFirst, that when the applicants are honest in their statements they\nmust often suffer great privations; and, second, that when they are\ndishonest, relief must often be given quite unnecessarily\u201d. Evidence,\ntoo, is given of instances where out relief is being applied to\nsubsidize dirt, disease and immorality, justifying the conclusion that\nit is \u201ca very potent influence in perpetuating pauperism and propagating\ndisease\u201d.\n\nWhen the Commissioners have admitted that much has been done by wise\nBoards of Guardians in providing infirmaries for the sick which are as\ngood as hospitals, and in administering out relief with sympathy and\ndiscrimination, the conclusion must still remain that the present system\ndoes not relieve the necessities of the poor, while it tends to spread\ndemoralization. It fails under the suggested test.\n\nThe Commissioners\u2019 proposed reforms must be tried by the same tests.\nTheir proposals include (1) the constitution of a new authority,\nand (2) the principles on which that authority is to act. The\nprinciples--keeping in mind for the moment the class of \u201cthe\nunable\u201d--recommended by the Majority and Minority are practically\nidentical. In the words of the Majority:--\n\n1. The treatment of the poor who apply for public assistance should be\nadapted to the needs of the individual, and if constitutional should be\ngoverned by classification.\n\n2. The system of public assistance thus established should include\nprocesses of help which would be preventive, curative and restorative.\n\n3. Every effort should be made to foster the instincts of independence\nand self-maintenance amongst those assisted.\n\nThe same principles appear when the Minority Report urges the (1)\n\u201cparamount importance of subordinating mere relief to the specialized\ntreatment of each separate class, with the object of preventing or\ncuring its distress\u201d.\n\n(2) \u201cThe expediency of ultimately associating this specialized treatment\nof each class with the standing machinery for enforcing both before and\nafter the period of distress the fulfilment of personal and family\nobligations.\u201d\n\nThe differences between the Reports are manifest in that the Minority\nis more anxious to secure a co-ordination of public authorities, but\nboth alike agree that relief must be thorough and regard primarily the\nnecessities of the individual. The general workhouse is therefore to\nbe broken up, and separate institutions set apart for children, the\nold, the sick, mothers, and feeble-minded. Out relief is to be given\non uniform principles and under strict supervision, whether by skilled\nofficials or by a registrar. (The majority make the interesting--if it\nbe practicable--suggestion that there shall be proscribed districts\nin which no out relief shall be given, on account of their slum\ncharacter.) The sick are to have the means of treatment brought within\ntheir reach, whether it be by the officer of the Health Committee or by\nmeans of provident dispensaries. The two Reports often differ as to the\nmeans by which the ends are to be reached, and the consideration of the\nmeans they propose would make matter for many articles. But their main\ndifference is as to the constitution of the authority which will apply\ntheir principles to practice.\n\nThey both agree in making the County Council the source of the authority\nand in taking the county as the area. The Majority would create, by a\nsomewhat intricate system of co-optation and nomination, a \u201cPublic\nAssistance Authority,\u201d with local \u201cassistance committees,\u201d to deal with\nall cases of need. The Minority would authorize the existing committees\nof the Council--the Education, the Health, the Asylums, and the Parks\nCommittees--to deal with such cases of need as may meet them in their\nordinary work. The Majority would create an _ad hoc_ authority, for the\npurpose of giving such relief; the Minority would leave relief to the\ndirection of committees whose primary concern is education or health,\nthe feeble-minded or the old. The Majority is, further, at great pains\nto establish a Voluntary Aid Council, which shall be representative of\nthe charitable funds and charitable bodies of the area. This council is\nto have a recognized position, and to work in close co-operation with\nthe Public Assistance authority. The Minority, though willing to use\nvoluntary charity, suggests no plan for its control or organization.\nThis omission in a scheme otherwise so complete is somewhat remarkable.\nThe administration of the Poor Law may account for most of the mischief\nin the condition of the people, but the administration of charity is\nalso to a large extent responsible. This extent of charity is unknown.\nIn London alone it is said to amount to more than \u00a37,000,000 a year, and\nmuch money is given of which no record is possible. Hitherto all\nattempts at organization have failed, and it is quite clear that no\norganization can be enforced. The Majority Report suggests a scheme by\nwhich charitable bodies and persons may be partly tempted and partly\nconstrained to co-operate with official bodies. Mr. Nunn, in an\ninteresting note, suggests a further development of a plan by which they\nmight be given a more definite place in the organization of the future.\nThe establishment of Public Welfare Societies in so many localities is a\nproof that charitable forces are drawing together, and gives hope that\nif a place is found for them in the established system they may become\npowerful for good and not for mischief.\n\nThe recommendations, however, which we are now considering are not\ndependent on the establishment of a Voluntary Aid Council; they depend\non the principles, as to which both Reports agree. Those principles\nsatisfy the suggested test. If relief in every case be subordinate to\ntreatment, if it be given with care and with full consideration for each\nindividual, there must be good hope that the relief will help and not\ndemoralize, stimulate and not antagonize the recipient. Everything,\nhowever, depends on securing an authority and administrators who are\nwilling and able to apply the principles to action. The Majority aim, by\nthe substitution of nomination and co-optation for direct election, to\nget an authority which will do with new wisdom the old duties of Boards\nof Guardians. The Minority evidently fear that, if any body of people is\nestablished as a relief agency, no change in the method of appointment\nwill prevent the intrusion of the old abuses. The Majority believe that\nit is the persons on the present Boards which have caused the breakdown,\nand that if all Boards were as good as the best Boards there would have\nbeen no need for the Commission. The Minority, on the other hand,\nbelieve that it is the system which is at fault, and that a single\nauthority created to deal with destitution only must fail when it is\ncalled on to deal with many-sided human nature in its various struggles\nand trials.\n\nThe difference is one on which much may be said on both sides. It may be\nargued that a committee and officials whose special and daily duty it is\nto deal with cases of distress will become experts in such dealing; and\nit may be equally argued that experts tend to think more of the\nperfection of their system than of the peculiar needs of individuals, so\nthat their action becomes rigid and incapable of growth. The Charity\nOrganization Committees are such experts, and although they have done\nservice not always recognized, they have become unpopular because they\nhave seemed to be more careful as to their methods than as to the needs\nof the poor. It may be argued that the Education and Health and other\ncommittees have neither the time nor the experience to administer relief\nto the cases of distress with which their duties bring them into\ncontact; and it may equally be argued that it is because they have in\nview education or health that their ways of relief will be elastic and\nhuman, and therefore guided to the best ends. It may be argued that, as\nthe important matter is to check the use of public funds by necessitous\npersons, therefore it is the better plan to have in each county one\nauthority skilled in dealing with such persons. It may, on the other\nhand, be argued that as the more important matter is to prevent any one\nbecoming a necessitous person, therefore it is the better plan to let\nthose authorities which have dealings with people as to education, or\nhealth, or any other object, deal with them also when they are\nthreatened or overtaken by distress. Knowledge is more necessary than\nskill, and the people who need their neighbour\u2019s guidance do not form a\nspecial class in the community. Society is better regarded as a body of\nco-operators than as a community divided into \u201can assistance body\u201d and\n\u201cthe assisted\u201d.\n\nThe Majority Report in its recommendation is discounted by the fact that\nthe Boards of Guardians--an _ad hoc_ body--have failed; and the Minority\nReport is discounted by the fact that there is a science of relief for\nwhich long training is necessary. Both alike seem conscious that success\nmust really depend on the character of the administrators; the Majority\ntherefore recommend many precautions as to the appointment of clerks and\nrelieving officers; the Minority frankly leave the control of relief in\nthe hands of a registrar, whose duty it will be to register every case\nof relief recommended by any committee, to assess the amount which ought\nto be repaid, and to proceed to the recovery of the amount. The\nregistrar would therefore, by means of his own officials, make inquiries\ninto the circumstances of every case, and would put his administration\nof out relief or of, as it is called, \u201chome aliment\u201d on a basis of\nuniform and judicial impartiality.\n\nThe Minority Report has the advantage of scientific precision, but it is\nsomewhat hard on the spirit of compromise so long characteristic of\nEnglish procedure, and it takes small account of the disturbance which\nmay be caused by the vagaries of weak human nature, and it leaves\ncharity without any control. The Majority has the advantage of securing\nsome continuity with present practices, but in the ingenious attempt to\nconciliate diverse opinions and to put new pieces on to the old garment,\nsome rents seem to have been made which it will be hard to fill.\n\nThe public will, during the next few months, be called upon to decide as\nto the authority to direct the relief of the poor. The decision cannot\nbe easily made, and ought not to be attempted without much time and\nthought. One of the tests by which the two systems may be tried during\nthe necessary delay is, I submit, whether (1) an _ad hoc_ committee with\nits subject expert officials or (2) committees appointed for special\nobjects with an independent expert official, are the more likely to\nadminister relief without spreading demoralization, and to stimulate\nenergy without rousing animosity.\n\n\n    THE ABLE.\n\nII. The failure of the present system with the able, the vagrant, the\nloafer, and the unemployed, who are physically and mentally strong, is\nthe most marked; and reform is an immediate necessity. The Government\ncan hardly go through another Session without doing something to prevent\nthe growth of pauperism among comparatively young men, to check the\nhabit of vagrancy which threatens to become violent, and to meet the\ndemands of the honest unemployed.\n\nThe present system deals with the able-bodied by means of the\nworkhouse--the labour yard, the casual ward, the test workhouse--and\nalso by means of out relief and the Unemployed Workmen\u2019s Act. The\nCommission--Majority and Minority--condemn each of these means.\n\n_The workhouse_, we are told, creates the loafer. \u201cThe moment this\nclass of man\u201d--i.e., the easy-going, healthy fellow who feels no call\nto work--\u201cbecomes an inmate so surely does he deteriorate into a worse\ncharacter still\u201d; and we read also that \u201cthe features in the present\nworkhouse system make it not only repellent (as is perhaps necessary),\nbut also, as is unnecessary, degrading. Of all the spectacles of human\ndemoralization now existing in these islands, there can scarcely be\nanything worse than the scene presented by the men\u2019s day ward of a\nlarge urban workhouse during the long hours of leisure on week-days\nor the whole of Sundays. Through the clouds of tobacco-smoke that\nfill the long low room, the visitor gradually becomes aware of the\npresence of one or two hundred wholly unoccupied males, of every\nage between fifteen and ninety--strong and vicious men, men in all\nstages of recovery from debauch, weedy youths of weak intellect, old\nmen dirty and disreputable ... worthy old men, men subject to fits,\noccasional monstrosities or dwarfs, the feeble-minded of every kind,\nthe respectable labourer prematurely invalided, the hardened, sodden\nloafer, and the temporarily unemployed man who has found no better\nrefuge. In such places there are congregated this winter certainly more\nthan 10,000 healthy, able-bodied men.\u201d\n\n_The labour yard_, we learn, tends to become the habitual resort of the\nincapables, and \u201ca stay there will demoralize even the best workmen\u201d.\n\u201cIn short,\u201d says the Minority Report, \u201cwhether as regards those whom it\nincludes or those whom it excludes for relief, the labour yard is a\nhopeless failure, and positively encourages the worst kind of\nunder-employment.\u201d The expense of this failure is so great that in one\nyard the stone broken cost the Guardians \u00a37 a ton.\n\n_Casual wards_ have long been known as the nurseries of a certain class\nof vagrant--men and women who become familiar with their methods and\nsettle down to their use. They fail as resting-places for honest seekers\nafter work as they travel from town to town, and they fail also--even\nwhen made harsher than prisons--to stimulate energy. Poor Law reformers,\nlike Mr. Vallance, have through many years called for their abolition.\n\n_Test workhouses_ represent the supreme effort of the ingenuity of Poor\nLaw officials, and are still recommended to Guardians. In these\nestablishments everything which could possibly attract is excluded. The\nhouse is organized after the fashion of a prison, although the officials\nhave neither the training nor the knowledge considered to be necessary\nfor men who hold their fellow-men in restraint; hard and uncongenial\nwork is enforced; the diet is of the plainest, and no association during\nleisure hours is permitted. The test is so severe that the house is apt\nto remain empty till the Guardians, overborne by the expense, admit\ninmates too weak to bear the strain, who therefore break down the\nsystem. The inspectors claim credit for success, because applications\nare prevented, but the Minority Report deals with this claim in an\nadmirably written examination of the whole position. It is no success,\nfor on account of the severity more men are driven on to the streets to\nprovoke the charity of the unthinking; and it is a failure if such\ntreatment adds to the sum of envy, hatred and malice.\n\nThe Commissioners of 1834 aimed at abolishing _out-door relief_ for the\nable-bodied, and to this end the central authority and its inspectorate\nhas worked, but exceptions have been allowed \u201con account of sudden or\nurgent necessity,\u201d and now it is reported that 10,000 different men,\nmostly between the ages of twenty-five and fifty-five, receive such\nrelief in the course of the year, while at least 10,000 or 20,000 more\nable-bodied men are allowed out relief by the special authority of the\nLocal Government Board. These numbers tend to increase, and will go on\nincreasing, because nothing is done to give them \u201csuch physical or\nmental restorative treatment as will fit them for employment\u201d.\n\nThe means, therefore, by which the Poor Law has attempted to deal with\nthe able-bodied may be said to have disastrously failed. Distress has\ngrown, and the people have been demoralized. Ill-will threatens to\nbecome violent. The nation, in a hurry to do something, passed the\nUnemployed Act of 1905, and the Commissioners deal faithfully with the\nwork of the Distress Committees created under that Act. There is much in\nthe work which is suggestive, and many recommendations, such as those\nwhich affect the use of labour and farm colonies, are founded on their\nexperience. But the Commissioners are unanimous in the conclusion that\nrelief works are economically useless. \u201cEither,\u201d they say, \u201cordinary\nwork is undertaken, in which case it is merely forestalled ... or else\nit is sham work, which we believe to be even more demoralizing than\ndirect relief.\u201d \u201cMunicipal relief works\u201d (to which the work given by\ndistrict councils has approximated) \u201chave not assisted, but rather\nprejudiced, the better class of workman ... they have encouraged the\ncasual labourers by giving them a further supply of the casual work\nwhich is so dear to their hearts and so demoralizing to their character.\nThey have encouraged and not helped the incapables; they have\ndiscouraged and not helped the capables.\u201d\n\nThe present system of dealing with the able-bodied, whether by the means\nadopted by the Poor Law or by those introduced under the Unemployed Act,\nfails under our test. It does not relieve those who need relief, it\nspreads wide demoralization, and it stirs ill-will.\n\nThe Commissioners recognize the failure, and recommend a new system. The\ntwo Reports agree in their main recommendations. There is need for a\ncheck to be placed on the employment of boys \u201cin uneducative and\nblind-alley occupations,\u201d and for the better education of children, both\nin elementary and continuation schools. There should be a national\nsystem of labour exchanges working automatically all over the country,\nso that workers permanently displaced might easily pass to new\noccupations, travelling expenses, if necessary, being paid or advanced\nout of the common purse, and so that the need of work might be tested by\nthe offer of a situation. The Minority Report would enforce on certain\nemployers the use of the register. Both Reports agree that the work\ngiven out by Government departments and by local authorities might be\nregularized, so that most public work would be done when there was least\ndemand for labour by private employers. If at any time afforestation was\nundertaken, this also might be put on the market as the labour barometer\nshowed labour to be in excess of the demand. Both agree also that there\nshould be some scheme of unemployment insurance, and that with this\nobject subsidies might be given to the unemployment funds of trade\nunions.\n\nThese recommendations, if adopted, might be expected to do much to\nprevent many of the evils of casual labour and unemployment from falling\non future generations; but to meet existing needs the Commissioners\nrecommend emigration and industrial training in institutions, some close\nto the homes of the workers, some in the country, some farm colonies\nfrom which workers would be free to come and go, some detention colonies\nin which they would be detained for more or less long periods.\n\nThere would thus be established, says the Majority Report, in every\ncounty four organizations with the common object of maintaining or\nrestoring the workmen\u2019s independence: (_a_) An organization for\ninsurance against unemployment, (_b_) a labour exchange, (_c_) a\nvoluntary aid committee, (_d_) an authority which will deal with\nindividuals, according to their needs, by emigration, by migration, or\nby means of day training institutions, farm colonies and detention\ncolonies. The Minority would secure the same provision by means of one\norganization in each county.\n\nThe workman who, being out of work or unfit for any work on the labour\nregister, or for whom no work is possible, would be referred to the\nofficial who, by inquiry, would decide whether he should be trained,\nmentally or physically, in some near institution, or whether he should\nbe sent to some special and more distant labour colony, his family\nreceiving sufficient money for their daily support. If, having had a\nfair opportunity, he refused to work, or if he resumed the practice of\nmendicity or vagrancy, he would, by a magistrate\u2019s order, be committed\nto a detention colony, where, again, he would be given the opportunity\nduring three or four years of gaining the power of self-support.\n\nThis in a few words represents the dealing practically recommended by\nboth Reports. It meets the test which the present system fails to meet.\nThe relief is in every case provided which need demands, and, as it is\naccompanied by training, demoralization is prevented. At the same time,\nas no relief is given without training, every one is stimulated, while\nno one can have a sense of injustice. Even those committed to detention\ncolonies are so committed that they may have a chance of restoration.\nThe scheme, it will be observed, deals only with those mentally and\nphysically fit to earn their own living. Those not so fit must be\nclassed among the \u201cunable,\u201d and receive treatment which may be compared\nwith that recommended for the feeble-minded.\n\nThe two Reports thus agree in their main recommendations, though there\nare important differences which demand subsequent consideration. The\nprincipal difference is that, whereas the Majority Report would make the\nauthority controlling the use of training institutions subject to the\ncounty council, the Minority would make it subject only to a central\ndepartment, such as the Board of Trade or a Labour Minister, who would\nappoint an official in every county who would superintend the labour\nregistry, the organization for insurance against unemployment, and also\nthe use of the training institutions.\n\nThe weight of argument would seem to lie with the Minority\u2019s\nrecommendation. One authority--with whom might easily be associated an\nadvisory board from the employers and workmen of the district, and a\ncouncil representing local charities--having the control of the labour\nregistry, would be best fitted to deal with individuals wanting work;\nand a national authority, having knowledge of training institutions all\nover the country, would have the best opportunity for putting a man in\nthe institution most likely to meet his needs.\n\nIt might, indeed, be said in conclusion of the whole matter that the\nrecommendations of the Majority Report as to the able-bodied might be\nadopted, with the substitution of a national for a local authority in\nthe control of the use and management of the training institutions; or\nthat those of the Minority might be adopted, with certain modifications\nand additions suggested in the Majority Report.\n\n\n    THE FIRST THING TO BE DONE.\n\nWhen there is such a body of agreement, when that body of agreement\napplies to the treatment of the able-bodied whose needs are most\npressing, and when the recommendations can be adopted with very little\ninterference with existing machinery, the obvious course seems to be the\nimmediate dealing with the unemployed.\n\nThere is always a danger lest public interest should be diverted to\ndiscuss principles, and it may be that the advocates of a \u201cnew Poor Law\u201d\nand those advocating \u201cno Poor Law\u201d may fill the air with their cries\nwhile nothing is done for the poor, just as the advocates of different\nprinciples of religious education have prevented knowledge reaching the\nchildren. The first thing to do before this discussion begins, and\nbefore the Guardians and their friends, obtrusively or subtly, make\ntheir protest felt, is, I submit, to take the action which affects the\nable-bodied. There is no doubt that there should be some form of more\ncontinuous education enforced on boys and girls up to the age of\neighteen. There is no doubt that there should be labour registries, some\nform of unemployment insurance, and some regularization of industry,\nwhich must be undertaken by a national authority. It would not be\nunreasonable to ask that the same national authority should organize\ntraining institutions, and through its own local official select\nindividuals for training. The Guardians, inasmuch as they would be\nrelieved of the care of casual wards and of provision in their\nworkhouses for the physically and mentally strong, might fairly be\ncalled on to provide the necessary payment to keep the families during\nthe period when the wage-earners were in training. This treatment of the\nable-bodied in a thorough way is suggested by the Report, and offers a\ncompact scheme of reform, which may be carried through as a whole\nwithout dislocating existing machinery.\n\nIf this be successfully done, then another step might later be taken in\ndealing with the children or with the sick; and, last of all, when the\npublic mind has become familiar with the respective needs of different\nclasses, it might be decided whether, as the Majority recommend, there\nshould be a special relieving body, or whether, as the Minority\nrecommend, relief should be undertaken by other bodies in the course of\ntheir own particular work.\n\nThe public, or at any rate the political, mind is always most interested\nin machinery, and when the cry of \u201crights\u201d is raised passion is likewise\nroused. If proposals are now made to abolish Guardians the interest\nexcited will distract attention, and many forces will be moved for their\nprotection.\n\nThe chief thing at present is, it seems to me, to draw the public mind\nto consider the condition of the people as it is laid bare in this\nReport, to make them feel ashamed that the Poor Law has allowed, and\neven encouraged, the condition, and to be persistent in insisting on\nreform. The way to reform is never the easy or short way; it always\ndemands sacrifice, and the public will not make the hard sacrifice of\nthought till they feel the sufferings and wrongs of the people. The\npublic will, I believe, be made both to feel and to think if the first\nthing proposed is a complete scheme for dealing with the able-bodied on\nlines recommended by both Reports.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    WIDOWS WITH CHILDREN UNDER THE POOR LAW.[1]\n\n    BY MRS. S. A. BARNETT.\n\n    September, 1910.\n\n  [1] A Paper read at the Church Congress, Cambridge.\n\n\nThe last time that I addressed this Congress of \u201cdiscreet and learned\npersons\u201d was three years ago at Yarmouth, when I read a paper on \u201cThe\nEthics of the Poor Law\u201d. It was not a specially good nor interesting\npaper, but it brought me both letters and interviews, with the result\nthat now the lives of many people, both children and old folk, are\nbetter and happier. God grant that this evening\u2019s discussion may be as\nfruitful.\n\nFirst let us face the magnitude of the subject for discussion--\u201cWidows\nwith Children,\u201d not out-of-works, not illegitimate, not deserted wives,\nall these classes are excluded, and our subject narrowed down to married\nwomen, with their legitimate offspring, who have lost the family\u2019s\nbread-winner. Of these, to quote the Poor Law Commissioners\u2019 Report,[2]\nin January, 1907, there were 34,749 widows and 96,342 children in\nreceipt of relief. The large majority of these persons were receiving\nassistance in their own homes, there being only 1240 widows and 2998\nchildren in receipt of indoor relief in the workhouses.\n\n  [2] Majority Report, pp. 35, 36.\n\nLet us, then, follow some of these 96,342 children into their homes, and\nsee what the nation is paying for:--\n\nThe first case is quoted from the Majority Report:[3]--\n\n  (4) \u201cWidow with seven children, none working. Received 10s. per\n  week relief. Rent \u00a35 10s. Said to be paid by friends. I visited the\n  home, and found it in a very dirty, I might say filthy, condition.\n  The woman is a sloven. She went about the house in a dazed manner.\n  I tried to get particulars of the way she spent her money, but\n  found it impossible. One of the children was at home from school\n  ill, but had not been seen by a doctor. It is obvious ... that a\n  family of eight persons could not live on 10s. per week.\u201d\n\n  (5) \u201cMrs. W., a widow with five children, receives 10s. per week.\n  She is a notorious drunkard, and has lately been turned out of\n  a house in a street where drunkards abound, because her drunken\n  habits disturbed the whole street. When we called she refused to\n  open the door; the relieving officer concluded she was drunk.\u201d\n\n  [3] Majority Report, p. 150.\n\nThat the Local Government Board inspectors are and have been fully aware\nthat such conditions exist is shown again and again by their own words.\n\nMr. Baldwyn Fleming said:[4]--\n\n  \u201cThere were many cases receiving outdoor relief where the\n  circumstances ... were very undesirable.... The relieving officers\n  were well acquainted with the cases.\u201d\n\n  [4] _Ibid._, p. 151.\n\nMr. Wethered reported:--\n\n  \u201cSome were clean and tidy, but in very many instances the rooms were\n  dirty, ill kept, and sometimes verminous\u201d.\n\nMr. Bagenal\u2019s experience speaks of the out-relief class as \u201cBankrupt in\npocket and character,\u201d and describes their homes in these words:--\n\n  \u201cCleanliness and ventilation are not considered of any account.\n  The furniture is always of the most dilapidated kind. The beds\n  generally consist of dirty palliasses or mattresses with very\n  scanty covering. The atmosphere is offensive, even fetid, and the\n  clothing of the individuals--old and young--is ragged and filthy.\n  The children are neglected, and furnish the complaints of the\n  National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children.\u201d\n\nMr. Williams said:--\n\n  \u201cI found far too much intemperance, and sometimes even drunkenness, in\n  cases in which out-relief was being granted.... Closely allied to it\n  were filth, both of persons and surroundings, and sadder even was the\n  neglect and resultant cruelty to the children, who were ill-fed and\n  ill-clad.\u201d\n\n\u201cExceptional cases!\u201d I hear you say; \u201cwhy dwell on them?\u201d So I will read\nyou the words of the Majority Report, ever ready to take the lenient\nview of the work of the Guardians. Such cases, it reports, \u201coccur with\nsufficient frequency to be a very potent influence in perpetuating\npauperism and propagating disease\u201d.\n\nPerhaps, however, figures will convey more startlingly the facts. In\norder to classify the investigators divided the mothers into four\nclasses[5]--I., good; II., mediocre; III., very unsatisfactory, i.e.,\nslovenly and slipshod; IV., bad, i.e., drunkards, immoral, wilfully\nneglecting their children.\n\n  [5] Minority Report, p. 753.\n\nThe percentages in the rural districts were 19 per cent in the third\nclass, 6 per cent in the fourth. \u201cIn the towns conditions were, as a\nrule, much worse.\u201d In one urban union 18 per cent came under Class IV.\nIn another great union the appalling percentage rose to 22 per cent. To\nsum up, the number of children on out relief on 1 January, 1908, in\n\u201cvery unsatisfactory\u201d homes in England and Wales, was more than 30,000;\nwhile 20,000 were being paid for in homes \u201cwholly unfit for children\u201d.\n\u201cWe can add nothing,\u201d say the Commissioners, \u201cto the force of these\nterrible figures.\u201d\n\nNeither are the evils only moral ones. \u201cInvestigation,\u201d write the\nauthors of the Minority Report, \u201cas to the physical condition of these\noutdoor relief children in London, Liverpool, and elsewhere brings to\nlight innumerable cases of untreated sores and eczema, untreated\nerysipelas and swollen glands, untreated ringworm, heart disease, and\nphthisis,\u201d a seed crop the products of which are the unemployed and\nunemployable.\n\nBut now I would propose that we leave these haunts of evil and go to see\nthe home of a respectable widow who is endeavouring to bring up her\nchildren to be God-fearing and industrious.\n\n  \u201cMother a seamstress, earning about 9s. a week, and the Board of\n  Guardians granting another 6s. Four children (eleven, nine, six,\n  and two) made happy by the motherly love of a steady, methodical\n  and careful woman, who, however, cannot support them except by\n  working unceasingly, as well as by getting charitable help towards\n  their clothes from the Church, country holidays from the Children\u2019s\n  Country Holiday Fund, official help in dinners from the Educational\n  Authority, and medical help from the health visitor or nurse\n  engaged by the Town Council.\u201d\n\nWhat a confusion of sources, what want of inquiry, what danger of\noverlapping; five organizations to aid the same family, three of them\nState supplied, two supported by religious or philanthropic persons. On\nthis confusion, which is not only extravagant to the ratepayers, but\ncorrupting to the character of the recipients, the Minority Report lays\ngreat stress.\n\nTime forbids me to give more examples, but with this vision of wholesome\nfamily affection let us read with attention the following words from the\nMinority Report:--[6]\n\n   \u201cIn the vast majority of cases the amount allowed by the Guardians is\n  not adequate\u201d. \u201cThe children are under-nourished, many of them poorly\n  dressed, and many barefooted.... The decent mother\u2019s one desire is\n  to keep herself and her children out of the workhouse. She will, if\n  allowed, try to do this on an impossibly inadequate sum, until both\n  she and her children become mentally and physically deteriorated.\u201d...\n  \u201cIt must be remembered,\u201d adds a medical expert, \u201cthat semi-starvation\n  is not a painful process, and its victims do not recognize what is\n  happening.\u201d\n\n  [6] Minority Report, p. 747.\n\nDo not all of us who know our parishes know that woman? Her poverty, her\nstrenuousness, her patience, her fatigue, her hopefulness, her periods\nof hopelessness, and above, below, around all her Mother-love and her\nfaith in God--and what is the result of her efforts, her heroism?\nChildren strong, healthy, skilled, able to support her in her old age\nand themselves rear a family worthy of such noble moral ancestry? No!\nher reward will be to see her children weakly men and undergrown girls,\nall alike in having no stamina, among the first to be pushed out of the\nlabour market. All the love, all the industry, all the heroism ever\nshowered by devoted mothers cannot take the place of milk and bread and\nair and warmth.\n\nBut, it may be asked, \u201cWhy does this careful mother so dread the\nworkhouse; there, at least, although she herself would be deprived of\nher freedom, she would know that her children were well cared for!\u201d To\nreply to this question it will be necessary once more to turn to the\nponderous Blue Book and search the 1238 pages for descriptions of what\ngoes on behind the great walls of those pauper palaces.\n\nIt is true that the widow has not read the reports nor even heard of the\nPoor Law Commission and its colossal labours, worthy of the gratitude\nand reverence of all who love their country. But these things filter out\nthough not couched in official language. \u201cI can\u2019t a-bear of them to go,\nma\u2019am,\u201d says some work-beaten mother. \u201cThere\u2019s Mrs. Jones, she lost her\nbaby when they had to go in, as her husband was took with galloping\nconsumption, and her Billy got bad eyes and Susie seemed to lose all her\ngaiety like.\u201d \u201cNo! I\u2019d rather go hungry than see them that way and not\nbe able to kiss \u2019em when they cries.\u201d But is it true? It is\nunderstandable that individual homes which the Guardians only subsidize\nmay not always be all that they could wish, but when the children are\nentirely under their care surely what this poor woman alleges cannot be\ntrue. Alas! it is far less than the truth. Let us read again and see how\nthe children, not being babies, fare when they are kept in the\nworkhouses.\n\nThe following are extracts:[7]--\n\n  \u201cThe children are not kept separate from the adult inmates. The\n  children\u2019s wards left on our minds a marked impression of confusion\n  and defective administration.... The eyes of some of the children\n  seemed suspiciously \u2018weak\u2019 and in two or three cases to be\n  suffering from some serious inflammation.\u201d\n\n  \u201cThe chief defect here, as in so many workhouses, is in the\n  accommodation for the children. The girls use the sewing-room as\n  a day-room. The older children go to school one and a half miles\n  distant, taking bread and butter or jam with them, and dining on\n  their return when the other inmates have their tea. The dining-hall\n  is used by all inmates at the same time.... Altogether, there is\n  great need for reform in the treatment of the children.\u201d\n\n  [7] Majority Report, pp. 186, 187.\n\nIt is true that children of school age maintained in the workhouses\nattend the public elementary schools, save for 651 who are still\neducated within workhouse walls, but the school hours account only for\nabout one-third of the children\u2019s waking existence, and during the other\ntwo-thirds, which include the long winter evenings, Saturdays and\nSundays, and all school holidays, the workhouse is still their only\nhome.\n\n  \u201cWe cannot,\u201d says the Minority Report,[8] \u201ctoo emphatically express\n  our disagreement with those who accept this [the attendance of\n  children reared in workhouses at public elementary schools] as any\n  excuse for retaining children in the workhouse at all.... We paid\n  special attention to this point of the provision for children on\n  our visits to workhouses, large and small, in town and country, in\n  England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. We saw hardly any workhouse\n  or poorhouse in which the accommodation for children was at all\n  satisfactory. We unhesitatingly agree with the Inspector of the\n  Local Government Board, who gave it to us as his opinion that \u2018no\n  serious argument in defence of the workhouse system is possible.\n  The person who would urge that the atmosphere and associations of\n  a workhouse are a fit up-bringing for a child merely proves his\n  incapacity to express an intelligent opinion upon the matter.\u2019\u201d\n\n  [8] Minority Report, pp. 802, 803.\n\n  \u201cWe are strongly of opinion,\u201d says the Majority Report,[9] \u201cthat\n  effective steps should be taken to secure that the maintenance of\n  children in the workhouse be no longer recognized as a legitimate\n  way of dealing with them.\u201d\n\n  [9] Majority Report, p. 187.\n\nThis evil is of long standing; for a dozen years the pressing necessity\nfor the removal from such surroundings of these State-dependent children\nhas been represented to successive Presidents of the Local Government\nBoard, and to Boards of Guardians, and the saddest fact of all is that,\nat the date of the latest Local Government Board Return, 24,175 children\n(more than one-third of the total number who are entirely maintained out\nof the rates) are still being reared in this unsuitable environment,\nactually a larger number than in any preceding year since 1899.\n\nTo all those gentlemen who have read the Royal Commissioners\u2019 Report I\nmust apologize for quoting it so largely. Those who have not read it\nwill recognize something of the extreme interest of its contents and\ntake it for their winter\u2019s reading.\n\nBut to return again to the Widows and Children on out relief. The\nMajority Report says:--\n\n  \u201cThe Guardians give relief without knowing whether the recipients\n  can manage on it; they go on giving it without knowing how they are\n  managing on it.\u201d \u201cIn short, there is a widespread system of trying\n  to compensate for inadequacy of knowledge by inadequacy of relief.\u201d\n\nThis is a severe condemnation both of the Guardians and the Local\nGovernment Board, whose inspectors we know had been long aware of the\nfacts. Moved by the outcry caused by the publication of these\nrevelations, a circular on the \u201cAdministration of Outdoor Relief\u201d was\nissued by the Central Authority last March to the Boards of Guardians,\ncalling on them for greater discrimination in the selection of cases and\nthe adoption of uniform principles.\n\nThat these demands were not unnecessary is shown by the following\ninstances of unequal treatment given in the Reports:--\n\n  \u201cIn one case a widow with four dependent children, and one boy\n  earning 15s. a week, with a total income to the family of 25s.,\n  received 7s. from the Guardians, bringing their total up to 32s. a\n  week for six persons. One Board gives 6d. and 5 lb. of flour per\n  week for each child; another family received 5s. a week, bringing\n  their total to 51s. 6d. per week; another 6s. a week for the mother\n  and three children (all little tots) with \u2018no other known income\u2019.\u201d\n\nThe action of Boards on this circular has been varied. Some have\ndeclared themselves \u201csatisfied with their proceedings,\u201d and that \u201cno\nalteration is required\u201d. Others have set to work to settle a scale of\npayments for certain defined cases; but though every one must rejoice\nthat a circular (though a belated one) has been issued from the Local\nGovernment Board, and that the Guardians are moving, yet the proposals\ndo not seem to me to meet the case. The world cannot be divided into\ngood or bad, white or black--infinite are the shades of grey. More, much\nmore, than adequacy or uniformity of payment is required. Many classes\nof help are needed. I would suggest as possible solutions of this\ndifficult problem (and my long experience of thirty-three years\u2019 life in\nWhitechapel does not allow me to minimize the difficulty) the following\nplans:--\n\nI.--The children could be boarded out with their own mothers. We have to\ntravel back to Egypt to see how well it succeeded when tried on Moses,\nand it succeeded because it obtains for the child the one essential\nbasis of all education--i.e. Love. The plan is based on quite a simple\nprinciple.\n\nWomen have to be engaged by the State to rear children--it is done in\nworkhouses, barrack schools, scattered homes, village communities, and\nin boarding-out. Why should not some of the women so engaged be the\nchildren\u2019s own mothers? The mother so employed must be of good\ncharacter, and have thrifty, home-making virtues, the same sort of\nqualities, in short, as are sought for in the foster parents of\nboarded-out children. She would be moved into the country, or into a\nhealthy suburb, and, if her own family is not large enough adequately to\nemploy her, she could have one or two more children or babies sent to\nher. She would be under close inspection, and the Boarding-out Committee\nwould make her feel that, though the children were her own, yet it was\nthe duty of the State to see that she did her duty to them on a high\nplane.\n\nFor some families this seems to me the best of all possible solutions,\nbut I have to recognize that it is not practicable except for\nself-respecting worthy women.\n\nII.--To suit those affectionate mothers who are too untutored to do\nwithout set tasks of employment and daily supervision, there might be\nsome sort of modification of the plan. Some twenty of these women could\nbe placed in small cottages, or tenements in a quadrangle, and employed\nfor part of the day at one of the giant official institutions for the\ninfirm or imbecile which are scattered all over the country. The\nchildren could be kept at school for dinner, and care taken that the\nwomen\u2019s hours of labour were short enough to enable them to home-make\nmorning and evening when the children return from school.\n\nIII.--For other women, who, as the Report says, are \u201ctoo ignorant to\nbe effective mothers,\u201d and yet whose only thought is their children,\nteaching colonies might be established, the mothers putting themselves\ninto training, with the hope of being ultimately counted as worthy to\nrear their own children at the expense of the State--a goal to strive\nfor when they have mastered the skilled trade of \u201cmothering\u201d.\n\nIV.--For women who are already employed at suitable work, special\narrangements could be made as the condition of their receiving\nout-relief, either concerning their hours of labour or to secure the\nhousehold assistance necessary to maintain their children as children of\nevery class ought to be kept. I can imagine certain employers, such as\nthe ever public-spirited Mr. Cadbury, being willing to arrange shifts of\nlabour to suit these needs.\n\nV.--From other mothers the children should be removed altogether, and\nfor these children I should counsel emigration, for all workers can\ncite cases of the ruin of young people, when they reach wage-earning\nages, by bad parents claiming their rights over them.\n\nTo turn these suggestions into facts would take much work, thought,\npatience, prayer. \u201cEach case,\u201d as the Majority report says, \u201cseems to\ncall for special and individual attention.\u201d But is it not worth while?\nCan we as Christians allow the present condition of things to go on?\n\nGentlemen, there are 178,520 children in your parishes being more or\nless supported by the State. Do the clergy know them? What have the\nclergy done about them? Have many joined the Board of Guardians? Have\nthey remonstrated at the inadequacy of the relief given? Have they made\nthemselves even acquainted with the facts of Poor Law administration in\ntheir unions? The other day, I, by chance, met a clergyman--a nice man,\nvicar of a big church in a large watering-place. His conversation showed\nhe was alert and up-to-date on all controversial matters, even to the\nplace of a comma in the Lord\u2019s Prayer, but to my questions as to how the\nPoor Law children were dealt with in his parish he had to reply, and he\ndid so unashamed, \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d. I remember as a child thinking that it\nwas a cruel injustice to punish the man for breaking the Sabbath, when\nhe did not know that there was a law to command him to keep it, and now,\nlooking back down the vista of many years\u2019 experience, I understand that\nMoses but expressed in a detail the law of God which affects the whole\nof social life. The man was punished because he did not know. At least\nhe bore the penalty of his own ignorance, but in this case it is the\nchildren who are punished because of our ignorance.\n\nNo! the clergy have not known hitherto; but now they can know. The facts\nare before them in that vast and fascinating storehouse of knowledge\nbound in blue, and, having learnt, they can speak; and speaking, what\nwill they say?\n\nWill they blame the Guardians? Will they scold the Local Government\nBoard? Will they shrug their shoulders and talk about \u201cthe difficulties\nof social problems in a complex civilization,\u201d or will each say to\nhimself, \u201cThou art the man\u201d whose fault this is, and then speak and work\nto get things altered?\n\nGentlemen, you tell us often that children, child-bearing,\nchild-teaching, child-rearing, child-loving is the vocation of my sex.\nI agree with you. I want no better calling myself than home-making and\nchild protection, and therefore you will not take it amiss that I, a\nwoman, speak boldly for the children\u2019s sake. You have joined in the\nneglect of these State-dependent children hitherto. You have allowed\nthem by your ignorance to be injured. Are you now going to injure them\nfurther by sitting helplessly down before these terrible revelations?\nThe whole world knows how England treats State-supported children, its\nnational assets, the representatives of those the Master took up in\nHis arms--the whole world waits to see what England will do. It is for\nyou to lead. Are you going to accept the facts as irremediable, or by\ngetting them altered thus pay your vows to the Lord?\n\n  HENRIETTA O. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    THE PRESS AND CHARITABLE FUNDS.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    July, 1906.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Independent Review\u201d. By permission of Messrs. Fisher\nUnwin & Co.\n\n\nThe Press had been the Church\u2019s ablest ally in its effort to fulfil the\napostolic precept, and teach the nation to remember the poor. The social\ninstinct may be native to humanity, but it requires an impulse and a\ndirection. The Press has again and again stirred such an impulse and\ngiven such direction. Charity was never more abundant, and methods of\nrelief were never more considered.\n\nThe Press has been the ally of the Church in creating the better world\nof the present. But the Press, caught in these later years (as so many\npersons and bodies have been caught) by the lust of doing and the praise\nthereof, has aspired to be an administrator of relief. It has not been\ncontent with the r\u00f4le of a prophet or of a teacher, it has taken a place\nalongside of Ladies Bountiful, Relief Committees, and Boards of\nGuardians. It has invaded another province, and rival newspapers have\nhad their own funds, their own agents, and their own systems of relief.\n\nThe result is probably an increase in the volume of money given by the\nreaders of the papers. A large fund may, however, be a fallacious test\nof sympathy. The money subscribed under the pressure of appeal may have\nbeen diverted from other objects; and gifts are sometimes made, not for\nthe relief of the poor so much as for the relief of the givers. People\nhave been known to give, that they may enjoy themselves more\ncomfortably; and they may relieve their feelings by a gift, so as to be\nfree to spend a family\u2019s weekly income on their own dinner. A large fund\nis not, therefore, a sufficient evidence of increased sympathy.\n\nBut let it be granted that the Press action has brought more money to\nthe service of the poor. The question is: Has it been for good?\n\n\n    I.\n\nThe first characteristic of a Press fund is that, when a newspaper\nundertakes the administration of relief, it has to create its own\nmachinery. It may begin by sending down to the distressed district a\nclever young man with a cab-load of tickets. Nothing seems easier than\nto give to those who ask, and so money is poured into the hands of\napplicants, or sent to the clergy for distribution. A rough experience\nsoon enforces the necessity of inquiry and organization. In West Ham, in\nthe winter of 1904-5, when the Borough Council was spending \u00a328,000 on\nrelief, when the Guardians had 20,000 persons on their out-relief lists\nand 1300 men in the stone yard, the Press funds were distributed without\nany inquiry or any attempt at co-operation. I gather a few notes from\nreports made at the time by a resident in the district.\n\n  \u201cMr. C---- received a large sum from the _D. T._ He relieved 400\n  regularly; and there was no interchange of names.\u201d\n\n  \u201cI found one street in which nearly every one had relief.\u201d\n\n  \u201cI was asked to visit a starving case on Sunday; and found a good\n  dinner stowed away under the table.\u201d\n\n  \u201cOne man in receipt of 47s. a week in wages received twelve tickets\n  from the _D. N._ on Christmas Eve, and did not turn up to his work for\n  four days, though extra pay was offered for Boxing Day.\u201d\n\n  \u201cA man,\u201d says a relieving officer, \u201ccame to me on Friday and had\n  3s. He went to the Town Hall and got 4s. His daughter got 3s. from\n  the same source; his wife 5s. from a Councillor, and late the same\n  night a goose.\u201d\n\nAnother relieving officer reported:--\n\n  \u201cOutside my office a 4-lb. loaf could be bought for 1d., and a 2s.\n  relief ticket for two pots of beer.\u201d\n\n  \u201cThe public-houses did far better when the relief funds were at\n  work.\u201d\n\n  \u201cMy impression is, that more than 500 people who were in receipt of\n  out relief in my district received relief from the funds; but we\n  were never consulted.\u201d\n\n  \u201cThe relieving officers had to be under police protection for four\n  months.\u201d\n\nSuch an experience naturally forced the newspapers to consider their\nways. The system of doles was abandoned, and local organizations were\nestablished to give relief in some approved method. Let it be granted,\nwithout prejudice, that the administration was made so effective as to\njustify a report of good work to the subscribers to the fund. Let it be\ngranted that a large number of the unemployed were given work, that\nfamilies were emigrated, and that the hands of existing agencies were\nstrengthened. There are still two criticisms which may be directed\nagainst the Press position as an administrator of relief. The first is,\nthat the experience by which it learns wisdom is disastrous to the\npeople. The waste of money is itself serious, but that is a small matter\nalongside of the bitter feeling, the suspicion, the loss of heart, the\nloss of self-respect, the lying, which are encouraged when gifts are\nobtained by clamour and deceit. Gifts may be poisons as well as food,\nand gifts badly given make an epidemic of moral disease.\n\nThe second criticism is, that the organization, when it is created,\ndisturbs, displaces, and confuses other organizations, while it is not\nitself permanent. The Press action leaves, it may be said, a trail of\ndemoralization, and does not remain sufficiently long in existence to\nclear up its own abuses.\n\n\n    II.\n\nAnother characteristic of a Press fund is, that a newspaper raises its\nmoney by word pictures of family poverty. Its interviewers break in on\nthe sacredness of home. They come to the poor man\u2019s house without the\nsympathy of long experience, without any friendly introduction, with an\neye only to the \u201ccopy\u201d which may best provoke the gifts of their\nreaders. They write about the secrets of sorrow and suffering. They make\npublic the bitterness of heart which is precious to the soul, and thus\nintermeddle with the grief which no stranger can understand. Their tales\nlower the standard of human dignity; they make the poor who read the\ntales proud of conditions of which they should be ashamed, and they make\nthe rich think of the distress rather than of the self-respect of their\nneighbours.\n\nThe effects of the Press method of raising money by uncovering the\nsecrets of private sorrow may be summed up under three heads.\n\n(_a_) It increases poverty. Poverty comes to be regarded as a sort of\ndomestic asset. The family which can make the greatest show of suffering\nhas the greatest chance of relief, and examples are found of people who\nhave made themselves poor, or appear poor, for the sake of the fund.\n\n(_b_) It degrades the poor. A subtle effect of this advertisement of\nprivate suffering is, that people so advertised lose their self-respect.\nThey, as it were, like to expose themselves, and make a show of what\nought to be hidden; they glory in their shame, and accept at others\u2019\nhands what they themselves ought to earn. They beg, and are not ashamed;\nthey are idle, and are not self-disgraced. They are content to be\npitied.\n\n(_c_) It hardens the common conscience. A far-reaching effect of these\ntales of suffering heaped on suffering is, that the public demands more\nand more sensation to move it to benevolence. The natural human instinct\nwhich makes a man care for a man is weakened; and he who yesterday\nshrank from the thought of a sorrowing neighbour, is to-day hardly moved\nby a tale of starvation, anguish, and death.\n\nFeeling, we are taught, which is acted on and not actively used, becomes\ndulled; and the Press tales which work on the feeling of their readers\nat last dry up the fountain of real charity. The public in a way finds\nits interest, if not its enjoyment, in the news of others\u2019 suffering.\n\n\n    III.\n\nA third characteristic of a Press fund is, the daily bold advertisement\nof the amount received. Rival funds boast themselves one against\nanother; and rivalry is successful in drawing in thousands and tens of\nthousands of pounds. The magnitude of these sums is, however, always\nmisleading; and people for whom the money is subscribed think there is\nno end to the resources for their relief. The demand is increased;\npeople pour in from the country to share the benefit; workmen lay down\ntheir tools to put in their claims; energy is relaxed; greed is\nencouraged; and, when it is found that the relief obtained is small,\nthere are suspicion and discontent. The failure of the funds which\ndepend on advertisement suggests the wisdom of the Divine direction,\nthat charity should be in secret.\n\nSuch are some of the criticisms which I would offer on the Press funds.\nI grant that they apply to all \u201cfunds\u201d; and most of us who have tried to\n\u201cremember the poor\u201d have seen our work broken by the intrusion of some\noutside and benevolent agency. The truth is, that the only gift which\ndeserves the credit of charity is the personal gift--what a man gives at\nhis own cost, desiring nothing in return, neither thanks nor credit.\nWhat a man gives, directed by loving sympathy with a neighbour he knows\nand respects, this is the charity which is blessed; and its very\nmistakes are steps to better things. A \u201cfund\u201d cannot easily have these\nqualities of charity. Its agents do not give at their own cost; its\ngifts cannot be in secret; it cannot walk along the path of friendship;\nit is bound to investigate. When, therefore, any \u201cfund\u201d assumes the ways\nof charity, when it claims irresponsibility, when it expects gratitude,\nwhen it is unequal and irregular in its action, it justifies the strange\ncry we have lately heard: \u201cCurse your charity\u201d.\n\nA \u201cfund,\u201d voluntary or legal--it seems to me--should represent an effort\nto do justice, and should follow the ways of justice. Its object should\nbe, not to express pity, or even sympathy, and it should not ask for\ngratitude. Its object is to right wrong, to redress the unfairness which\nfollows the triumph of success, and give to the weak and disherited a\nshare in the prosperity they have done their part to create. A \u201cfund\u201d\nbecause its object is to do justice, ought to follow scientific lines;\nit ought to be guided by sound judgment; it ought to be administered by\nskilled officials; and it ought to do nothing which can lower any man\u2019s\nstrength and dignity. On the contrary, it ought to do everything to open\nto the lowest the way of honourable living. Its action must be just, and\nseem to be just; it must represent the mind, not of one class only, but\nof all classes.\n\nThere have been \u201cfunds\u201d which more or less approach this ideal. The\nMansion House Fund of 1903-4 issued a Report which stands as a model of\nwhat is possible; and its ideal is that of the ablest Poor Law\nreformers. Press funds created by excitement, and directed in a hurry,\nwill hardly reach such an ideal. They will neither by their genesis nor\nby their action represent the ways of justice.\n\nThe Press, I submit, deserts its high calling when it offers itself as a\nmeans by which its readers may easily do their duty to the poor. The\nrelief of the poor can never be easy--the easiest way is almost always\nthe wrong way. The Press, when it makes it possible for rich people to\nsatisfy their consciences by a donation to its \u201cfunds\u201d lets them escape\ntheir duty of effort, of sacrifice, and of personal sympathy. It spoils\nthe public, as foolish parents spoil children by taking away the call to\neffort.\n\nThe Press has great possibilities in teaching people to remember the\npoor. It might educate the national conscience to make a national\neffort to remove the causes of want of employment, physical weakness,\nand drunkenness. It might rouse the rich to the patriotism which the\nRussian noble expressed, when he said that \u201cthe rights of property must\ngive way to national needs\u201d. It might set the public mind to think of\na heart of the Empire in which there should be no infant of days, no\nyoung man without hope, and no old man without the means of peace.\nThe Press has done much. It seems to me a loss if, for the sake of the\nimmediate earthly link, if for the sake of creating a \u201cfund\u201d to relieve\npresent distress, it misses the eternal gain--the creation of a public\nmind which will prevent any distress.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    WHAT IS POSSIBLE IN POOR LAW REFORM.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    22 September, 1909.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Westminster Gazette\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\nThe Archbishop of Canterbury did good service in the House of Lords in\nforcing upon public attention the condition of the people as has been\nrevealed by the Poor Law Commission. There was only a small attendance\nof Peers to hear his statement, and the public mind has hardly been\nstirred. The imagination is not trained in England. For want of it, as\nLord Goschen used to say, our fathers lost America, and for want of it\nwe are likely to blunder into social trouble. The Lords, who are so keen\nin defence of property, do not realize that there are greater dangers to\nproperty in the presence of the unemployed than in the weapons forged by\nthe Budget, and the public mind forgets in the summer the \u201cbitter cries\u201d\nwhich every winter rise from broken homes and shattered lives.\n\nBut the facts remain as they have been stated by the Archbishop. There\nis poverty; there is distress; the community suffers grievous loss while\nstrong men lose their power to work and hearts are hardened by want. All\nthe time \u201cout relief is administered so as to foster and encourage dirt,\ndisease, and immorality, and the workhouse accommodation for the aged is\nin some cases so dreary as to be absolutely appalling, while in others\nit is palatial\u201d. The Archbishop \u201cabsolutely challenged the statement\nthat these difficulties could be met except by a new system under a new\nlaw\u201d. The whole evidence showed that things are radically wrong, and\nrendered it impossible to argue that \u201cwe are getting on well enough\u201d.\n\nMr. Burns rests in the progress under the Guardians\u2019 administration\nduring the last sixty years. \u201cIn-door pauperism has dropped from 62 to\n26 per 1000, out-door pauperism from 54 to 16, and child pauperism from\n26 to 7 per 1000,\u201d while \u201cthe cost per head of in-door paupers has risen\nfrom \u00a37 18s. to \u00a313 5s. and out-door pauperism from \u00a33 11s. to \u00a36 1s.\n5d.\u201d Striking figures, but they do not alter the facts which the\ninquiries of the Commissioners have brought to light. There are still\nworkhouses which are hot-beds of corruption; there are still thousands\nof children brought up under pauper influences, which the boasted\neducation for a few hours a week in an elementary school cannot stem;\nthere are still feeble-minded people of both sexes who, for want of\ncare, increase the number of lunatics and criminals; there are still\nthousands of children who cannot be properly clothed or fed on the\npittance of out relief; there are still strong men and women, stirred by\na deterrent system to become enemies of society, and to defy, by\nidleness, the authority which would, by severity, force them to work.\nLet any one whose mind Mr. Burns\u2019s figures satisfy dip into the pages of\nthe Poor Law Commission Report, and certainly his heart will be\nindignant.\n\n\u201cNo greater indictment\u201d it has been truly said, \u201chas ever been published\nagainst our civilization.\u201d\n\nProgress indeed cannot be judged by comparative figures. In 1850 it\nwould have marked a great change if pauperism had dropped from 62 to 26\nper 1000, but in 1910 it may be that 26 per 1000 constitutes as heavy a\nburden. Truth depends on relation. The social conscience has become much\nmore sensitive. This generation cannot brook wrongs which previous\ngenerations brooked. Our self-respect is wounded by the thought of\npoverty which our care might remove. Poverty itself is recognized to be\nsomething worse than want of food. Every citizen is necessary, not only\nthat he may work for the commonwealth, but that he may contribute by his\nthoughtful interest to make government efficient and human. The standard\nby which individual value is judged has been raised. Figures are not by\nthemselves measures of progress, because every unit in the course of\nyears changes its value, and to-day, as compared with sixty years ago,\neach man, woman and child may be said to have a worth which has\nincreased tenfold. Official figures do not recognize worth and are\ntherefore irritating; they increase and do not allay bitterness.\n\nSomething then must be done, and the debate in the House of Commons\nsuggests something which might be done immediately. The Prime Minister\nand the Government might at once adopt certain recommendations on which\nthere is general agreement, and which would not involve the immediate\nsubstitution of a new body of administration in the place of the\nGuardians. It might, for instance, 1. establish compulsory continuation\nschools; 2. make adequate provision for the feeble-minded; and 3.\ndevelop some method of training for the able-bodied and able-minded who\nhave lost their way in the industrial world.\n\nThere is general agreement as to the treatment of the feeble-minded, as\nto the training of the young, and as to the way of discipline for the\nunemployed.\n\nThe public has hardly recognized what is involved in the neglect of the\nmeasures recommended for the care of the feeble-minded. They do not know\nhow much crime, how much poverty, and how much drunkenness may be traced\nto this cause, or they would not expect the laws which assume\nstrong-mindedness to be effective. What effect can prison have on\ncharacters too feeble to resolve on reformation? What appeal to\nindependence can have weight with those who cannot reason? Evidence\nabounds in the pages of Reports, and the best thought of the times has\nagreed on the recommendations. If these recommendations were put into a\nBill and adopted a reform would be achieved which would cut deeply into\nthe burden of unemployment and vice under which the nation now labours.\n\nThen again as to the training of the young. Compulsory continuation\nschools might be established.\n\nIt is grievous to reflect that while the country is expending\n\u00a323,000,000 on education, there should be a large body of men and women\nwithout any resource other than that of the mechanical use of their\nhands and without any interest to satisfy their minds. It may be that\nsomething is wrong in our elementary schooling, but it is hard to\nrealize how the boy who leaves school to-day, a good reader and writer,\nand of clean habits, can become the dull, ignorant, and almost helpless\nman of thirty or thirty-five who stands among the unemployed at the\ntable of the Relief Committee. Nevertheless it is so, and the tale of\nhis descent has been often told. The boy, free of school, throws off\nschool pursuits as childish things. He will have no more to do with\nbooks or with learning. He takes a situation where he can get the\nlargest wages, and where least call is made on mental effort. He has\nmoney to spend and he spends it on the pleasures which give the most\nexcitement. At the age of eighteen or twenty he is no longer wanted as a\nboy, and he has no skill or intelligence which would fit him for\nwell-paid work as a man. He becomes a casual labourer, or perhaps gets\nregular employment in some mechanical occupation. Before he is forty, he\nis very frequently among the \u201cunemployed,\u201d his hands capable only of\ndoing one sort of work, and his head incapable of thinking out ways or\nmeans. His schooling has been practically wasted and he is again a\nburden on the community.\n\nAll inquiry goes to show that neglected boyhood is the chief source of\n\u201cthe unemployed\u201d. Care in securing good places for boys when they leave\nschool, and offers of technical teaching may do something, but these\nmeans do not serve to create the intelligent labourer, on whom, more\nthan on the skilled artisan, the wealth of the country depends. \u201cNo\nskilled labourer,\u201d Mr. Edison is reported to have said, \u201cis better than\nthe English, and no unskilled labourer is worse.\u201d The intelligent\nlabourer is one who does common work so as to save money; one who can\nunderstand and repeat instructions; one who can rise to an emergency;\none who serves others\u2019 interests and finds others\u2019 interests.\n\nOur labourers have not this intelligence because the boy\u2019s mind, just\nopened at school, has been allowed to close; he has been taken away from\nlearning just when it was becoming interesting. The obvious remedy is\ncompulsory continuation schools, and these have been recommended again\nand again by investigators and committees.\n\nLet it be enacted that young persons under eighteen cannot be employed\nunless their employers allow time for attendance at such schools on\nthree days a week, and receive a certificate of attendance--let it be\nmade obligatory on all young persons engaged in industrial work that\nthey attend such schools. Great employers like Messrs. Cadbury have\nfound it in their interest to make such attendance compulsory on the\nyoung persons they employ. A Departmental Committee would soon discover\nthe best way of enforcing compulsion, and the Government by this simple\nmeans would do much to stop unemployment and poverty at its source.\n\nSome method of training the able-bodied and able-minded unemployed might\nbe developed.\n\nThese form a distinct class. They cannot be helped by relief, and they\nare demoralized by relief works. They passed through boyhood without\ngetting the necessary equipment for life; they have, in a sort of way, a\nclaim for such equipment, and failing such they must be a burden to the\ncommunity. There are some ready to respond at once; there are others\nwho, by long neglect, have become indolent and defiant. The first need\nto be put on farms or in shops where they will receive training.\n\nHollesley Bay is an example of such a farm, though the experiment has\nunfortunately been confused by the introduction of men who receive\nsimple doles of work. But among the hundreds of married men with decent\nhomes, and bearing good reports from employers, there are many in whom\ncapacity is dormant. Pathetic indeed is their appeal, as worn in body\nand mind, ragged in clothing, they tell of work lost \u201cbecause motors\nhave taken the place of horses,\u201d \u201cbecause machinery has been\nintroduced,\u201d because \u201cboys do men\u2019s work\u201d; pathetic is the appeal of men\nwho, having lost their way in life, can see nothing before them but\nendless casual jobs, in which they will lose any strength they gain by\nthe fresh air and food of Hollesley. If only they could be told that by\nlearning to work and use their brains, they would be given a chance on\nthe land or in the Colonies. If only they could realize that they might,\nas others have done, become fit to occupy one of the cottages on the\nestate, how surely they would throw their hearts into the work and feel\nthe joy of seeing things grow under their hands. There is no need of\ncontroversial legislation. Training farms or shops could be provided,\nand if the decision be deferred as to whether the control of the\ntraining farm or shops should be local or national, it might be agreed\nthat the experiment should be made by the Board of Trade or the Board of\nAgriculture.\n\nIf the latter department took charge of the Colony, admitted only\nunemployed men fitted for agriculture, trained them, and put them in the\nway of taking up holdings, an experiment would be tried of immense value\nfor future legislature.\n\nThen, as to the other able-bodied and able-minded unemployed who have\nbecome idle and almost enemies of society. It has long been agreed that\nit is necessary to detain them for periods of three or four years,\nduring which they would be given the opportunity of learning to work.\nThe place of detention would not be a prison, but a School of Industry,\nin which their capacities would be developed and their self-respect\nencouraged. The organization of such a place of discipline might involve\nthought, but its establishment need involve the Government in no long\ncontroversy. The Poor Law Commission and the Vagrancy Commission are at\none in urging the necessity, and it must be obvious to anyone that until\nsome means is discovered for removing from \u201cthe unemployed\u201d the \u201cidle\nand vagrant class,\u201d the public mind will never AGREE TO WISE DEALING\nWITH THE PROBLEM.\n\nHere then is something possible, something which even a Government so\nburdened as the present might accomplish. The direct effect would be\ngreat, if boys were checked on their way to the ranks of the unemployed;\nif some untrained men and women were taken from the streets and restored\ntrained to the labour market; if the feeble-minded and the idle were\nremoved from unwise sympathy and unfair abuse. The indirect effect would\nalso be great, as the conviction would spread that the Government was\nindeed taking a matter in hand which has been year by year postponed.\nThere would be more hope of peace and good-will between rich and poor.\nWhen so much is at once possible, is it reasonable that nothing should\nbe done till a complete scheme has been devised?\n\nIt does not seem to be over-sanguine to believe that there are earnest\nmen among the younger M.P.\u2019s who, putting party aside, will agree to do\nwhat has been shown to be possible for the young people, the\nfeeble-minded, and the unemployed.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    CHARITY UP TO DATE.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    February, 1912.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Contemporary Review\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\nThe tender mercies of the thoughtless, as of the wicked, are often\ncruel, and charity when it ceases to be a blessing is apt to become a\ncurse; A Mansion House fund we used in old days to count among the\npossible winter horrors of East London. The boldly advertised details of\ndestitution, the publication of the sums collected, the hurried\ndistribution by irresponsible and ignorant agents, and the absence of\nany policy, stirred up wild expectation and left behind a trail of\nbitterness and degradation. The people were encouraged in deception, and\nwere led on in the way which ends in wretchedness.\n\nIn 1903 a Committee was formed which used a Mansion House fund to\ninitiate a policy of providing honourable and sufficiently paid work\nwhich would, at the same time, test the solid intention of unemployed\nand able-bodied applicants. The report of that Committee has been\ngenerally accepted, and has indeed become the basis of subsequent action\nand recommendations. It seemed to us East Londoners as if the bad time\nhad been passed, and that henceforth charitable funds would flow in\nchannels to increase fruitfulness and not in floods to make devastation.\n\nThe hope has been disappointed. Funds inaugurated by newspapers, by\nagencies, or by private persons have appeared in overwhelming force, and\nhave followed in the old bad ways. The heart of the public has been torn\nby harrowing descriptions of poverty and suffering, which the poor also\nread and feel ashamed. The means of relief are often miserably\ninadequate. A casual dinner eaten in the company of the most degraded\ncannot help the \u201ctoiling widows and decent working-men,\u201d \u201cwaiting in\ntheir desolate homes to know whether there is to be an end to their\npains and privations\u201d. Two or three hours spent in fields hardly clear\nof London smoke, after a noisy and crowded ride, is not likely to give\nchildren the refreshment and the quiet which they need for a recreative\nholiday.\n\nMuch of the charity of to-day, it has to be confessed, is mischievous,\nif not even cruel, and to its charge must be laid some of the poverty,\nthe degradation, and the bitterness which characterize London, where, it\nis said, eight million sterling are every year given away. Ruskin, forty\nyears ago, when he was asked by an Oxford man proposing to live in\nWhitechapel what he thought East London most wanted, answered, \u201cThe\ndestruction of West London\u201d. Mr. Bernard Shaw has lately, in his own\nstartling way, stated a case against charity, and we all know that the\nlegend on the banner of the unemployed, \u201cCurse your charity,\u201d represents\nwidely spread opinion.\n\nBut--practically--what is the safe outlet for the charitable instinct?\nThe discussion of the abolition of charity is not practical. People\nare bound to give their money to their neighbours. Human nature is\nsolid--individuals are parts of a whole--and the knowledge of a\nneighbour\u2019s distress stirs the desire to give something, as surely\nas the savour of food stirs appetite. But as in the one case the\nsatisfaction of the appetite is not enough unless the food builds up\nthe body and strength, so in the other case the charity which relieves\nthe feelings of the giver is not enough unless it meets the neighbour\u2019s\nneeds. Those needs are to-day very evident, and very complex. Our rich\nand ease-loving society knows well that a family supported on twenty\nshillings a week cannot get sufficient food, and that even forty\nshillings will not provide means for holidays--for travel or for study.\nThere will be children whose starved bodies will never make strong\nmen and women; and there will be men and women who live anxious and\ncare-worn lives, who cannot enjoy the beauties and wonders of the world\nin which they have been placed.\n\nThere are ghastly facts behind modern unrest, which are hardly\nrepresented by tales of destitute children and the sight of ragged\nhumanity congregated around the free shelters. The needs are obvious,\nand they are very complex. The man whose ragged dress and haggard face\ncries out for food, has within him a mind and a soul fed on the crumbs\nwhich fall from the thoughts of the times, and he is a member of society\nfrom which he resents exclusion. Relief of a human being\u2019s need must\ntake all these facts into account. It must not give him food, at the\nexpense of lowering his self-respect; it must not provide him with\npleasure at the expense of degrading his capacity for enjoying his\nhigher calling as a man, and it must not be kind at the expense of\nmaking independence impossible. The man who is stirred by the knowledge\nof his neighbour\u2019s needs must take a deal of trouble.\n\nThe only safe outlet for the charitable instinct is, it may be said,\nthat which is made by thinking and study. The charity which is\nthoughtless is charity out of date. It is always hard to be up to date,\nbecause to be so involves fresh thinking, and it is so much easier to\nsay what has been said by previous generations, and to imitate the deeds\nof the dead benefactors. They who would really serve their neighbour\u2019s\nneeds by a gift must bring the latest knowledge of human nature to bear\non the applicant\u2019s character, and treat it in relation to the structure\nof society as that structure is now understood. They must be students of\npersonality and of the State. They must consider the individual who is\nin need or the charitable body which makes an appeal, as carefully as a\nphysician considers his case; they must get the facts for a right\ndiagnosis, and bring to the cure all the resources of civilization. The\ngreat benefactors of old days were those who thought out their\nactions--as, for instance, when Lady Burdett-Coutts met the need of work\nby building amid the squalor of East London a market beautiful enough to\nbe a temple, or as Lord Shaftesbury when he inaugurated ragged\nschools--but new ages demand new actions, and the spiritual children of\nthe great dead are not they who act as they acted, but those who give\nthought as they gave thought.\n\nThe charity which does not flow in channels made by thought is the\ncharity which is mischievous. People comfort themselves and encourage\ntheir indolence by saying they would rather give wrongly in ten cases\nthan miss one good case. The comfort is deceptive. The gift which does\nnot help, hinders, and it is the gifts of the thoughtless which open the\npitfalls into which the innocent fall and threaten the stability of\nsociety. Such gifts are temptations to idleness, and widen the breach\nbetween rich and poor. When people of good-will, in pursuit of a good\nobject, do good deeds which are followed by cries of distress and by\ncurses there is a tragedy.\n\nCharity up to date, whether it be from person to person or through\nsome society or fund, must be such as is approved by the same close\nthinking as business men give to their business, or politicians to\ntheir policy. The best form of giving must always, I think, be that\nfrom person to person. Would that it were more used--would that those\nwhose feelings are stirred by the sight of many sick folk were content\nto try and heal one! There are always individuals in need at our own\ndoor--neighbours, workpeople, relatives, servants; there is always\namong those we know some one whose home could be made brighter, or\nwhose sickness could be lightened; there are tired people who could\nbe sent on holiday, boys or girls who could be better educated. Gifts\nwhich pass from person to person are something more than ordinary\ngifts. \u201cThe gift without the giver is bare,\u201d and when the giver\u2019s\nthought makes itself felt, the gift is enriched. The best form of\ncharity, therefore, is personal, and if for some reason this be\nimpossible, then the next best is that which strengthens the hands of\npersons who are themselves in touch with neighbours in need, such as\nare the almoners of the Society for the Relief of Distress, the members\nof the Charity Organization Committees, or the residents in Settlements.\n\nThe personal gift, inspired by good-will and directed by painstaking\nthought, is the best form of charity, but people who have learnt what\norganizations and associations can do will not be content unless those\nmeans also are applied to the relief of their neighbours. The\nconsequence is the existence of numberless societies for numberless\nobjects. \u201cWhich of them may be said to represent charity up to date?\u201d\nThe answer I submit is, \u201cThose which approve themselves to thoughtful\nexamination\u201d.\n\nAppeals which touch the feelings of the readers, with well-known names\nas patrons and hopeful forecasts, should not be sufficient to draw\nsupport. The would-be subscriber must leisurely apply his mind, and\nweigh the proposals in the light of modern knowledge. The giving a\nsubscription involves a large responsibility; it not only withdraws from\nuse money which, as wages, would have employed useful labour, but it may\nactually be a means of doing mischief. As one familiar with the working\nof many charities, I would appeal for more thoughtfulness on the part of\nall subscribers. People must think for themselves and judge for\nthemselves; but perhaps, out of a long experience, I may suggest a few\nguiding principles.\n\nI. Charities should aim at encouraging growth rather than at giving\nrelief. They should be inspired by hope rather than by pity. They should\nbe a means of education, a means of enabling the recipient to increase\nin bodily, mental, or spiritual strength. If I spend twenty shillings on\ngiving a dinner or a night\u2019s lodging to twenty vagrants, I have done\nnothing to make them stronger workers or better citizens, I have only\nkept poverty alive; but if I spend the same sum in sending one person to\na convalescent hospital, he will be at any rate a stronger man, and if\nduring his stay at the hospital his mind is interested in some\nsubject--in something not himself--he will probably be a happier man.\nSocieties which devote a large income to providing food and clothing do\nnot in the long run reduce the number of those in want, while Societies\nwhich promote the clearing of unhealthy areas, the increase of open\nspace about town dwellings, greater accessibility to books and pictures,\ngradually raise people above the need of gifts of food and clothing.\nHospitals which do much in restoring strength to the sick would do more\nif they used their reputation and authority to teach people how to avoid\nsickness, and to make a public opinion which would prevent many diseases\nand accidents. The distinguished philanthropist who used to say she\nwould rather give a poor man a watch than a coat was, I believe, wiser\nthan another philanthropist who condemned a poor woman for spending her\nmoney on buying a picture for her room. It is more important to raise\nself-respect and develop taste than just to meet physical needs.\n\nCharities intruding themselves upon the intimacies of domestic life have\nby their patronage often dwarfed the best sort of growth. Warnings\nagainst patronizing the poor are frequent, but many charities are by\ntheir very existence \u201cpatronizing,\u201d and many others, by sending people\nto collect votes, by requiring expressions of their gratitude, and by\nthe attitude of their agents, do push upon the poor reminders of their\nobligations. They belong to a past age, and have no place in the present\nage, where they foster only a cringing or rebellious attitude. It has\nbeen well said that, \u201ca new spirit is necessary in dealing with the\npoor, a spirit of humility and willingness to learn, rather than\ngenerosity and anxiety to teach\u201d. This is only another form of saying\nthat charities must be educational, because no one can educate who is\nnot humble. Our schools, perhaps, will have further results when the\nteachers cease to call themselves \u201cmasters!\u201d\n\nII. Charities should, I think, look to, if not aim at, their own\nextinction. Their existence, it must be remembered, is due to some\ndefect in the State organization or in the habits of the people.\nSchools, for instance, were established by the gifts of good-will to\nmeet the ignorance from which people suffered, and when the State itself\nestablished schools the gifts have been continued for the sake of\nmethods and experiments to meet further needs which the State has not\nyet seen its way to meet. Charities, in this case, have looked, or do\nlook, to their own extinction when the State, guided by their example,\nmay take up their work. They have been pioneers, original, daring by\nexperiment to lead the way to undiscovered good. Relief societies have,\nin like manner, shown how the State may help the poor by means which\nrespect their character, by putting work within their reach, by\nemigrating those fit for colonial life, by giving orphan children more\nof the conditions of a family home. There are others which have looked,\nor still look, to their extinction, not in State action, but in\nco-operation with other societies with which they now compete.\nCompetition may be the strength of commerce, but co-operation is\ncertainly the strength of charity, and wise are those charities which\nare content to sink themselves in common action and die that they may\nrise again in another body. The Charity Organization Societies in some\nof the great cities have in this way lost themselves, to live again in\nSocial Welfare Councils and Civic Leagues. There are, finally, other\ncharities which, by their own action, tend to make themselves\nunnecessary. The Children\u2019s Country Holiday Fund, for instance, by\ngiving country holidays to town children, and by making the parents\ncontribute to the expense, develop at once a new desire for the peace\nand beauty of the country and a new capacity for satisfying this desire.\nWhen parents realize the necessity of such holiday and know how it can\nbe secured, this Fund will cease to have a reason for existence.\n\nCharities are many which fulfil this condition, but charities also are\nmany which do not fulfil it. They seem to wish to establish themselves\nin permanence, and go on in rivalry with the State and with one another.\nThere is waste of money, which might be used in pioneer work, in doing\nwhat is equally well done by others; there is competition which excites\ngreed and imposition, and there is overlapping. Very little thought is\nwanted to discover many such charities which now receive large incomes\nfrom the public.\n\nA wise observer has said: \u201cA charity ought every twenty-five years to\nhead a revolution against itself\u201d. Only by some such means can it be\nbrought into adjustment with the new needs of a new time, only by some\nsuch means will it clear off excrescences and renew its youth. But,\nfailing such power of self-reform, it is worthy of consideration whether\nevery twenty-five years each charity should not be compelled to justify\nits existence before some State Commission.\n\nIII. Charities should keep in line with State activities. The\nState--either by national or by municipal organization--has taken over\nmany of the duties which meet the needs of the people. Ignorance,\npoverty, disease and dullness have all been met, and the means by which\nthey are being met are constantly developed. The Church, it may be said,\nhas so far converted the State, and a cheerful payer of rates may\nperhaps deserve the same Divine commendation as the cheerful giver. But\nState organizations, however well considered and well administered, will\nalways want the human touch. They will not, like the charities, be\nfitful because dependent on subscribers and committees, but they will\nnot, like charities, temper their actions to individual peculiarities\nand feelings. Charities, therefore, I think, do well when they keep in\nline with State activities. They may, for instance, working in\nco-operation with the Guardians, undertake the care of the families when\nthe bread-winner is in the infirmary, or superintend the management of\nindustrial colonies to which the unemployed may be sent, or provide\nenfeebled old people with pensions until the age when they are eligible\nfor the State pension. They may, in connexion with the School and\nEducation authorities, support the Care Committees who look after the\ninterest of children in elementary schools, or, like Mrs. Humphry Ward\u2019s\nsociety, give guidance in play during the children\u2019s leisure hours. They\nmay also, in conjunction with the Sanitary Authorities, work for the\nincrease of health and the wiser use of playgrounds and means of\nrecreation. Men and women of good-will may, I believe, find boundless\nopportunities if they will serve on Municipal bodies or on the\nCommittees appointed by such bodies to complement their work.\n\nIt may, indeed, be a further indictment against charities that much of\nthe good-will which might have improved and humanized State action has\nby them been diverted. If, for instance, the passion of good-will which\nnow finds an outlet in providing free shelters and dinners for the\nstarving, or orphanages for destitute children, had gone to improve\nCasual Wards and Barrack Schools, many evils would have been prevented.\nAt any rate, it may be said that charities working alongside of the\nState organizations would become stronger, and State organizations\ninspired by the charities would become more humane. It costs more,\ndoubtless, to work in co-operation with others, and to subject self-will\nto the common will as a member of a Board of Guardians, than to be an\nimportant member of a charitable committee, but in charity it is cost\nwhich counts.\n\nCharity--to sum up my conclusion--represents a very important factor in\nthe making of England of to-morrow. The outbreak of giving, of which\nthere has been ample evidence this Christmas, may represent increased\ngood-will and more vivid realization of responsibility for those\nafflicted in mind, body, or estate, or it may represent the impatience\nof light-hearted people anxious to relieve themselves and get on to\ntheir pleasures. Society is out of joint because the wealth of the rich\nand the poverty of the poor have been brought into so great light. It\nseems intolerable that when wealth has to invent new ways of\nexpenditure, there should be families where the earnings are\ninsufficient for necessary food, where the children cannot enjoy the\ngaiety of their youth, where the boys and girls pass out through\nunskilled trades to pick up casual labour and casual doles. The needs\nare many, but the point I wish to urge is that charity which intends to\nhelp may hinder. No gift is without result, and some of the gifts are\nresponsible for the suffering, carelessness, and bitterness of our\ntimes. Charity up to date is that which gives thought as well as money\nand service. The cost is greater, and many who will even deny themselves\na pleasure so as to give a generous cheque cannot exercise the greater\ndenial of giving their thought. \u201cThere is no glory,\u201d said Napoleon,\n\u201cwhere there is no danger;\u201d and we may add, there is no charity where\nthere is no thought, and thought is very costly.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    WHAT LABOUR WANTS.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    May, 1912.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Daily News\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\nWorking men have become, we are often told, the governing class. They\nform a large part, perhaps the majority, of the electorate, and theirs\nis the obligation of making the laws and directing the policy on which\ndepend the safety and honour of the nation. They have come into an\ninheritance built up at great cost, and on them lies the responsibility\nfor its care and development.\n\nWorking-men, in order that they may fulfil their obligation and deliver\nthemselves of their responsibility, may rightly, I think, urge a moral\nclaim on the community for the opportunities by which to fit themselves\nfor the performance of their duties. They enjoy by the sacrifice of\ntheir ancestors the inestimable privilege of freedom, but the value of\nfreedom depends on the power to take advantage of its possibilities: the\nright to run in a race is all very well, but it is not of great use if\nthe runner\u2019s legs and arms are crippled. Freedom, in fact, implies the\ncapacity to do or enjoy something worth doing or enjoying. The working\nclasses, who, as members of a free nation, have been entrusted with the\ngovernment of the nation, cannot do what is worth doing or what they are\ncalled to do if their bodies are weakened by ill health and their minds\ncribbed and cabined by ignorance. How can they whose childhood has been\nspent in the close, smoky, and f\u0153tid air of the slums, whose bodies have\nbeen weakened in unhealthy trade, take their share in the support or\ndefence of the nation? How can they who have learned no history, whose\nminds have had no sympathetic training, whose eyes have never been\nopened to the enjoyment of beauty, understand the needs of the people or\ngrasp the mission of the Empire? Working men have thus a moral claim\nthat they shall have the opportunity to secure health and knowledge,\nsanitary dwellings, open spaces, care in sickness and the prevention of\ndisease, schools, university teaching, and easy access to all those\nmeans of life which make for true enjoyment.\n\nBut when such opportunities have been provided, poverty often prevents\ntheir use. This excuse does not, indeed, hold universally, and it is\nmuch to be wished that the Labour Press and other makers of Labour\nopinion would more often urge the importance of taking advantage of\nthe provided means for health and knowledge. They may have reason for\nstirring men against the unfairness of an economic system and uniting\nthem in a strike against the ways of capital, but success would be\nof little value unless the men themselves become stronger and wiser.\nMany workmen--for example, those engaged in the building trades--have\nabundant leisure during the winter. It would be well, if they, as well\nas those who consume hours in attending football matches, would spend\nsome time in developing their capacities of mind and body. Labour\nindeed needs a chaplain who will preach that power comes from what a\nman is, and not only from what a man has. The Labour Press, with its\nvoice reiterating complaints, and its eyes fixed on \u201cpossessions,\u201d\nmakes reading as dreary as the pages of a society or financial journal.\n\nBut this is digression, and the fact remains that poverty does in the\ncase of thousands and hundreds of thousands of families prevent the\npossibility of using the means necessary for the development of their\ncapacities. A wage of 20s. a week cannot permit schooling for the\nchildren up to the age of fifteen; it will not, indeed, provide\nsufficient food for the healthy life even of a small family. It can give\nno margin for the little recreations by which the powers of the mind are\nrenewed, and does not allow for the leisure during growing years which\nis necessary to the making of the mind. It leaves the breadwinner\nfretted by anxiety lest in days of sickness or unemployment the wolf may\nenter the door and destroy the home.\n\nThe mass of labourers are, in a word, too poor to be healthy or wise;\nthey are not fit to take a part in government, and they have not the\nopportunity to make themselves fit. Their work is often costly though it\nis cheap, and their votes are worthless though gained by much\ncanvassing. Wages which are not a living wage unfit workmen for their\nduty in the government of the nation.\n\nDoes this fact justify a moral claim for a living wage to be fixed and\nenforced by the community? Ought a wage sufficient for the support of\nmanhood to be a first charge on the product of labour and capital? The\nanswer has in effect been given by the establishment of Wages Boards.\nThere are now four trades in which a wage judged by a representative\ncommittee to be a living wage is enforced, and the same principle has\nlately been applied to the mining industry. The extension to other\ntrades--if the experiment succeeds--can only be a matter of time. The\nclaim of labour has been admitted, and the immediate question is, what\nis likely to be the result. Employers who are forced to give a higher\nwage will certainly require a higher standard of work. From one point of\nview this is all to the good. The acceptance of low-class work is as\ncostly to the nation as it is degrading to the worker; it is a common\nloss when workers make constant mistakes for want of intelligence, and\nprove themselves to be not worthy a living wage. Every one is the better\nfor the discipline which is required by the service of men; it is likely\nto make the nation richer and the workers more self-respecting, if they\nare free to fit themselves to take their part in government. It will, in\neconomic language, probably tend to decrease the cost of production, and\ntherefore the cost of living.\n\nBut there is another point of view. The raising of the standard of work\nwill at once throw out the less able, the unskilful, the ignorant, and\nthe lazy. Is this for good or for evil? \u201cFor good,\u201d is the answer I\noffer. It is well to face facts. Legislation and philanthropy have often\ndone mischief by treating the unemployed as one class. If they are\nrecognized as those not worth a living wage then it is clear that either\nthey must be fitted to earn such a wage, or be segregated in colonies\nwhere their labour will be subsidized. They have a claim on such\ntreatment. Some by the want of care in their youth, or by some change of\nfashion, have no marketable skill. It seems only fair that they should\nhave the chance of acquiring some other skill. Some, because they are\nlazy and work-shy, are inclined to prey upon their poor working\nneighbours. It seems only fair that they should be taken off the market\nand shut up till they learn habits of industry. Some, because they are\nweak in body or mind, can never earn sufficient for their upkeep. It\nseems only fair that they should be kept, not in workhouses or on\ninadequate out relief, but in colonies where their labour would go\ntowards their own support, and sympathetic guardianship, by necessary\nsubsidies, prevent them from starving.\n\nLabour has a moral claim that labourers be given the opportunity of\nbecoming free men--free to use and enjoy their manhood. English people\nmade great sacrifices to secure freedom for the negroes, and religious\npeople, to accomplish this object, dared to interfere in politics. The\nposition to-day is more serious when those who are not free are called\non to be governors of the nation, and religious people may again do well\nto interfere in politics to secure that working men may have the\nopportunity of developing the capacities which they have received for\nthe service of mankind.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    OUR PRESENT DISCONTENTS.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    February, 1913.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Nineteenth Century and After\u201d. By permission of the\nEditor.\n\n\n\u201cHistory,\u201d we are told, \u201chas often been the record of statesmen\u2019s\nillusions,\u201d and to one into whose mind over thirty years\u2019 memories of\nEast London have been burnt, it seems as if this generation concerning\nitself about foreign aggression, and the grouping of European Powers,\nwere walking in the vain shadow of such an illusion. It is spending\nmillions annually on armaments against a possible enemy, and grudges a\ncomparatively small sum against the evils which are even now eating into\nthe strength of the nation.\n\nStrikes and rumours of strikes are shaking the foundations of the wealth\nby which our Dreadnoughts are built and our great Empire\nsecured--political apathy and indifference to the commonwealth mock\nfervid appeals for patriotic self-sacrifice--railing accusations are\nhurled by the rich that workmen loaf and drink, and by the tyranny of\ntrades unions ruin trade; and the equally railing accusations are urged\nby workmen that the rich in their luxury are content to plunder the poor\nand live in callous indifference to the wrongs they see; and to crown\nall the other evidences of discontent, violent speeches and lawless\nconduct are weakening the old calm confidence in the stability of the\nsocial structure which has been built up by the elaborate care of many\ngenerations.\n\nAn enemy has got a footing in the heart of the Empire, and is causing\nthis disturbance. He has evaded our fleet and our forts, and he has the\npower to destroy our power. The nation, like a dreamer awakening, is\nshaking itself as it becomes conscious of another danger than that of\nforeign fleets and armies. It is beginning to be anxious about its\nsocial condition and is asking somewhat fitfully, What is to be done?\nWhat is the cause of the present discontent? What are the remedies?\n\nMany causes are suggested. It may be that education, having developed\nthe people\u2019s capacities for enjoyment, has increased the area of\ndiscontent, and those who used to sit placidly in the shadow now demand\na ray of the abundant sunshine. It may be that the frantic pace at\nwhich the modern world moves has stimulated the demand for excitement\nand made men impatient for change; it may be that the popular\nphilosophy of the street and the Press, eclipsing older philosophies\nof the Church and the chair, impels men and nations to put their own\ninterests before other interests--to retaliate blow for blow, and to\nbecome proud of pride. When nations, classes, or individuals seek first\nto protect themselves, then the other things, greed, panic, suspicion,\nand strife, are soon added.\n\nAll these causes may operate, but they would not, I think, be dangerous,\nif it were not for the fact of poverty. Ideas, philosophies, and\nfeelings have only stirred mankind when they have been able to appeal to\nfacts, and agitators would now agitate in vain if conditions did not\nagitate more eloquently. Mean streets and ailing bodies jar upon the\nmore widely spread sense of joy, and the long hours of labour and the\nsmall wages stir an anger which becomes ready to upset society in order\nthat the greater number might profit in the scramble. Poverty, as far as\nI can see, is the root cause of the prevailing discontent, the door by\nwhich the enemy enters and the fortress from which he sends out\nsuspicion and strife to compass the nation\u2019s ruin. Poverty! And our\nnational income is \u00a31,844,000,000, and the nation\u2019s accumulated wealth\nis the almost inconceivable sum of \u00a313,762,000,000.\n\nThe voice of the times--would that it had a Gladstone for its\ninterpreter--is one that calls every one, be he patriot or business man,\nor even a pleasure-lover, to set himself to help in the eviction of\npoverty. If there be any fighting spirit--any chivalry left, here is the\nobject for its attack; if there be any enlightened selfishness, here is\nthe field for its exercise. Poverty, if it be not destroyed, will\ndestroy the England of our hopes and our dreams.\n\nThe curious thing is that the public mind which speaks through the\nPress hardly realizes what is meant by poverty. There is much talk\non the subject--numberless volumes are issued, and charities are\nmultiplied, but what is in the minds of speakers, writers, and givers\nis obviously destitution. They think of the ragged, broken creatures\nkept waiting outside the doors of the shelter, and they have mental\npictures of squalid rooms and starving children. Many and many a time\nvisitors have come to Whitechapel expecting to see whole streets\noccupied by the ragged and the wretched, and they have been almost\ndisappointed to find such misery the exception. There are, indeed, many\nthousands of people destitute, but they form only a fraction of the\npoor, and could, as the Poor Law Commissioners have shown, be lifted\nout of the condition by action at once drastic and humane. Why that\naction has not even been attempted is one of the many questions which\nthe Local Government Board has to answer. But my present point is that,\nif all the destitute were removed, the poverty which is at the back of\nour present discontent would remain.\n\nMr. Seebohm Rowntree, whose opinion has been supported by subsequent\nsocial explorers and by scientific research, concludes that 3s. a week\nfor an adult and 2s. 3d. for a child is necessary to keep the body in\nphysical repair, the food being chosen simply to get the most nutrition\nfor the least money, without any regard to appetite or pleasure. The\nrent for a family, even if one room be considered sufficient, can hardly\nbe less than 4s. a week in a town, and if household sundries are to\ninclude fuel, light, and clothing for a family of five persons, 4s. 11d.\nis a moderate sum. It thus seems as if the smallest income on which it\nwould be possible for an average family to exist is 21s. 8d. a week.\n\nMr. Charles Booth, Mr. Rowntree, and other subsequent investigators have\nshown that 30 per cent. of the town population have an income below or\nhardly above that sum, and as the wages of agricultural labourers\naverage in England 18s. 3d. a week, in Scotland 19s. 3d., and in Ireland\n10s. 11d., it is fair to conclude that the estimate of the towns may be\napplied to the whole kingdom, and that at least 12,000,000 of the\n45,000,000 people are living on incomes below the poverty line.\n\nMr. Chiozza Money, in his \u201cRiches and Poverty\u201d approaching the subject\nfrom another side, justifies the conclusion. He shows that a population\namounting to 39,000,000 persons is dependent on incomes of less than\n\u00a3160 a year--say 60s. a week, and absorbs \u00a3935,000,000 of the national\nincome; that 4,100,000 persons depend on incomes between \u00a3160 and \u00a3700\nper annum, and absorb \u00a3275,000,000 of the national income; and that the\ncomparatively small number of 1,400,000 dependent on incomes over \u00a3700 a\nyear absorb the mighty sum of \u00a3634,000,000. In other words, more than\none-third of the entire income of the United Kingdom is enjoyed by\none-thirtieth of its people.\n\nIn the light of these facts it is not incredible that 30 per cent of the\npopulation live in the grip of actual poverty. \u201cThe United Kingdom\ncontains,\u201d it may be said in truth and shame, \u201ca great multitude of poor\npeople veneered with a thin layer of the comfortable and rich.\u201d[2]\n\nThe broad fact which stands out of these figures is that, when 21s. 8d.\nis taken as the sum necessary so that an average family may keep body\nand soul together, 12,000,000 people must give up in despair, and many\nother millions, depending on wages of 30s. or even 40s. a week, live\nanxious days. And this despair or anxiety is not on account of life, in\nall its multitudinous aspects, but only as to the maintenance of simple\nphysical efficiency.\n\n  [2] These and other figures are put together very lucidly by Mr. Will\nReason in a little shilling book, \u201cPoverty\u201d published by Headly Bros.,\nwhich I commend to all as a good introduction to the subject.\n\n  Let us, says Mr. Rowntree, clearly understand what physical\n  efficiency means. A family living upon the scale allowed for in\n  this estimate must never spend a penny on railway fare or omnibus.\n  They must never go into the country unless they walk. They must\n  never purchase a halfpenny newspaper or buy a ticket for a popular\n  concert. They must write no letters to absent children, for they\n  cannot afford to pay the postage. They must never contribute\n  anything to their church or chapel or give any help to a neighbour\n  which costs them money. They cannot save nor can they join sick\n  clubs or trade unions, because they cannot pay the necessary\n  subscriptions. The children must have no pocket-money for dolls,\n  marbles, and sweets. The father must smoke no tobacco and must\n  drink no beer. The mother must never buy any pretty clothes for\n  herself or for her children. Should a child fall ill, it must be\n  attended by the parish doctor; should it die, it must be buried by\n  the parish. Finally, the wage-earner must never be absent from his\n  work for a single day.\n\nA few parents of heroic mould may have succeeded in bringing up children\nto healthy and useful manhood and womanhood on small wages. Tales of\nsuch are repeated in select circles, but these families generally belong\nto a generation less open to temptation than the present. There are now\nfew, very few, parents who, with an uncertain wage of 30s. a week, never\nspend a penny for the sake of pleasure, taste, or friendship. The result\nis that their own or their children\u2019s physical health and well-being are\nsacrificed. The boys are rejected when they offer themselves as\nsoldiers, the infant mortality is high, and the girls unprotected are\nmore ready to become the victims of vice. The saddest of all experiences\nof life among the poor is the gradual declension of respectable families\ninto the ranks of the destitute, when loss of work finds them without\nresources in body or skill.\n\nIt is the poverty of the great multitude of the working people and not\nthe destitution of the very poor which is the force of the present\ndiscontent. This is not realized even by Mrs. George Kerr, whose book,\n\u201cThe Path of Social Progress,\u201d seems to me one of the best of those\nlately published on the subject. She speaks of Dr. Chalmers as having\nadvocated a policy \u201cwhich still holds the field,\u201d and is the \u201conly\nscheme which actually did diminish poverty\u201d. But this policy aimed at\ndiminishing a poverty which was practically destitution, and its method\nwas to strengthen the people in habits which would enable them to live\nindependent lives on wages of 20s. a week. Mrs. Kerr herself talks of\nthe importance of a wife averaging her husband\u2019s wages, so that if her\nhusband as a painter earns 36s. a week for four months the family\nexpenditure ought to be limited within 18s. a week, and she evidently\ncondemns as waste the purchase of a perambulator or bicycle. The methods\nshe advocates by which character may be raised and strengthened are\nadmirable, and the lead given by Dr. Chalmers cannot be too closely\nfollowed, but they have reference to destitution and not to the poverty\nfrom which working people suffer whose wages reach a more or less\nuncertain 30s. or 40s. a week.\n\nDestitution, in the crusade against which philanthropists and Poor Law\nreformers are so well engaged, does not indeed affect the present\ndiscontent, except in so far as the presence of the destitute is a\nwarning to the workman of his possible fate. A mechanic is, perhaps,\nearning 30s. a week, or even more; he, by great frugality on his own\npart, or by almost miraculous management on his wife\u2019s part, just\nsucceeds in keeping his family in health; he sees the destitute in their\nwretchedness, he hears of many who are herded in the prison-like\nworkhouses, and he feels that if he loses his work, if illness overtakes\nhim or his wife, their fate must be his fate. The destitute may be a\nburden to the nation, but they are also a danger, in so far as they by\ntheir examples rouse a dangerous mood in thousands of workpeople whose\nwages hardly lift them out of the reach of poverty, and give them no\nopportunity by saving to make the future secure.\n\nThe cure of destitution, necessary though it be on humane and economic\ngrounds, is not the remedy for the present discontent. If all people\nincapable of earning a living were cared for under the best conditions,\nif by careful selection according to the straitest sect of the eugenists\nall the people engaged in work were fit for their work, if by better\neducation and more scientific physical training every child were fully\ndeveloped, or if by moral and religious impulse all citizens were to\nbecome frugal and self-restrained, there would still be the poverty\nwhich is the source of danger so long as the share of the national\nincome which comes to the workers is so small. The greatest need of the\ngreatest number is a larger income.\n\nIt is, I think, fair to say that on their present income the majority of\nour people can neither enjoy themselves rationally nor give an\nintelligent vote as joint governors of the nation. They have not the\nfreedom which takes pride in self-government.\n\nThere are, it must be evident, few signs of rational enjoyment in the\nvastly increased pleasure-seeking of to-day. The people crowd into the\ncountry, but only a few people find anything in nature which is theirs.\nThey pass by the memorials of great men and great events, and seldom\nfeel a thrill of national pride. They wander aimlessly, helplessly\nthrough museums and picture-galleries, the things they see calling out\nlittle response in their minds. They have a limited and often perverted\ntaste for music, and have so little conversation that on holidays they\nare silent or shout senseless songs. They get a short-lived excitement\nout of sport, so that for a whole countryside the event of a year is a\nfootball match and the chief interest of a Press recording the affairs\nof the Empire is the betting news. The recreations of the people and\ntheir Bank Holiday pleasures, at a time when the universal mind is\nstirring with a consciousness of new capacity, and the world is calling\nmore loudly than ever that its good things should be enjoyed, give cause\nfor some anxiety. Where there is no rational enjoyment there is likely\nto be discontent and mischief.\n\nThe people cannot enjoy themselves so as to satisfy their nature because\nof poverty. They began to work before they had time to enjoy learning\nand before they had become conscious of their capacities and tastes.\nThey have been crushed from their youth upwards by the necessity of\nearning a livelihood, and have never had the leisure to look at the\nbeautiful world in which they have been placed. They have from their\nchildhood been caught in the industrial machine, and have been swept\naway from the things which as men and women they were meant to enjoy.\nThey have been too poor to find their pleasure in hope or in memory,\nenough for them if they have been able to snatch at the present and\npassing excitement.\n\nPoverty is the enemy of rational enjoyment, and it also prevents the\nfreedom which has pride in self-government. The people cannot be said to\nbe keen to take a part in the government of their country, they are\nalmost ready to accept a despot if they could secure for themselves more\nhealth and comfort. There is evident failure to grasp great principles\nin politics, and a readiness to accept in their stead a popular cry.\nParties are judged by their promises, and national interests are often\nput below private interests; motives which are untrue to human nature\nare charged against opponents, and the \u201cmob spirit\u201d has an easy victory\nover individual judgment. The votes of the people may be at any moment\nfatal to the commonwealth.\n\nPoverty is to a large extent the cause of this weakness in\nself-government and of the consequent danger to the nation. People whose\nminds have been crushed under the daily anxiety about the daily bread\nhave little thought for any object but \u201chow to live,\u201d and thus they are\napt to lose the power of vision. They see money as the only good, and\nthey are disposed to measure beauty, tradition, and work in its terms.\nThe pictures of \u201cthe happy homes of England\u201d and the tales of her\ngreatness have for them little meaning. \u201cWhat are our homes that we\nshould fight for them?\u201d \u201cWhat has England done for us?\u201d The welfare of\nthe nation is nothing alongside that of their own class; their chief\nwant is security from starvation.\n\nSome conception of the nation as a whole is necessary to kindle interest\nin self-government, and modern poverty is gradually blotting out the old\nconception which grew up when people loved the countryside, where the\nfields laughed and sang with corn and the cottages nestled in gardens,\nand when they had leisure to enjoy the tales of their fathers\u2019 great\ndeeds. Some knowledge is also necessary if those who give votes have to\ndecide on policies which affect international relations, and hold firmly\nto principles in dark as well as in bright times. But how can the men\nand women have such knowledge who have been driven by the poverty of\ntheir homes to go to work as children, and have had no leisure in which\nto read history or to dream dreams? Of course they vacillate and of\ncourse they fall victims to shallow philosophy.\n\nThe people, in a word, because of poverty, are not free. They are \u201ccogs\nin a great machine which uses human lives as the raw stuff out of which\nto fashion material wealth\u201d. They are by fear of starvation compelled to\nbe instruments of production almost as much as if they were under a law\nof slavery. They do not live for an end in themselves, but for an end\nfor which others desire to use them.\n\nThe poverty of the multitude of workpeople, which limits their\ncapacities for enjoyment and for self-government, and is divided only by\na very thin partition from the destitution of squalor and starvation,\nis, I believe, the chief source of our present discontent, and of the\nbitterness which makes that discontent dangerous. The \u201ccares of this\nlife\u201d equally with \u201cthe deceitfulness of riches\u201d are apt to choke that\ncommunion with an ideal which is the source of healthy progress.\n\nSchemes of relief and charity do not aim to reach this poverty. What,\nthen, is to be done? \u201cGive more education, and better education,\u201d is the\nreply of the best reformers. \u201cLet there be smaller classes in the\nelementary school, so that each child\u2019s personality may be developed by\nthe teacher\u2019s personality.\u201d \u201cLet more attention be given to physical\ntraining.\u201d \u201cLet compulsory continuous education prevent the appalling\nwastage which leaves young people to find their interests in the\nexcitement of the street.\u201d Yes, a system of more and of better education\nwould send out men and women stronger to labour and more fit both for\nthe enjoyment and business of life. But poverty still stands in the way\nof such a system of education. The family budget of the mass of the\npeople cannot keep the boy or girl away from work up to the age of\nfifteen or sixteen, nor can it allow the space and leisure necessary for\nstudy, for reading, and for intellectual recreation.\n\nWhat, then, is to be done? The answer demands the best thought of our\nbest statesmen. There are, doubtless, many things possible, and no one\nthing will be sufficient. But by some means or other the great national\nincome must be so shared that the 39,000,000 of poor may have a larger\nproportion.\n\nWe have lately been warned against careless talk about rights. It may,\ntherefore, be inaccurate to say that 39,000,000 out of 45,000,000\ncitizens have a right to more than half of the eighteen hundred million\npounds of income. But it is as inaccurate to say that 6,000,000 citizens\nhave a right to the half of the eighteen hundred million pounds which\nthey now receive. What are called \u201crights\u201d have been settled by law on\nprinciples which seemed to the lawmakers of the time the best for the\ncommonwealth. It is law made by our ancestors by which it is possible to\ntransfer the property of the dead to the living, providing thereby a\nfoundation on which stands the mighty accumulation of \u00a313,762,000,000.\nIt is, indeed, by such laws that the capitalist who has saved a small\nsum is able to go on increasing that sum to millions. There is no\nnatural right by which the poor may be said to have a claim on wealth or\nthe rich to possess wealth.\n\nLaw which has determined the lines which the present distribution of the\nnational income follows might determine others which would make the poor\nricher and the rich poorer. Law has lately, by a system of insurance and\npensions, given some security for illness, old age, and unemployment; it\nhas in some trades fixed a minimum wage.\n\nThis principle might be extended. The consequent better organization of\nlabour and its improved capacity would secure larger wages for efficient\nworkers and probably reduce the cost of production for the benefit of\nconsumers, but doubtless the number of the unemployed would be\nincreased. Their inefficiency would not earn the minimum wage. For\nthese, training or a refuge would have to be provided in farm colonies,\nindustrial schools, or detention colonies, in accordance with the\nsuggestion of the Poor Law Commissioners.\n\nThe law might, by taxing the holders of the accumulated wealth of the\nnation, subsidize education, so that no child by want of food and\nclothing should be driven from school before the age of fifteen or\nsixteen. It might, by securing for the poor as well as for the rich an\nabundant provision of air-space and water for the healthy and adequate\ncare and attention for the sick, reduce the death-rate among the\n39,000,000 poor people to the level of that which now obtains among the\n6,000,000 richer people. \u201cHealth before all things\u201d has long been on the\nbanner of politicians, and though much has been done much more remains\nto be done. There is no reason why the death-rate of a poor district\nshould be higher than that of a rich district.\n\nLaw, to offer one other example, might do more \u201cto nationalize\nluxuries\u201d. In an article on \u201cPracticable Socialism,\u201d which, as the\nfirst-fruits of an experience gained by my wife and myself in ten years\nof Whitechapel life, the Editor of this Review accepted in April, 1883,\nI suggested that legislation might provide for the people not what they\n_want_ but what they _need_. Much has been done in this direction during\nthe last thirty years; but still there is not the free and sufficient\nprovision of the best music in summer and winter, of the best art, of\nthe best books--there is not even the adequate supply of baths and\nflower-gardens, which would bring within the reach of the many the\nenjoyments which are the surest recreations of life.\n\nIt is thus possible to give examples of laws which would bring to the\npoor the use of a larger share of the national income. It is not easy to\nframe laws which, while they remove the burden and the danger of\npoverty, may by encouraging energy and self-respect develop industrial\nresourcefulness. But it ought not to be beyond statesmen\u2019s power to\ndevise such measures.\n\nThe point, however, which I desire to make clear is that if the poor are\nto become richer the rich must become poorer. Increase of production\nfollowed by an increased national income has under the present laws--as\nhas been shown in the booming trade of recent years--meant that the rich\nhave become richer. The present income is sufficient to assure the\ngreater health and well-being of the whole population, but the rich must\nsubmit to receive a smaller proportion.\n\nThis proposition rouses much wrath. Its advocates are charged with\npreaching spoliation and robbery, with setting class against class, and\nwith destroying the basis on which national prosperity is settled. The\ntaxation which compels the rich to reduce their expenditure on holidays\nand luxuries may seem hard, and the fear lest the tax which this year\ntakes 5 per cent of their income will be further increased may induce\npanic among certain classes; but it is harder for the poor to go on\nsuffering for want of the means of life, and there is more reason for\npanic in the thought that the mass of the people remain indifferent to\nthe national greatness. The tax, it must be remembered, which reduces\nthe expenditure of the rich on things which perish in their using--on\nout-of-season foods, on aimless locomotion, and the excitements of\nostentation--and at the same time makes it possible for the poor to\nspend more on food and clothing, increases the work of working people.\nThe millions of money, for example, taken from the rich to supply\npensions for the poor have enabled the old people to spend money on\nfood and clothing, which has been better for the nation\u2019s trade than\nmoney spent on luxuries. It is a striking fact that if the people used\nwhat is held to be a bare sufficiency of woollen and cotton goods, the\ndemand for these goods would be increased threefold to sixfold. The\ntransference, therefore, of more of the national income from the few\nrich to the many poor need not alarm patriots.\n\nThe tax-collectors\u2019 interference with the use of the accumulated wealth,\nnow controlled by a comparatively small number of the people, is much\nless dangerous to the national prosperity than the discontent which\narises from poverty. A proposition which offers security for the nation\nat the cost of some sacrifice by a class should, it might be expected,\nbe met to-day by the more powerful members of society as willingly as in\nold days the nobles met the call to battle. But the powerful members of\nmodern society hate the doctrine of taxation, and the hatred becomes a\nsort of instinct which draws them towards any alternative policy which\nmay put off the evil day. If they give, their gifts are generous,\nfrequently very generous, but often unconsciously they have regarded\nthem as a sort of ransom which they threaten they will not pay if taxes\nare imposed, doing thereby injustice to their generosity. The rich do\nnot realize the meaning of poverty, its wounds to human nature, or its\ndangers to the nation.\n\nPoverty, I would submit is at the root of our present discontent, not\nthe poverty which the Poor Law and charity are to relieve, but the\npoverty of the great mass of the workers. Out of this poverty rises the\nenemy which threatens our peace and our greatness, and this poverty is\ndue not to want of trade or work or wealth, but to the want of thought\nas to the distribution of our enormous national income. When the meaning\nof poverty is realized, the courage and the sacrifice which in the past\nhave so often dared loss to avert danger will hardly fail because the\nloss to be faced is represented by the demand-note of the tax-collector.\nGifts cannot avert the danger, repression will increase the danger, and\nthe preachers who believe in the coming of the Kingdom must for the old\ntext, \u201cGod loveth a cheerful giver,\u201d substitute as its equivalent, \u201cGod\nloveth a cheerful taxpayer\u201d.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    SECTION V.\n\n    SOCIAL SERVICE.\n\nOf Town Planning--The Mission of Music--The Real Social Reformer--Where\nCharity Fails--Landlordism Up-to-date--The Church and Town Planning.\n\n\n\n\n    OF TOWN PLANNING.[1]\n\n    BY MRS. S. A. BARNETT.\n\n    January, 1911.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Cornhill Magazine\u201d. By kind permission of the Editor.\n\n\nMuch has been said lately about town planning. Conferences have been\nheld, speeches have been made, articles have been written, papers have\nbeen read, and columns of newspaper-notices have appeared, and yet I am\ndaring to occupy eleven pages of the CORNHILL MAGAZINE to try and add a\nfew more remarks to what has already been so well and so forcibly put\nforth.\n\nBut in apology for the presumption, it can be said that what I want to\nsay does not entrench upon the province of the architect, the surveyor,\nor the artist. The questions of traffic-congestion, density of\npopulation, treatment of levels, arrangement of trams, water or gas,\nrelation of railway termini or docks to thoroughfares, organization of\nperiodic excess of street usage, relative positions of municipal\nbuildings, harmony of material and design, standardization of streets\nand road grading, appreciation of scale; on these matters I will not\nwrite, for on them contributions, interesting, dull, suggestive, or\nlearned, have been abundantly produced, and \u201care they not written in the\nBook of the Chronicles\u201d of the great Conference held last month under\nthe auspices of the Royal Institute of British Architects? And are not\ntheir potentialities visible beneath the legal phraseology of Mr. John\nBurns\u2019 Town-planning Act of last Parliament?\n\nIt is so delightful to realize that some of the best brains of this and\nother countries are turning their thoughts to the solution of what Mr.\nT. S. Horsfall (who for many years was a voice crying in the wilderness)\ndemanded as the elemental right of every human being, \u201cthe conditions of\na healthy life\u201d. It is comforting to know that others are doing the\nthinking, especially when one is old, and can recall one\u2019s passionate,\nyouthful indignation at the placid acceptance of stinking courts and\nalleys as the normal homes for the poor, when the memory is still vivid\nof the grand day when one portion of the network of such courts, in St.\nJude\u2019s parish, was swept away, and a grave, tall, carefully planned\ntenement building, erected by the public-spirited kindness of the late\nMr. George M. Smith, arose in its stead, \u201cbuilt to please Barnett as an\nexperiment\u201d.\n\nSome five-and-twenty years ago, when old Petticoat Lane was pulled down,\nmy husband sent in to the Local Authority a suggestion of laying the\narea out so that Commercial Road should be continued right through to\nBishopsgate; the letter and plans were merely acknowledged and the\nproposal ignored. Five years ago we filled one of the rooms in the\nWhitechapel Exhibition with plans of how East London might be improved,\nbut it elicited only little interest, local or otherwise; and now last\nmonth, but a few years later, all the walls of Burlington House were\ncovered with town-planning exhibits, drawings, plans, and designs, and\nits floor space amply supplied with models from all parts of the world.\n\nAnd the thought given is so fresh, so unconventional, and so full of\ncharacteristics, that one came away from a careful study of that great\nExhibition with a clear sense of the individualities of the various\nnations, as they had stated their ideals for their towns. Some in broad\navenues, great piazzas, parallel streets, careful to adopt Christopher\nWren\u2019s ideal, that \u201cgardens and unnecessary vacuities ... be placed out\nof the town\u201d. Some in fairy cities, girt with green girdles of open\nspace, tree-lined roads, parks designed for quiet as well as for play,\nwaterways used for pleasure locomotion as well as for business traffic,\ncontours considered as producers of beauty, the view as well as the\nshelter planned for. Some with scrupulous care for the history of the\ngrowth of the city, its natural features, the footmarks left by its\nwars, each utilized with due regard to modern requirements and the\ntendencies of the future. Some glorying in the preservation of every\nscrap which could record age or civic history, others blatantly\ndetermined to show that the old was folly, and that only of the\nbrand-new can it be said \u201cthe best is yet to be\u201d.\n\nThe imagination is stirred by the opportunities which the Colonies\npossess, and envy is mixed with gratitude that they will have the chance\nof creating glorious cities warned by the Old Country\u2019s mistakes, and\nrealizing by the progress of economic science that the flow of humanity\nis ever towards aggregation. The \u201cBack-to-the-land\u201d cry falls on ninety\nirresponsive ears to ten responsive ones, for the large majority of\nhuman beings desire to live in juxtaposition with mankind. It behoves\nthinkers all the more, therefore, to plan beautiful cities, places to\nlive as well as to work in, and enough of them to prevent a few becoming\nso large as to absorb more than a healthy share of national life and\nwealth.\n\nBut if all of us may think imperially, it is given to most of us only to\nact locally, and, therefore, I will convey your minds and mine back from\nthe visions of town planning amid the plains of Canada, the fiords and\nmountains of British Columbia, the high lands and broad velds of Africa,\nthe varied beauties of wood, hill, and sea of Australia and New Zealand,\nback from the stimulating, almost intoxicating, vision of the work lying\nbefore our great Colonies, to the sobering atmosphere of a London or a\nManchester suburb, with its miles of mean streets already built, or its\nopen fields and new-made roads, laid out as if under the ruler of the\noffice-boy.\n\nWhoever undertakes the area to be laid out, whether it is the\nmunicipality or a public land company, should see that the planning is\ndone on a large scale. The injury wrought to towns hitherto has been\noften due to the narrowness of personal interests and the limitation of\nthe acres dealt with, both of which dim the far sight. The almost\nunconscious influence of dealing with a wide area is shown in existing\nschemes, which have been undertaken by owners of large estates, whether\nthe area be planned for an industrial village, such as Mr. Lever\u2019s at\nPort Sunlight, or for a housing-reform scheme like Mr. Cadbury\u2019s at\nBournville; or to accommodate the leisured, as the Duke of Devonshire\u2019s\nat Eastbourne, or the artistic, as Mr. Comyns Carr\u2019s at Bedford Park; or\nto create a fresh commercial city, as conceived by Mr. Ebenezer Howard\nat Letchworth; or to house all classes in attractive surroundings as at\nthe Hampstead Garden Suburb. Whatever be the purpose, the fact of a\nlarge area has influenced them all. It has had, as it were, something of\nthe same effect as the opportunity of the Sistine Chapel had on Michael\nAngelo. The population to be accommodated was large enough to require\nits own places of worship, public halls, or clubs, its schools, and\nrecreation-grounds. So the lines were drawn with a generous hand, and\nhuman needs considered, with a view to their provision within the\nconfines of the estate, instead of being treated as the organ-grinder,\nand advised to seek satisfaction in the next street--or accommodation on\nneighbouring land.\n\nThe idea of town or suburb planning has not yet found its way into the\nminds which dominate local Public Authorities, but a few examples will\ndoubtless awaken them to the benefits of the Act, if not from the\n\u00e6sthetic, yet from the economic point of view, and then borough or ward\nboundaries will become as unnoticeable for town-planning purposes as\necclesiastical parish ones now are for educational administration.\n\nForemost among the problems will be the allotment of different positions\nof the area under consideration to different classes of society, or\nperhaps it would be better to say different standards of income.\n\nNo one can view with satisfaction any town, whether in England, America,\nor the Colonies, where the poor, the strenuous, and the untutored live\nas far as possible removed from the rich, the leisured, and the\ncultivated. The divorce is injurious to both. Too commonly is it\nsupposed that the poor only suffer from the separation, but those who\nhave the privilege of friendships among the working-people know that the\nwealthy lose more by not making their acquaintance than can possibly be\ncomputed.\n\n\u201cI often advise you to make friends,\u201d said the late Dr. Jowett to a body\nof undergraduates assembled in Balliol Hall to hearken to my husband and\nMr. C. S. Loch, as they spoke of the inhabitants of East or South London\nin the early \u2019seventies, but \u201cnow I will add further advice: Make some\nof your friends among the poor.\u201d\n\nExcellent as the advice is, it is hardly possible to follow when certain\nclasses live at one end of the town, and other classes dwell in the\nextreme opposite district. It may be given to the few to create\nartificial methods of meeting, but to the large mass of people, so long\nas they live in separate neighbourhoods, they must remain ignorant of\neach other to a very real, if undefinable, loss--the loss of\nunderstanding, mutual respect, and that sense of peace which comes when\none sits in the parlour and knows the servants are doing their best, or\nworks in the kitchen and knows that those who govern are directed by a\nlarge-hearted sympathy. Again and again in 1905-6, when the idea of\nprovision being made for all classes of society in the Hampstead Garden\nSuburb was being submitted to the public, I was told that the cultivated\nwould never live voluntarily in the neighbourhood of the industrial\nclasses, but I was immensely surprised when I laid the scheme before a\nleading workman and trade-unionist to be told:--\n\n\u201cIt is all very nice as you say it, Mrs. Barnett, but I\u2019m mistaken if\nyou will find any self-respecting workman who cares to bring his family\nto live alongside of the rich. They\u2019re a bad example with their\npleasure-loving sons and idle, vain daughters, always thinking of\ndressing, and avoiding work and natural duties as if they were sins.\u201d\n\nThe acceptance of society newspaper paragraphs and divorce reports as\naccurate and exhaustive accounts of the lives of the leisured, even by\nthinking workmen, serves as an additional evidence of the need of common\nneighbourhood to correct so dangerous and disintegrating a view.\n\nThere can be no doubt but that Part III of the Housing Act of 1890 is,\nin so far as it affects recent town development, responsible for much of\nthis lamentable ignorance, for under its powers provision can only be\nmade to house the industrial classes, and thus whole neighbourhoods have\ngrown up, as large in themselves as a small provincial town occupied by\none class, or those classes the range of whose difference is represented\nby requiring two or three bedrooms, a \u201ckitchen,\u201d or a \u201cparlour cottage\u201d.\n\nThat this segregation of classes into distinct areas is unnecessary as\nwell as socially dangerous, is evidenced by many small English towns,\nsuch as Wareham, Godalming, Huntingdon, where the grouping together of\nall sorts of people has taken place under normal conditions of growth,\nas well as in the Garden Suburb at Hampstead, where the areas to house\npeople of various degrees of income were clearly defined in the original\nplan, and have been steadfastly adhered to. In that estate the rents\nrange from tenements of 3s. 3d. a week to houses standing in their own\ngardens of rentals to \u00a3250 a year, united by cottages, villas, and\nhouses priced at every other figure within that gamut. The inhabitants\ncan dwell there as owners, or by renting their dwellings, or through the\nwelcoming system and elastic doors of the co-partners, or as weekly\ntenants in the usual way. No sort of difficulty has arisen, and the\noften-expressed fears have proved groundless. Indeed, the result of the\nadmixture of all classes has been a kindlier feeling and a richer\nsympathy, as people of varied experience, different educational\nstandards, and unequal incomes feel themselves drawn together in the\nenjoyment of good music, in the discussion of social problems, in the\npreparation by their children of such a summer\u2019s day festival as the\n\u201cMasque of Fairthorpe,\u201d or to enjoy the unaffected pleasure of the\npublic open spaces and wall-less gardens.\n\nIn England we have not yet reached the gorgeous, riotous generosity of\nthe Americans, who plan parks by the mile, and cheerfully spend, as\nBoston did, \u00a37,500,000 for a girdle of parks, woods, meadows, sea and\nlake embankments; or vote, as Chicago did, \u00a33,600,000 for the creation\nof a connected system of twenty-two parks; but we in humbler England\nhave some ground for congratulation, that, as a few years ago a\nflowerless open space was counted adequate, now a well-kept garden is\ndesired; but on the definition of their uses and the difficulties of\ntheir upkeep something has yet to be said.\n\nEvery one has seen derelict open spaces, squares, crescents,\nthree-angled pieces of ground deliberately planned to create beauty, but\nallowed to become the resting places of too many weary cats or disused\nhousehold utensils, the grass neither mown, protected, nor re-sown. \u201cThe\nchildren like it kept so,\u201d people say, but I doubt if they do. In\nWestminster there are two open spaces, one planted and cared for, the\nother just an unkept open space. Both face south, both overlook the\nriver, both are open free, but the children flock into the garden,\nleaving the open space drearily empty. It is to be regretted, for their\nnoise, even when it is happy shouting and not discordant wrangling, is\ndisturbing to those whose strenuous lives necessitate that they take\ntheir exercise or rest without disturbance. But, on the other hand, the\nchildren are entitled to their share of the garden, and those\n\u201cpassionless reformers,\u201d order, beauty, colour, may perhaps speak their\nmessages more effectually into ears when they are young.\n\nThe solution of the difficulty has been found by the Germans in their\nthoughtful planning of parks, and few things were more delightful in the\nTown-planning Exhibition than the photographs of the children paddling\nin the shallow pools, making castles (I saw no sign of fortifications!)\nin the sand, playing rough running games on gravel slopes, or quieter\nmake-believes in the spinneys, all specially provided in specially\nallocated children\u2019s areas. Isolated instances of such provision are\nexistent in our English parks, but the principle, that some people are\nentitled to public peace as well as others to public play, is not yet\nrecognized, and that there should be zones in which noise is permitted,\nand zones in which silence must be maintained is as yet an inconceivable\nrestriction. So the children usually shout, race, scream, or squabble\namid the grown-ups, kept even in such order as they are by the fear of\nthe park-keeper, whom their consciences encourage them to credit with\nsupernatural powers of observation. He is usually a worthy, patient man,\nbut an expensive adjunct, and one who could sometimes be dispensed with\nif the children\u2019s \u201csphere of influence\u201d were clearly defined. The\npromiscuous presence of children affects also both the standard of cost\nof the upkeep of open spaces, although the deterioration of their\nstandard is more often due to the lapse of the authority who created\nthem.\n\nIt is because the changes of circumstances so frequently affect\ndisastrously the appearance of public spaces that I would offer for\nconsideration the suggestion that they should be placed under the care\nof the municipality, under stringent covenants concerning their uses,\npurposes, maintenance, and reservation for the inhabitants of special\ndwellings. This step would not, of course, be necessary where the owner\nor company still holds the land, but in cases where the houses for which\nthe square or joint garden was provided have each strayed into separate\nownership, and their ground-rents treated only as investments, then\neveryone\u2019s duty usually becomes no one\u2019s duty, and the garden drops into\na neglected home for \u201cunconsidered trifles\u201d. I could quote instances of\nthis, not only in East London, but in Clifton, Reading, Ventnor, York,\nor give brighter examples of individual effort and enthusiasm which have\nawakened the interest of the neighbours to take pride in the appearance,\nand pay towards the upkeep, of their common pleasance.\n\nThe arguments in favour of the municipality having the care of these\npublicly enjoyed or semi-private open spaces would be the advantages of\na higher gardening standard, the economy of interchange of roots, seeds,\nand tools, the benefit of a staff large enough to meet seasonal needs,\nthe stimulating competition of one garden against another, and the\nadditional gift of beauty to the passers-by, who could thus share\nwithout intrusion the fragrance of the flowers and the melody of\nsymphonies in colour.\n\n\u201cBut how can the public enjoy the gardens when they are usually behind\nwalls?\u201d I hear that delightful person, the deadly practical man, murmur;\nand this brings me to another question, \u201cAre walls round open spaces\nnecessary?\u201d\n\nEnglish people seem to have adopted the idea that it is essential to\nsurround their parks and gardens with visible barriers, perhaps because\nEngland is surrounded by the sea--a very visible line of demarcation;\nbut, in the stead of a dancing joy, a witchful barrier, uniting while it\nseparates, they have put up grim hard walls, ugly dividing fences,\nbarriers which challenge trespass, and make even the law-abiding citizen\ndesire to climb over and see what is on the other side.\n\nIt is extraordinary how firmly established is the acceptance of the\nnecessity of walls and protection. Nearly thirty-five years ago, when\nthe first effort was made to plant Mile End Road with trees, and to make\nits broad margins gracious with shrubs and plants, we were met by the\nargument that they would not be safe without high railings. I recall the\ncroakings of those who combated the proposal to open Leicester Square to\nthe public, and who of us has not listened to the regrets of the\nlandowner on the expense entailed by his estate boundary fences?\n\nIf you say, \u201cWhy make them so high, or keep them up so expensively, as\nyou do not preserve your game? Why not have low hedges or short open\nfences, over which people can see and enjoy your property?\u201d he will look\nat you with a gentle pity, thinking of you as a deluded idealist, or\nperhaps his expression will change into something not so gentle as it\ndawns on him that, though one is the respectable wife of a respectable\nCanon, yet one may be holding \u201csome of those--Socialist theories\u201d.\n\nNot long ago I went at the request of a gentleman who owned property,\nwith his agent to see if suggestions could be made to improve the\nappearance of his estate and the happiness of his tenants. The gardens\nwere small enough to be valueless, but between and around each were\nwalls, many in bad repair.\n\n\u201cThe first thing I should do would be to pull down those walls, and let\nthe air in; things will then grow, self-respect as well as flowers,\u201d I\nsaid.\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d exclaimed the agent, \u201cpull down the walls? Why, what would the\nmen have to lean against?\u201d thus conjuring up the vision one has so often\nseen of men leaning listlessly against the public-house walls, a sight\nwhich the possession of a garden, large enough to be profitable as well\nas pleasurable, ought to do much to abolish.\n\nIt is difficult to find arguments for walls. In many towns of America\nthe gardens are wall-less, the public scrupulously observing the rights\nof ownership. In the Hampstead Garden Suburb all the gardens are\nwall-less, both public and private. The flowers bloom with the\nvoluptuous abundance produced by virgin soil, but they remain untouched,\nnot only by the inhabitants, which, of course, is to be expected, but by\nthe thousands of visitors who come to see the realization of the\nmuch-talked-of scheme, and respect the property as they share its\npleasures.\n\nIn town-planning literature and talk much is said about houses, roads,\ncentre-points to design, architectural features, treatment of junctions,\nand many other items both important and interesting; but the tone of\nthought pervading all that I have yet read is that it is the healthy and\nhappy, the respectable and the prosperous, for whom all is to be\narranged. It takes all sorts to make a world, and the town planner who\nexcludes in his arrangements the provision for the lonely, the sick, the\nsorrowful, and the handicapped will lose from the midst of the community\nsome of its greatest moral teachers.\n\nThe children should be specially welcomed amid improved or beautiful\nsurroundings, for the impressions made in youth last through life, and\non the standards adopted by the young will depend the nation\u2019s welfare.\nA vast army of children are wholly supported by the State, some 100,000,\nwhile to them can be added nearly 200,000 more for whom the public purse\nis partly responsible. In town planning the needs of these children\nshould be considered, and the claims of the sick openly met.\n\nHospitals are intended to help the sick poor, so, in planning the town\nor its growth, suitable sites should be chosen in relation to the\npopulation who require such aid; but in London many hospitals are\nclustered in the centre of the town, are enlarged, rebuilt, or improved\non the old positions, though the people\u2019s homes and workshops have been\nmoved miles away; thus the sick suffer in body and become poorer in\npurse, as longer journeys have to be undertaken after accidents, or when\nas out-patients they need frequent attention.\n\nThe wicked, the naughty, the sick, the demented, the sorrowful, the\nblind, the halt, the maimed, the old, the handicapped, the children are\nfacts--facts to be faced, facts which demand thought, facts which should\nbe reckoned with in town planning--for all, even the first-named, can be\nhelped by being surrounded with \u201cwhatsoever things are pure, whatsoever\nthings are lovely, and whatsoever things are of good report\u201d.\n\nEvery one who has been to Canada must have been struck with the evidence\nof faith in educational appreciation which the Canadians give in the\npreparation of their vast teaching centres.\n\n\u201cWhat impressed me greatly,\u201d said Mr. Henry Vivian in his speech at the\ndinner given in his honour on his return from the Dominion, \u201cwas the\npreparation that the present people have made for the education of the\nfuture people,\u201d and he described the planning of one University, whose\nbuildings, sports-grounds, roads, hostels, and gardens were to cover\n1300 acres. Compare that with the statement of the Secretary of a\nBorough Council Education Authority, who told me the other day, with\ncongratulatory pleasure, that long negotiations had at last obtained one\nacre and a quarter for the building of a secondary school and a\nhoped-for three acres some distance off for the boys\u2019 playground.\n\nThe town planning of the future will make, it is to be hoped, generous\nprovision for educational requirements, and not only for the inhabitants\nof the immediate locality. As means of transit become both cheaper and\neasier, it will be recognized as a gain for young people to go out of\ntown to study, into purer air, away from nerve-wearing noise, amid\nflowers and trees, and with an outlook on a wider sky, itself an\nelevating educational influence both by day and night.\n\nThe need of what may be called artificial town addition can only concern\nthe elder nations, who have, scattered over their lands, splendid\nbuildings in the centre of towns that have ceased to grow. As an\nexample, I would quote Ely. What a glorious Cathedral! kept in dignified\nelderly repair, its Deans, Canons, Minors, lay-clerks, and choir, all\ndoing their respective daily duties in leading worship; but, alas! there\nthe population is so small (7713 souls) that the response by worshippers\nis necessarily inadequate--the output bears no proportion to the return.\nBeauty, sweetness, and light are wasted there and West Ham exists, with\nits 267,000 inhabitants, its vast workshops and factories, its miles of\nmean streets of drab-coloured \u201cbrick boxes with slate lids\u201d--and no\nCathedral, no group of kind, leisured clergy to leaven the heavy dough\nof mundane, cheerless toil.\n\nIf town planning could be treated nationally, it might be arranged that\nGovernment factories could be established in Ely. Army clothiers,\nstationery manufactories, gunpowder dep\u00f4ts would bring the workers in\ntheir train. A suitable expenditure of the Public Works Loans money\nwould cause the cottages to appear; schools would then arise, shops and\nlesser businesses, which population always brings into existence, would\nbe started; and the Cathedral would become a House of Prayer, not only\nto the few religious ones who now rejoice in the services, but for the\nmany whose thoughts would be uplifted by the presence in their midst of\nthe stately witness of the Law of Love, and whose lives would be\nbenefited by the helpful thought and wise consideration of those whose\nprofession it is to serve the people.\n\nPending great changes, something might perhaps be done if individual\nowners and builders would consider the appearance, not only of the house\nthey are building, but of the street or road of which it forms a part. A\nfew months ago, in the bright sunshine, I stood on a hill-top, facing a\ndelightful wide view, on a newly developed estate, and, pencil in hand,\nwrote the colours and materials of four houses standing side by side.\nThis is the list:--\n\nNo. 1 HOUSE.--Roof, grey slates; walls, white plaster with red brick;\nyellow-painted woodwork; red chimneys.\n\nNo. 2 HOUSE.--Roof, purpley-red tiles; walls, buff rough cast;\nbrown-painted woodwork; yellow chimneys.\n\nNo. 3 HOUSE.--Roof, orangey-red tiles; walls, grey-coloured rough cast;\nwhite-painted woodwork; red chimneys.\n\nNo. 4 HOUSE.--Roof, crimson-red tiles; walls, stone-coloured rough cast;\npeacock-blue paint; red chimneys.\n\nThis bare list tells of the inharmonious relation of colours, but it\ncannot supply the variety of tones of red, nor yet the mixture of lines,\nroof-angles, balcony or bow projections, one of which ran up to the top\nof a steep-pitched roof, and was castellated at the summit. The road was\ncalled \u201cBon-Accord\u201d. One has sometimes to thank local authorities for\nunconscious jokes.\n\nMy space is filled, and even a woman\u2019s monologue must conclude some\ntime! But one paragraph more may be taken to put in a plea for space for\nan Open-air Museum. It need not be a large and exhaustive one, for there\nis something to be said for not making museums \u201ctoo bright and good for\nhuman nature\u2019s daily food\u201d. There might be objects of museum interest\nscattered in groups about the green girdle which the young among my\nreaders will, I trust, live to see round all great towns; or an open-air\nexhibit on a limited subject might be provided, as the late Mr. Burt\narranged so charmingly at Swanage; or the Shakespeare Gardens, already\nstarted in some of the London County Council parks, might be further\ndeveloped; or the more ambitious schemes of Stockholm and Copenhagen\nintimated; but whichever model is adopted the idea of open-air museums\n(which might be stretched to include bird sanctuaries) is one which\nshould find a place in the gracious environment of our well-ordered\ntowns when they have come under the law and the gospel of the\nTown-planning Act.\n\n  HENRIETTA O. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    THE MISSION OF MUSIC.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    July, 1899.\n\n  [1] From \u201cInternational Journal of Ethics\u201d. By permission of the\nEditor.\n\n\n\u201cWe must have something light or comic.\u201d So say those who provide music\nfor the people, and their words represent an opinion which is almost\nuniversal with regard to the popular taste. The uneducated, it is\nthought, must be unable to appreciate that which is refined or to enjoy\nthat which does not make them laugh and be merry.\n\nOpinions exist, especially with regard to the tastes and wants of the\npoor, by the side of facts altogether inconsistent with those opinions.\nThere are facts within the knowledge of some who live in the East End of\nLondon which are sufficient, at any rate, to shake this general opinion\nas to the people\u2019s taste in music.\n\nIn Whitechapel, where so many philanthropists have tried \u201cto patch with\nhandfuls of coal and rice\u201d the people\u2019s wants, the signs of ignorance\nare as evident as the signs of poverty. There is an almost complete\nabsence of those influences which are hostile to the ignorance, not,\nindeed, of the mere elements of knowledge (the Board Schools are now\nhappily everywhere prominent), but to the ignorance of joy, truth, and\nbeauty. Utility and the pressure of work have crowded house upon house;\nhave filled the shops with what is only cheap, driven away the\ndistractions of various manners and various dresses, and made the place\nweary to the body and depressing to the mind.\n\nNevertheless, in this district a crowd has been found willing, on many a\nwinter\u2019s night, to come and listen to parts of an oratorio or to\nselections of classical music. The oratorios have sometimes been given\nin a church by various bodies of amateurs who have practised together\nfor the purpose; the concerts have been given in schoolrooms on Sunday\nevenings by professionals of reputation. To the oratorios men and women\nhave come, some of them from the low haunts kept around the city by its\ncarelessly administered charity, all of them of the class which, working\nfor its daily bread, has no margin of time for study. Amid those who are\ngenerally so independent of restraint, who cough and move as they will,\nthere has been a death-like stillness as they have listened to some fine\nsolo of Handel\u2019s. On faces which are seldom free of the marks of care,\nexcept in the excitement of drink, a calm has seemed to settle and tears\nto flow, for no reason but because \u201cit is so beautiful!\u201d Sometimes the\nmusic has appeared to break gradually down barriers that shut out some\npoor fellow from a fairer past or a better future than his present: the\noppressive weight of the daily care lifts, other sights are in his\nvision, and at last, covering his face or sinking on his knees, he makes\nprayers which cannot be uttered. Sometimes it has seemed to seize one on\nbusiness bent, to transport him suddenly to another world, and, not\nknowing what he feels, has forced him to say, \u201cIt was good to be here\u201d.\nA church filled with hundreds of East Londoners, affected, doubtless, in\ndifferent ways, but all silent, reverent, and self-forgetful, is a sight\nnot to be forgotten or to be held to have no meaning. To the concerts\nhave crowded hard-headed, unimaginative men, described in a local paper\nas being \u201cfriends of Bradlaugh\u201d. These have listened to and evidently\ntaken in difficult movements of Beethoven, Schumann, and Chopin. The\nloud applause which has followed some moments of strained, rapt\nattention has proclaimed the universal feeling.\n\nWith a knowledge of the character of the music, the applications for\nadmission have increased, and the announcement of a hope that the\nconcerts might be continued the following winter, and possibly also\nextended to weekday evenings, has brought from some of those present an\nexpression of their desire for other high-class music. The poor quarters\nof cities have been too long treated as if their inhabitants were\ndeficient in that which is noblest in human nature. Human beings want\nnot something which will do, but the best.\n\nIf it be asked what proof there be that such music has a permanent\neffect on the hearers, the only answer is that people do not always know\nhow they have been most influenced. It is the air unconsciously breathed\nwhich affects the cure much more often than the medicine so consciously\ntaken. Music may most deeply and permanently affect those who themselves\ncan express no appreciation with their words or show results in their\nlives. Like the thousand things which surrounds the child and which he\nnever notices, music may largely serve in the formation of character and\nthe satisfaction of life. That the performance of this music in the East\nEnd is not followed by expressions of intelligent appreciation or by\nimmediate change of life is no proof of its failure to influence. The\nfact that crowds come to listen is sufficient to make the world\nreconsider its opinion that the people care only for what is light or\nlaugh-compelling. There is evidently in the highest music something\nwhich finds a response in many minds not educated to understand its\nmysteries nor interested in its creation. This suggests that music has\nin the present time a peculiar mission.\n\n\u201cMan doth not live by bread alone,\u201d expresses a truth which even those\nwill allow who profess themselves careless about present-day religion.\nThere is in human beings, in those whom the rich think to satisfy by\nincreased wages and improved dwellings, a need of something beyond. The\nman who has won an honourable place, who by punctuality, honesty, and\ntruthfulness has become the trusted servant of his employer, is often\nweary with the very monotony of his successful life. He has bread in\nabundance, but, unsatisfied, he dreams of filling quite another place in\nthe world, perhaps as the leader daring much for others, perhaps as the\npatriot suffering much for his class and country, or perhaps as the poet\nliving in others\u2019 thoughts. There flits before him a vision of a fuller\nlife, and the vision stirs in him a longing to share such life. The\nwoman, too, who in common talk is the model wife and mother, whose days\nare filled with work, whose talk is of her children\u2019s wants, whose life\nseems so even and uneventful, so complete in its very prosaicness, she,\nif she could be got to speak out the thoughts which flit through her\nbrain as she silently plies her needle or goes about her household\nduties, would tell of strange longings for quite another sort of life,\nof passions and aspirations which have been scarcely allowed to take\nform in her mind. There is no one to whom \u201comens that would astonish\nhave not predicted a future and uncovered a past\u201d.\n\nBeyond the margin of material life is a spiritual life. This life has\nbeen and may still be believed to be the domain of religion, that which\nscience has not known and can never know, which material things have not\nhelped and can never help. It has been the glory of religion to develop\nthe longing to be something higher and nobler by revealing to men the\nGod, Who is higher than themselves.\n\nReligion having abdicated this domain to invade that of science has\nto-day suffered by becoming the slave of \u00e6sthetic and moral precepts.\nHer professors often yield themselves to the influence of form and\ncolour or boast only of their morality and philanthropy.\n\nIt is no wonder, therefore, that many who are in earnest and feel that\nneither ritualism nor philanthropy have special power to satisfy their\nnatures, reject religion. But they will not, if they are fair to\nthemselves, object to the strengthening of that power which they must\nallow to have been a source of noble endeavour and of the very science\nwhose reign they acknowledge. The sense of something better than their\nbest, making itself felt not in outward circumstance but inwardly in\ntheir hearts, has often been the spring of effort and of hope. It is\nbecause the forms of present-day religion give so little help to\nstrengthen this sense, that so many now speak slightingly of religion\nand profess their independence of its forms. Religion, in fact, is\nsuffering for want of expression.\n\nIn other times men felt that the words of the Prayer Book and phrases\nnow labelled \u201ctheological\u201d did speak out, or at any rate did give some\nform to their vague, indistinct longing to be something else and\nsomething more; while the picture of God, drawn from the Bible history\nand Bible words, gave an object to their longing, making them desire to\nbe like Him and to enjoy Him for ever.\n\nIn these days, however, historical criticism and scientific discoveries\nhave made the old expressions seem inadequate to state man\u2019s longings or\nto picture God\u2019s character. The words of prayers, whether the written\nprayers of the English Church or that rearrangement of old expressions\ncalled \u201cextempore prayer,\u201d do not at once fit in with the longings of\nthose to whom, in these later days, sacrifice has taken other forms and\nlife other possibilities. The descriptions of God, involving so much\nthat is only marvellous, jar against minds which have had hints of the\ngrandeur of law and which have been awed not by miracles but by\nholiness. The petitions for the joys of heaven do not always meet the\nneeds of those who have learnt that what they are is of more consequence\nthan what they have, and the anthropomorphic descriptions of the\ncharacter of God make Him seem less than many men who are not jealous,\nnor angry, nor revengeful.\n\nWords and thoughts alike often fail to satisfy modern wants. While\nprayers are being said, the listless attitude and wandering gaze of\nthose in whose souls are the deepest needs and loftiest aspirations,\nproclaim the failure. Religion has not failed, but only its power of\nexpressing itself. There lives still in man that which gropes after God,\nbut it can find no form in which to clothe itself. The loss is no light\none. Expression is necessary to active life, and without it, at any\nrate, some of the greater feelings of human nature must suffer loss of\nenergy and be isolated in individuals. Free exercise will give those\nfeelings strength; the power of utterance will teach men that they are\nnot alone when they are their best selves.\n\nThe world has been moved to many a crusade by a picture of suffering\nhumanity, and the darkness of heathenism calls forth missionaries of one\nChurch and another. Almost as moving a picture might be drawn of those\nwho wanting much can express nothing. Here are men and women, bone of\nour bone, flesh of our flesh: they have that within them which raises\nthem above all created things, powers by which they are allied to all\nwhom the world honours, faculties by which they might find unfailing\njoy. But they have no form of expression and so they live a lower life,\nwalking by sight, not by faith, giving rein to powers which find their\nsatisfaction near at hand, and developing faculties in the use of which\nthere is more of pain than joy. The power which has been the spring of\nso much that is helpful to the world seems to be dead in them; that\nsense which has enabled men to stand together as brothers, trusting one\nanother as common possessors of a Divine spark, seems to be without\nexistence. A few may go on walking grimly the path of duty, but for the\nmass of mankind life has lost its brightness. Dullness unrelieved by\nwealth, and loneliness undispersed by dissipation, are the common lot.\nIn a sense more terrible than ever, men are like children walking in the\nnight with no language but a cry. He that will give them the means once\nmore to express what they really are and what they really want will\nbreak the bondage.\n\nThe fact that the music of the great masters does stir something in most\nmen\u2019s natures should be a reason for trying whether music might not, at\nany rate partially, express the religious life of the present day.\n\nThere is much to be said in favour of such an experiment. On the one\nside there is the failure of existing modes of expression. The\nprettinesses of ritualism and the social efforts of Broad Churchism,\neven for the comparatively small numbers who adopt these forms of\nworship, do not meet those longings of the inner life which go beyond\nthe love of beauty and beyond the love of neighbours. The vast majority\nof the people belong to neither ritualism nor Broad Churchism; they\nlive, at best, smothering their aspirations in activity; at worst, in\ndissipation, having forsaken duty as well as God. Their morality has\nfollowed their religion. In the East End of London this is more\nmanifest, not because the people of the East are worse than the people\nof the West, but because the people of the East have no call to seem\nother than they are. Amid many signs hopeful for the future there is\nalso among East Londoners, unblushingly declared at every street-corner,\nthe self-indulgence which robs the young and weak of that which is their\nright, education and protection; the vice which saps a nation\u2019s strength\nis boasted of in the shop and flaunted in the highways, and the\nselfishness which is death to a man is often the professed ground of\naction.\n\nMorality for the mass of men has been dependent on the consciousness of\nGod, and with the lack of means of expression the consciousness of God\nseems to have ceased. On this ground alone there would be reason for\nmaking an experiment with music, if only because it offers itself as a\npossible means of that expression which the consciousness of God\nsupports. And, on the other side, there is the natural fitness of music\nfor the purpose.\n\nIn the first place, the great musical compositions may be asserted to\nbe, not arrangements which are the results of study and the application\nof scientific principles, but the results of inspiration. The master,\nraised by his genius above the level of common humanity to think fully\nwhat others think only in part, and to see face to face what others see\nonly darkly, puts into music the thoughts which no words can utter and\nthe descriptions which no tongue can tell. What he himself would be, his\nhopes, his fears, his aspirations, what he himself sees of that holiest\nand fairest which has haunted his life, he tells by his art. Like the\nprophets, having had a vision of God, his music proclaims what he\nhimself would desire to be, and expresses the emotions of his higher\nnature.\n\nIf this be a correct account of the meaning of those great masterpieces\nwhich may every day be performed in the ears of the people, it is easy\nto see how they may be made to serve the purpose in view. The greatest\nmaster is a man with much in him akin to the lowest of the human race.\nThe homage all pay to the great is but the assertion of this kinship,\nthe assertion of men\u2019s claim to be like the great when the obstructions\nof their mal-formation and mal-education shall be trained away. Men\ngenerally will, therefore, find in that which expresses the thoughts of\nthe greatest the means of expressing their own thoughts. The music which\nenfolds the passions that have never found utterance, that have never\nbeen realized by the ordinary man, will somehow appeal to him and make\nhim recognize his true self and his true object. Music being itself the\nexpression of the wants of man, all who share in man\u2019s nature will find\nin it an expression for longings and visions for which no words are\nadequate. It will be what prayers and meditations now so often fail to\nbe, a means of linking men with the source of the highest thoughts and\nefforts, and of enabling them to enjoy God, a joy which so few now\nunderstand.\n\nMore than this, the best existing expression of that which men have\nfound to be good has been by parables, whose meanings have not been\nlimited to time or place but are of universal application. Heard by\ndifferent people and at different times, parables have given to all\nalike a conception of that which eye cannot see nor voice utter; each\nhearer in each age has gained possibly a different conception, but in\nthe use of the same words all have felt themselves to be united. The\nparable of the prodigal son has represented the God who has been won to\nlove by the sacrifice of Christ and also the God who freely forgives.\nSuch forms of expression it is most important to have in an age when\nmovement is so rapid that things become old as soon as they are new,\nseparating to-morrow those who have stood together to-day, and when at\nthe same time the longing for unity is so powerful that the thought of\nit acts as a charm on men\u2019s minds.\n\nIn some degree all art is a parable, as it makes known in a figure that\nwhich is unknown, revealing the truth the artist has felt to others just\nin so far as they by education and surroundings have been qualified to\nunderstand it. Titian\u2019s picture of the Assumption helped the medi\u00e6val\nsaint to worship better the Virgin Mother, and also helps those of our\nday to realize the true glory of womanhood.\n\nBut music, even more than painting and poetry, fulfils this condition.\nIt reveals that which the artist has seen, and reveals it with no\ndistracting circumstance of subject, necessary to the picture or the\npoem. The hearer who listens to a great composition is not drawn aside\nto think of some historical or romantic incident; he is free to think of\nthat of which such incidents are but the clothes. Age succeeds to age;\nthe music which sounded in the ears of the fathers sounds also in the\nears of the children. Place and circumstance force men asunder, but\nstill for those of every party or sect and for those in every quarter of\nthe world the great works of the masters of music remain. The works may\nbe performed in the West End or in the East End--the hearers will have\ndifferent conceptions, will see from different points of view the vision\nwhich inspired the master, but will nevertheless have the sense that the\nmusic which serves all alike creates a bond of union.\n\nMusic then would seem fitted to be in this age the expression of that\nwhich men in their inmost hearts most reverence. Creeds have ceased to\nexpress this and have become symbols of division rather than of unity!\nMusic is a parable, telling in sounds which will not change of that\nwhich is worthy of worship, telling it to each hearer just in so far as\nhe by nature and circumstance is able to understand it, but giving to\nall that feeling of common life and assurance of sympathy which has in\nold times been the strength of the Church. By music, men may be helped\nto find God who is not far from any one of us, and be brought again\nwithin reach of that tangible sympathy, the sympathy of their\nfellow-creatures.\n\nThere is, however, still one other requisite in a perfect form of\nreligious expression. The age is new and thoughts are new, but\nnevertheless they are rooted in the past. More than any one acknowledges\nis he under the dominion of the buried ages. He who boasts himself\nsuperior to the superstitions of the present is the child of parents\nwhose high thoughts, now transmitted to their child, were intertwined\nwith those superstitions. Any form of expression therefore which aims at\ncovering emotions said to be new must, like these emotions, have\nassociations with the past. A brand new form of worship, agreeable to\nthe most enlightened reason and surrounded with that which the present\nasserts to be good, would utterly fail to express thoughts and feelings,\nwhich, if born of the present, share the nature of parents who lived in\nthe past. It is interesting to notice how machines and institutions\nwhich are the product of the latest thought bear in their form traces of\nthat which they have superseded; the railway carriage suggests the\nstage-coach, and the House of Commons reminds us of the Saxon\nWitanagemot. The absolutely new would have no place in this old world,\nand a new form of expression could not express the emotions of the inner\nlife.\n\nMusic which offers a form in which to clothe the yearnings of the\npresent has been associated with the corresponding yearnings of the\npast, and would seem therefore to fulfil the necessary condition. Those\nwho to-day feel music telling out their deepest wants and proclaiming\ntheir praise of the good and holy, might recognize in the music echoes\nof the songs which broke from the lips of Miriam and David, of Ambrose\nand Gregory, and of those simple peasants who one hundred years ago were\nstirred to life on the moors of Cornwall and Wales.\n\nThe fact that music has been thus associated with religious life gives\nit an immense, if an unrecognized power. The timid are encouraged and\nthe bold are softened! When the congregation is gathered together and\nthe sounds rise which are full of that which is and perhaps always will\nbe \u201cineffable,\u201d there float in, also, memories of other sounds, poor\nperhaps and uncouth, in which simple people have expressed their prayers\nand praises; the atmosphere, as it were, becomes religious, and all feel\nthat the music is not only beautiful, but the means of bringing them\nnearer to the God after Whom they have sought so long and often\ndespaired to find.\n\nFor these reasons music seems to have a natural fitness for becoming the\nexpression of the inner life. The experiment, at any rate, may be easily\ntried. There is in every parish a church with an organ, and arrangements\nsuitable for the performance of grand oratorios; there are concert halls\nor schoolrooms suitable for the performance of classical music. There\nare many individuals and societies with voices and instruments capable\nof rendering the music of the masters. Most of them have, we cannot\ndoubt, the enthusiasm which would induce them to give their services to\nmeet the needs of their fellow-creatures.\n\nMoney has been and is freely subscribed for the support of missions\nseeking to meet bodily and spiritual wants; music will as surely be\ngiven by those who have felt its power to meet that need of expression\nwhich so far keeps the people without the consciousness of God. Members\nof ethical societies, who have taught themselves to fix their eyes on\nmoral results, may unite with members of churches who care also for\nreligious things. Certain it is that people who are able to realize\ngrand ideals will be likely in their own lives to do grand things, and\ndoing them make the world better and themselves happier.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    THE REAL SOCIAL REFORMER.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    January, 1910.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Manchester Weekly Times\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\nThe world is out of joint. Reformers have in every age tried to put it\nright. But still Society jerks and jolts as it journeys over the road of\nlife. The rich fear the poor, the poor suspect the rich, there is strife\nand misunderstanding; children flicker out a few days\u2019 life in sunless\ncourts, and honoured old age is hidden in workhouses; people starve\nwhile food is wasted in luxurious living, and the cry always goes up,\n\u201cWho will show us any good?\u201d\n\nThe response to that cry is the appearance of the Social Reformer.\nPhilanthropists have brought forward scheme after scheme to relieve\npoverty, and politicians have passed laws to remove abuses. Their\nefforts have been magnificent and the immediate results not to be\ngainsaid, but in counting the gains the debit side must not be\nforgotten. Philanthropists weaken as well as strengthen society; law\nhinders as well as helps. When a body of people assume good doing as a\nspecial profession, there will always be a tendency among some of their\nneighbours to go on more unconcerned about evil, and among others to\noffer themselves as subjects for this good doing. The world may be\nbetter for its philanthropists, but when after such devotion it remains\nso terribly out of joint the question arises whether good is best done\nby a class set apart as Social Reformers.\n\nThere is an often-quoted saying of a monk in the twelfth century: \u201cThe\nage of the Son is passing, the age of the Spirit is coming\u201d. He saw that\nthe need of the world would not always be for a leader or for a class of\nleaders, but rather for a widely diffused spirit.\n\nThe present moment is remarkable for the number of societies, leagues,\nand institutions which are being started. There never were so many\nleaders offering themselves to do good, so many schemes demanding\nsupport. The Charities Register reveals agencies which are ready to deal\nwith almost any conceivable ill, and it would seem that anyone desiring\nto help a neighbour might do so by pressing the button of one of these\nagencies. The agencies for each service are, indeed, so many, that other\nsocieties are formed now for their organization, and the would-be\ngood-doer is thus relieved even from inquiring as to that which is the\nbest fitted for his purpose.\n\nThe hope of the monk is deferred, and it seems as if it were the\nleaders and not the spirit of the people which is to secure social\nreform. The question therefore presses itself whether the best\nsocial reformers are the philanthropists. Specialists always make\na show of activity, but such a show is often the cover of widely\nspread indolence. Specialists in religion--the ecclesiastics--were\nnever more active than when during the fifteenth century they built\nchurches and restored the cathedrals, but underneath this activity\nwas the popular indifference which almost immediately woke to take\nvengeance on such leaders. Specialists in social reform to-day--the\nphilanthropists--raise great schemes, but many of their supporters are\nat heart indifferent. It really saves them trouble to create societies\nand to make laws. It is easier to subscribe money--even to sit on a\ncommittee--than to help one\u2019s own neighbour. It is easier to promote\nSocialism than to be a Socialist. Activity in social reform movements\nmay be covering popular indifference, and there is already a sign of\nthe vengeance which awakened indifference may take in the cry dimly\nheard, \u201cCurse your charity\u201d.\n\nBetter, it may be agreed, than great schemes--voluntary or legal--is the\nindividual service of men and women who, putting heart and mind into\ntheir efforts, and co-operating together, take as their motto \u201cOne by\nOne\u201d; but again the same question presses itself in another form: Should\nthe individual who aspires to serve his generation separate himself from\nthe ordinary avocations of Society, and become a visitor or teacher?\nShould the business man divide his social reforming self from his\nbusiness self, and keep, as he would say, his charity and his business\napart?\n\nThe world is rich in examples of devoted men and women who have given\nup pleasure and profit to serve others\u2019 needs. The modern Press\ngives every day news of both the benefactions and the good deeds of\nbusiness men who, as business men, think first, not of the kingdom of\nheaven, but of business profits. This specialization of effort--as the\nspecialization of a class--has its good results; but is it the best,\nthe only way of social reform? Is it not likely to narrow the heart of\nthe good-doer and make him overkeen about his own plan? Will not the\ncharity of a stranger, although it be designed in love and be carried\nout with thought, almost always irritate? Is it not the conception\nof society, which assumes one class dependent on the benevolence of\nanother class, medi\u00e6val rather than modern? Can limbs which are out\nof joint be made to work smoothly by any application of oil and not\nby radical resetting? Is it reasonable that business men should look\nto cure with their gifts the injuries they have inflicted in their\nbusiness, that they should build hospitals and give pensions out of\nprofits drawn from the rents of houses unfit for human habitation, and\ngained from wages on which no worker could both live and look forward\nto a peaceful old age? Is it possible for a human being to divide his\nnature so as to be on the one side charitable and on the other side\ncruel?\n\nThe question therefore as to the best Social Reformer, still waits an\nanswer. Before attempting an answer it may be as well to glance at the\nmoral causes to which social friction is attributed. Popular belief\nassumed that the designed selfishness of classes or of individuals lies\nat the root of every trouble. Bitter and fiery words are therefore\nspoken. Capitalists suspect the aspiring tyranny of trade unions to be\ncompassing their ruin, workmen talk of the other classes using \u201ctheir\npowers as selfish and implacable enemies of their rights\u201d. Rich people\nincline to assume that the poor have designs on their property, and the\npoor suspect that every proposal of the rich is for their injury. The\nphilosophy of life is very simple. \u201cEvery one seeketh reward,\u201d and the\ndaily Press gives ample evidence as to the way every class acts on that\nphilosophy. But nevertheless experience reveals the good which is in\nevery one. Mr. Galsworthy in his play, \u201cThe Silver Box,\u201d pictures the\nconflict between rich and poor, between the young and the old. The pain\neach works on the other is grievous, there is hardness of heart and\nselfishness, but the reflection left by the play is not that anyone\ndesigned the pain of the other, but that for want of thought each\nmisunderstood the other, and each did the wrong thing.\n\nThe family whose members are so smugly content with the virtue which has\nsecured wealth and comfort, whose charities are liberally supported, and\nkindness frequently done, where hospitality is ready, would feel itself\nunfairly charged if it were abused because it lived on abuses, and\nopposed any change which might affect the established order. The labour\nagitator, on the other hand, feels himself unfairly charged when he is\nattacked as designing change for his own benefit and accused of enmity\nbecause of his strong language. It may be that his words do mischief,\nbut in his heart he is kindly and generous. There are criminals in every\nclass, rich men who prey on poor men, and poor men who prey on rich men,\nbut the criminal class is limited and the mass of men do not intend\nevil. The chief cause of social friction is, it may be said, not\ndesigned selfishness so much as the want of moral thoughtfulness. The\nrogue of the piece is not the criminal, but--you--I--every one.\n\nThe recognition of this fact suggests that the best Social Reformer is\nnot the philanthropist or the politician so much as the man or the woman\nwho brings moral thoughtfulness into every act and relation of daily\nlife.\n\nThere is abundance of what may be called financial thoughtfulness, and\npeople take much pains, not always with success--to inquire into the\nsoundness of their investments and the solvency of their debtors. The\nSocial Reformer who feels the obligation of moral thoughtfulness will\ntake as much pains to inquire whether his profits come by others\u2019 loss.\nHe may not always succeed, but he will seek to know if the workers\nemployed by his capital receive a living wage and are protected from the\ndangers of their trade. He will look to it that his tenants have houses\nwhich ought to make homes.\n\nThere is much time spent in shopping, and women take great pains to\nlearn what is fashionable or suited to their means. If they were morally\nthoughtful they would take as much pains to learn what sweated labour\nhad been used so that things might be cheap; what suffering others had\nendured for their pleasure. They might not always succeed, but the fact\nof seeking would have its effect, and they would help to raise public\nopinion to a greater sense of responsibility.\n\nPleasure-seekers are proverbially free-handed, they throw their money to\npassing beggars, they patronize any passing show which promises a\nmoment\u2019s amusement; greater moral thoughtfulness would not prevent their\npleasure, but it would prevent them from making children greedy, so that\nthey might enjoy the fun of watching a scramble, and from listening to\nsongs or patronizing shows which degrade the performer. Gwendolen, in\nGeorge Eliot\u2019s \u201cDaniel Deronda,\u201d did not realize that the cruelty of\ngambling is taking profit by another\u2019s loss, and so she laid the\nfoundation of a tragedy. Pleasure-seekers who make the same mistake are\nresponsible for some of the tragedies which disturb society.\n\nThe Social Reformers who will do most to fit together the jarring joints\nof Society are, therefore, the man and woman who, without giving up\ntheir duties or their business, who without even taking up special\nphilanthropic work are morally thoughtful as to their words and acts.\nThey are, in old language, they who are in the world and not of the\nworld. If any one says that such moral thoughtfulness spells bankruptcy,\nthere are in the examples of business men and manufacturers a thousand\nanswers, but reformers who have it in mind to lead the world right do\nnot begin by asking as to their own reward. It is enough for them that\nas the ills of society come not from the acts of criminals who design\nthe ills, but from the thousand and million unconsidered acts of men and\nwomen who pass as kindly and respectable people, they on their part set\nthemselves to consider every one of their acts in relation to others\u2019\nneeds.\n\nThe real Social Reformer is therefore the business man, the customer,\nthe pleasure-seeker, who in his pursuits thinks first of the effect of\nthose pursuits on the health and wealth of his partners in such\npursuits. The spirit of moral thoughtfulness widely spread among rich\nand poor, employers and employed, better than the power of any leader or\nof any law, will most surely set right a world which is out of joint.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    WHERE CHARITY FAILS.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    January, 1907.\n\n  [1] From \u201cPearson\u2019s Weekly\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\nI do not think that anyone will dispute the fact that our charity, taken\nas a whole, is administered in a somewhat wasteful and haphazard\nfashion. At the same time, however, I question whether the public is\nalive to the full extent of the evil arising from the utter lack of\nsystem in our administration of charity.\n\nFor it is not merely the question of the waste of the public\u2019s money,\nthough that is bad enough; it is the far graver matter of the\ndepreciation of our greatest national asset, character, by injudicious\nand indiscriminate philanthropy.\n\nOwing to the absence of any supreme charitable board or authority, and\nthe lack of co-operation between charitable bodies, it is very tempting\nto a poor man to tell a lie to draw relief from many sources. He gets\nhis food and loses his character.\n\nIndeed, I have no hesitation in saying that the present system directly\nencourages mendacity and mendicity, and, unless remedied, must\ninevitably affect the moral fibre of the nation.\n\nThe want of co-operation already alluded to is, of course, at the root\nof the evil, so far as waste of money is concerned, and I am often asked\nwhy charitable bodies will not co-operate. My answer is that it is very\noften a case of pride in results. Officials do not wish to share the\ncredit of their work; they want to be able to claim to their subscribers\nthat they have spent more money or relieved more cases than their rival\nround the corner, just as hospitals are led to regard the number of\npatients they treat as the criterion of their usefulness.\n\nHowever, although I hold that hospitals might well extend their sphere\nfrom the cure to the prevention of disease, by taking more part in\nteaching people the laws of health and influencing them to keep such\nlaws in their homes, I am not concerned with that question here, and\nmention hospitals only to introduce my first suggestion for charity\nreform.\n\nThe operations for the King\u2019s Hospital Fund have shown what can be done\nto check waste by bringing about a saving of \u00a320,000 a year in the\nhospitals\u2019 bills for provisions, etc.\n\nUntil the King\u2019s Hospital Fund was instituted there was no general\nknowledge of the comparative expenditure of hospitals on food, etc.,\nwith the result that some paid exorbitant prices for certain articles\nand some for others. The action of the King\u2019s Fund has equalized\nexpenditure, with the result I have stated.\n\nNow it occurs to me that another board like the King\u2019s Hospital Fund\nwould be able to bring about a similar saving in the administration of\nother charities which now compete to the loss of money subscribed by the\npublic for the public, and, as I have said, to the detriment of\ncharacter.\n\nSuch a Board would check waste and extravagance engendered by\ncompetition, and it could be brought into being as swiftly and\neffectively as was the King\u2019s Hospital Fund.\n\nSo much for an immediate measure, but I suggest as a more certain method\nthat every twenty-five years or so there should be an inquiry by some\nauthority, either national or local, into every philanthropic\ninstitution.\n\nThe terms of reference of such inquiry might be: firstly, the economic\nand business-like character of the management; secondly, the way in\nwhich co-operation was welcomed, and whether something more could not be\ndone for further co-operation; and lastly, the institution might be\ntried by the standard of its usefulness to its surroundings. For,\nremember, every charity which really exists for the public good ought to\ntest itself by this question, \u201cIs our aim that of self-extinction?\u201d The\ntruest charity, that is to say, should aim to remove the causes, not the\nsymptoms of evil.\n\nBut many shirk this self-inquisition, and linger on breeding mendicity,\nafter their place has been taken by State or municipal organizations, or\nafter they have ceased to fulfil any useful purpose.\n\nIt may be that this public authority I suggest would not at once effect\nvery much, but a public inquiry provides facts for public opinion to\nwork upon, and thus inevitably brings reform.\n\nMy final words, however, must again be as to the mischief liable to be\ndone to character by thoughtless charity. People should think most\ncarefully and solemnly before they give, lest they do more harm than\ngood, and until our charity is properly organized and supervised, I fear\nthat much money will be wasted on undeserving cases and in unnecessary\nand extravagant expenses of administration.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    LANDLORDISM UP TO DATE.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    August, 1912.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Westminster Gazette\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\n\u201cThe position of landlord and tenant is often one of opposing\ninterests.\u201d This remark from the first number of the \u201cRecord\u201d of the\nHampstead Garden Suburb must commend itself as true to all readers of\nthe daily Press. The \u201cRecord,\u201d however, in two most interesting\narticles, shows that with landlordism up to date it need no longer be\ntrue. The Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust, of which Mr. Alfred Lyttelton\nis president, and Mrs. S. A. Barnett hon. manager, is the landlord of\n263 acres--shortly to be increased by another 400 acres, most of which\nwill be worked in conjunction with the Co-Partnership Tenants. To meet\nthe needs of the 25,000 people who will ultimately be housed on this\nunique estate the whole has been laid out with a view to the comfort of\nthe people, including in the idea of \u201ccomfort\u201d not only well-built\nhouses with gardens, but also the opportunities for the interknowledge\nof various classes which alike enriches the minds of rich and poor. A\nvisit to the estate suggests the multitudinous interests which have been\nconsidered. The houses are grouped around a central square, on which\nstand the church, the chapel, and the institute, and it is so planned\nthat from the cottages at 5s. 6d. a week, as from the mansions with\nrentals of from \u00a3100 to \u00a3250 a year, the inhabitants alike enjoy beauty\neither of gardens, tree-planted streets, public open spaces, or glimpses\nover the distant country.\n\nThe Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust, as the leading article in the\n\u201cRecord\u201d says, \u201chas done what any other far-seeing and enlightened\nlandlord has done,\u201d with the difference that its pecuniary interest in\nthe financial success of the scheme is limited by a self-obtained Act of\nParliament to 5 per cent. In a summary, which it is well to quote, the\ndoings of this up-to-date landlord are gathered together:--\n\n  \u201cAs a landlord the Trust has laid out and maintains the open\n  spaces, the tennis courts, the wall-less gardens with their\n  brilliant flowers, the restful nooks, the village green, which,\n  with the secluded woods, can be enjoyed in common by rich and\n  poor, simple and learned, young and old, sources of \u2018joy in widest\n  commonalty spread\u2019.\n\n  \u201cAs a landlord the Trust has given the sites for both the\n  Established Church and the Free Church, each standing on the\n  Central Square in equally prominent positions, worthy of the\n  beautiful buildings their respective organizations have erected.\n\n  \u201cAs a landlord the Trust has given the site for the elementary\n  school, and has spared no pains to obtain a building adapted to the\n  best and most carefully thought-out methods of modern education.\n\n  \u201cAs a landlord the Trust has built the first section of the\n  Institute, with the conviction that their hope of bringing into\n  friendly relations all classes of their tenants will be furthered\n  by the provision of a centre where residents and neighbours can be\n  drawn together by intellectual interests. Although the Institute\n  is not yet two years old, the Trust has already organized and\n  maintained many activities, a full report of which is to be found\n  in subsequent pages of the \u2018Record\u2019.\n\n  \u201cAs a landlord the Trust has built three groups of buildings which\n  they counted necessary towards the completion of their civic\n  ideal: (_a_) Staff cottages, so that the men employed on the estate\n  should be housed suitably and economically; (_b_) a group of homes\n  where the State-supported children and others needing care and\n  protection should live under suitable and adequate administration,\n  and share the privileges and pleasures of the suburb; (_c_)\n  motor-houses, with dwellings for the drivers, so that the richer\n  people may have their luxury, and the poorer their habitations near\n  their work.\n\n  \u201cAs a landlord the Trust conceives ideas for the public good\n  and presses them on companies and others in the hope of their\n  achievement. It was thus that the Improved Industrial Dwellings\n  Company, Limited, built (from Mr. Baillie Scott\u2019s designs) the\n  beautiful quadrangle of Waterlow Court, where working ladies find\n  the advantages of both privacy and a common life.\n\n  \u201cAs a landlord the Trust is pushing forward negotiations with a\n  view to obtaining a first-rate Secondary School, the directors\n  believing that the provision of high-class education meets a need\n  not usually considered when an estate is being developed, and that\n  the school site should not be limited to the minimum necessary\n  ground subsequently bought at an inflated price.\n\n  \u201cAs a landlord the Trust welcomes the public spirit and civic\n  generosity of any of their tenants, taking special pride, perhaps,\n  in the beautiful shops, the \u2018Haven of Rest\u2019 for the old and\n  work-weary, and the club house (so admirably planned and alive with\n  social and pleasurable activities), the tennis courts, the bowling\n  greens, the children\u2019s gardens, the skating rink--each and all\n  established and held for co-operative pleasure and joint use by\n  their chief tenants, the co-partners.\u201d\n\nThis record of what has already been done prepares the reader to read\nwith new interest the second article, \u201cAn Ideal--and After,\u201d by Mr.\nRaymond Unwin, who now stands at the head of \u201ctown-planners\u201d. He shows\nthe great principles which have to be considered in planning town\nextensions, which principles have generally been forgotten in the growth\nof London suburbs. He then gives a plan of the 412 acres which lie\nbetween the Finchley and the Great North Road, and are about to be\nincorporated in the Hampstead Garden Suburb. He shows what direction the\nroads should take so as to secure readiness of access to the railway\nstations, and at the same time leave the Central Square with its fine\nbuildings dominating and giving beauty to the whole neighbourhood. He\nshows also how other heights should be occupied by churches or public\nbuildings, and he proposes that another centre (and another will be\nneeded when it is remembered that the estate is nearly four miles long)\n\u201cshould approximate more nearly to the Market Place or Forum, where the\nmain lines of traffic will meet, and to which access from all parts will\nbe made easy\u201d. The articles make fascinating reading and lay hold of\nthat pioneer instinct which has helped to make Englishmen such good\nColonists. If the reading arouses some indignation at the lost chances\nof London, the fact that Mr. Unwin, on behalf of the Trust, and the\nco-partnership tenants are dealing with this great estate, in\nconjunction with the Finchley District Council, gives some hope. In\nyears to come our children will see that the Hampstead Garden Suburb\nTrust as a pioneer landlord did notable work in avoiding current\nmistakes and in pointing the way for other metropolitan districts to\nfollow. Out of eighty-two authorities in Greater London only\ntwenty-seven have so far started to avail themselves of the powers of\nthe Housing and Town-Planning Act, and meanwhile the jerry-builder is at\nlarge, uncontrolled, and very actively at work.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    THE CHURCH AND TOWN PLANNING.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    August, 1912.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Guardian\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\nEvery year we are told that so many churches have been added to London.\nEvery year a volume is published by the Bishop of London\u2019s Fund with\npictures of these churches--buildings of conventional character, showing\nin their mean lines and sterile decoration the trail of the order to\nlimit their cost to \u00a38000 or \u00a39000. Every year we see London extending\nitself in long straight ranks of small houses, where no tower or spire\nsuggests to men the help which comes of looking up, and no hall or\npublic building calls them to find strength in meeting together.\n\nTown-planning is much discussed, and the discussion has taken shape in\nan Act of Parliament; but meantime the opportunities are being lost for\ndoing what the discussions and the Act declare to be necessary for\nhealth and happiness. Hendon is probably the most highly favoured\nbuilding land nearest to London. It has undulating ground, where gentle\nhills offer a wide prospect towards the west; it has fine trees whose\npreservation might secure grace and dignity to the neighbourhood; and it\nhas also a large sheet of water, the reservoir of the Brent, whose banks\noffer to young and old recreation for body and for spirit. A few years\nago town-planning might have secured all these advantages, and at the\nsame time provided houses and buildings which would have helped to make\nsocial life a fair response to the physical surroundings. But while talk\nis spent on the advantages of variety in buildings, of the importance of\nsecuring a vista which street inhabitants may enjoy, and of the value of\ntrees and open spaces, straight roads are being cut at right angles\nacross the hills, trees are being felled, and nothing has been done to\nprevent what will soon become slum property extending alongside the\nlake. Willesden, as it may be seen from Dollis Hill--a chess-board of\nslate roofs--is an object lesson as to the future of London if builders\nand owners and local authorities go on laying out estates with no\nthought but for the rights of private owners.\n\nWhat, however, it may be asked, can the Church do? \u201cAgitate--protest?\u201d\nYes, the Church, familiar with the lives of inhabitants of mean streets,\ncan speak with authority. It can tell how minds and souls are dwarfed\nfor want of outlook, how pathetic is the longing for beauty shown in the\ncoloured print on the wall of the little dark tenement, how hard it is\nto make a home of a dwelling exactly like a hundred other dwellings, how\noften it is the dullness of the street which encourages carelessness of\ndirt and resort to excitement--how, in fact, it is the mean house and\nmean street which prepare the way for poverty and vice. The voice of joy\nand health is not heard even in the dwellings of the righteous. The\nChurch might help town-planning as it might help every other social\nreform, by charging the atmosphere of life with unselfish and\nsympathetic thought. But the question I would raise is whether the\nChurch is not called to take more direct action in the matter of\ntown-building. Its policy at present seems to build a church for every\n4,000 or 5,000 persons as they settle on the outskirts of London. The\nsite is generally one given by a landlord whose interests do not always\ntake in those of the whole neighbourhood. The building itself aims\nprimarily at accommodating so many hundreds of people at a low cost per\nseat, and outside features are regarded as involving expenses too great\nfor present generosity. This policy which has not been changed since\nBishop Blomfield set the example of building the East London district\nchurches, is, I believe, prejudicial to Church interests, as it\ncertainly is to the dignity of the neighbourhood in which they stand.\n\nThe Church might help much in town-planning if it would change its\npolicy, and, instead of dropping unconsidered and trifling buildings at\nfrequent intervals over a new suburb, build one grand and dominant\nbuilding on some carefully chosen site to which the roads would lead.\nThe Directors of the Hampstead Garden Suburb as a private company have\nshown what is possible. They have crowned the hill at the base of which\n20,000 people will soon be gathered, with the Church, the Chapel, and\nthe public Institute. This hill dominates the landscape for miles round,\nand is the obvious centre of a great community of people. The Church by\nadopting a like policy would at once give a character to a new suburb,\nthe convergence of roads would be marked, and order would be brought\ninto the minds of builders planning out their different properties. The\narchitects would be conscious of the centre of the circle in which they\nworked, and the houses would fall into some relation with the central\nbuilding. Every one would feel such a healthy pride in the grandeur of\nthe central church that it would be more difficult for things mean and\nunsightly to be set up in its neighbourhood. The church buildings in the\nCity of London, or those which are seen towering over some of the newer\navenues in Paris, or those familiar in our country towns and in\nvillages, often seem as if they had brought together the inhabitants and\nwere presiding over their lives. They look like leaders and suggest that\nthe world is a world of order. The Bishop of London\u2019s Fund, or the\nauthorities who direct the principal building policy, and spend annually\nthousands of pounds in its pursuit, have thus a great opportunity of\ngiving direction to the expansion of London. They might by care in the\nselection of sites, and by generous expenditure at the direction of a\nlarge-visioned architect, do for the growing cities or towns of to-day\nwhat the builders of the past did for the cities and towns of their\ntime. The Church by its direct action might thus give a great impetus to\ntown planning, the need of which is in the mouths of all reformers.\n\nBut it may be asked whether the Church ought to contribute to the making\nof beauty at the cost of its own efficiency. Has not the State one duty\nand the Church another? Without answering the question it is I think\neasy to show that a new policy would cost less money, and be more\nefficient in promoting worship. It is obviously no more costly to build\none magnificent building for \u00a325,000 or \u00a330,000 than to build three\nordinary buildings at \u00a38000 or \u00a39000 each, while the maintenance of the\nthree, with the constant expense of repairs, must be considerably\ngreater.\n\nAnd if it be asked whether one grand and generous and dignified building\nwill attract more worshippers than three of the ordinary type, my answer\nis \u201cYes, and the worshippers will be assisted to a reverent mind and\nattitude\u201d. I speak what I know as a vicar for thirty years of a district\nchurch in East London. The building was always requiring repair, its\nfittings were oppressively cheap, and there were twelve other churches\nwithin much less than \u201ca Sabbath day\u2019s journey\u201d. There is no doubt that\nthe people preferred and were more helped by worship in the finer and\nbetter served parish churches. I used to feel what an advantage it would\nhave been if the parish church, endowed and glorified with some of the\nmoney spent on the district churches, could have been the centre of a\nlarge staff of clergy, and have offered freely to all comers the noblest\naids to worship. A feeling of patronage is incompatible with a feeling\nof worship, and the district church, with its constant need of money and\nits mean appearance, is always calling for the patronage of the people.\nThe grandly built and imposing building, which gives the best and asks\nfor nothing, provokes not patronage but reverence. There is, I believe,\ngreat need for such places of worship, as there is also need for meeting\nhalls where in familiar talk and with simple forms of worship the clergy\nmight lead and teach the people; but I do not see the need for the cheap\nchurches, which are not dignified enough to increase habits of\nreverence, and often pretend to an importance which provokes\nimpertinence.\n\nThe Church has been powerful because it has called on its members to put\ntheir best thought and their best gifts into the buildings raised for\nthe worship of God. It owes much to the stately churches and sumptuous\ncathedrals, for the sake of which men of old made themselves poor; and\nto-day the hearts of many, who are worn by the disease of modern\ncivilization, are comforted and uplifted as in the greatness of these\nbuildings they forget themselves. The Church is as unwise as it is\nunfaithful when it puts up cheap and mean structures. It is not by\nmaking excuses--whether for its members who keep the best for their own\ndwellings or for itself when it takes an insignificant place in the\nstreets--that the Church will command the respect of the people. It must\nprove its faith by the boldness of its demand. But I have said enough to\nshow that the Bishop of London\u2019s Fund would serve its own object of\nproviding the best aid to worship, if it would respond to the call of\nthe present and seize the opportunity of taking a lead in town-planning.\nChurch policy--as State policy--is often best guided by the calls which\nrise for present needs, and if our leaders, distrusting \u201ctheir own\ninventions,\u201d would set themselves to assist in town-planning it might be\ngiven them to do the best for the Church as well as for the health and\nwealth of the people.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    SECTION VI.\n\n    EDUCATION.\n\nThe Teacher\u2019s Equipment--Oxford University and the Working People, _two\narticles_--Justice to Young Workers--A Race between Education and Ruin.\n\n\n\n\n    THE TEACHER\u2019S EQUIPMENT.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    March, 1911.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Westminster Gazette\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\nLiberals must be somewhat disappointed that a Liberal Government has\ndone so little for education. The reforms for which they stand--their\nhopes for the nation--depend on the increase of knowledge and\nintelligence among the people. The establishment of Free Trade, wise\neconomy and wise expenditure, and the support of the statesmanship which\nmakes for peace, all presuppose an instructed electorate. But the\npresent Government has passed no measure to strengthen the foundation on\nwhich Liberalism rests; attempts, indeed, were made to settle the\nreligious difficulty, but ever since those attempts were wrecked by the\nHouse of Lords, Ministers have been content to do nothing, although\noutside the religious controversy they might have launched other\nattempts laden with important reforms and safe to reach their port. The\nadministration of the law as it stands has doubtless been vigorous; able\nand public-spirited officials have seen that everything which the law\nrequires has been done, and every possible development effected, but the\nLiberal Government has done nothing to improve the Law. Minister of\nEducation succeeds Minister of Education, years of opportunity roll by,\nwhile children still leave school at an age when their education has\nhardly begun, while compulsory continuation schools still wait to be\nstarted, while great--not to say vast--endowments are absorbed in the\nobjects of the wealthier classes, while the provision for the equipment\nof teachers is unsatisfactory.\n\nThe equipment of the teachers is confessedly the most important item in\nany programme of education, as it is upon the teacher rather than upon\nthe building or the curriculum that the real progress of education\ndepends. That equipment, as far as elementary schools are concerned, is\nnow given in training colleges, and especially in residential colleges.\nYoung men and women, that is to say, who have been through a secondary\nschool, and also shown some aptitude for teaching, receive, largely at\nGovernment expense, two years\u2019 instruction and training in colleges\nwhich are managed either by religious denominations or by local\neducational authorities. In the colleges the staff is mostly occupied in\ngiving the knowledge which forms part of a general education, and very\nlittle time is spent in training or in the study of problems of the\nchild life.\n\n\n    TRAINING COLLEGES.\n\nThe system is unsatisfactory on many grounds. (1) The rivalry between\ndenominational and undenominational colleges stirs the keenest\npartisanship. When in his annual statement Mr. Runciman began to talk\nabout the number of students in the different colleges he had, he said\nwith some irony, \u201cto drop the subject, knowing how far the religious\ncontroversy is likely to interest this House\u201d. (2) The system is most\ncostly, and every year, including building grants, an amount of\nsomething like half a million of money is paid for the training--or, to\nspeak more accurately, for the ordinary education of young men and women\nwho may feel no call for teaching and cannot be really bound to take it\nup for their life\u2019s work. (3) It breeds a feeling of indignation among\nthose who do not get employment, and there is now an agitation because\nthe State does not find work for those whom it has selected to receive a\nspecial training, and bound, even though it be by an ineffective bond,\nto follow a particular calling. (4) It brings together a body of\nstudents whose outlook to the future is identical, it encourages,\ntherefore, narrow views, and breeds the exclusive professional spirit in\na profession whose usefulness depends on its power to assimilate the\nthought of the time and to sacrifice its interest for wider interests.\nThe training college system as a means of equipping teachers for their\nwork is not satisfactory, and the Archbishop of Canterbury was well\njustified when he said: \u201cThe thing which mattered most in the\neducational work in England to-day was the question of the training\ncolleges\u201d.\n\n\n    THEIR REFORM OR THEIR ABOLITION.\n\nThe reforms suggested generally follow the lines of further expenditure\non buildings or on staff, but such expenditure would not remove the\nobjections. The money annually spent is very large--equal to the\ngross income of Oxford University--and if more were spent there is no\nvery effective way of securing that the best among the teachers so\ntrained would remain in the profession; the men would still take up\nmore remunerative work, and the women would still marry. The rivalry\nbetween denominational and undenominational would continue, and the\nprotest of conscientious objectors--religious or secular--as each\nfurther expense was proposed would increase difficulties. If the number\nturned out of the training colleges were larger there would be a more\nwidely spread sense of wrong among the unemployed, who would with\ndifficulty recognize that something else was wanting in a teacher than\nthe certificate of a training college. But most fatal of all to the\nproposed extension or improvement of the system, is the objection that\nthe more and the stronger the colleges become, the more deeply would\nthe professional spirit be entrenched, and the more powerful would be\nthe influence of the teaching class in asserting its rights.\n\n\n    SUBSTITUTION OF A BETTER WAY OF TRAINING.\n\nThe reform might, I submit, follow the line of restriction and proceed\ntowards the ultimate abolition of the residential colleges in their\npresent form. The way is comparatively simple. Let the children from\nelementary schools be helped--as, indeed, they now are--by scholarships\nto enter secondary schools, and go on to University colleges, or to the\nUniversities. Equal opportunity for getting the best knowledge would\nthus be open to children of all classes. Let any over the age of\nnineteen who have passed through a college connected with some\nUniversity, or otherwise approved as giving an education of a general\nand liberal character, be eligible to apply for a teachership, and if,\nafter a period of trial in a school--say for three or six months--they,\non the report of the inspector and master, have shown an aptitude for\nteaching, then let them, at the expense of the State, be given a year\u2019s\nreal training in the theory and practice of teaching. Teachers are, it\nmust be remembered, born and not made. One man or woman who, without any\nexperience, is placed over a class will at once command attention, while\nanother with perhaps greater ability will create confusion. Those who\nare not born to it may indeed learn the tricks of discipline, and, like\na drill-sergeant, command obedience and keep order. Many of the\ncomplaints which are heard about the unintelligence and the want of\ninterest in children who have come from schools where to the visitor\u2019s\neye everything seems right are due, I believe, to the fact that the\nteachers have not been born to the work. They have trusted to the rules\nthey have learnt and not to the gift of power which is in themselves.\nThey teach as the scribes and not with authority. Let, therefore, the\nmen and women who have this power be those whom the State will train;\nlet it give them not, as at present, a few weeks in a practising school,\nbut experience in a variety of schools in town and in country, and under\nmasters with different systems; let them be made familiar with the last\nthoughts on child life, and with all the many different theories of\neducation. The State will in this way draw from all classes in the\ncommunity the men and the women best fitted to teach, and it will give\nthem a training worthy the name. The teachers will have the best\nequipment for their work.\n\nThe advantages of this proposal to get rid of the training colleges as\nthey now are may be summarized: (1) There will be an end of the\nreligious difficulty where at present it is most threatening. The\nchildren with scholarships will go to the schools and University\ncolleges they elect just as do the children who are aiming at other\ncareers. The State in the training it provides will have nothing to do\nwith the special training required for giving religious knowledge--as\nsuch training would naturally be given by the different denominations at\ntheir own expense. (2) The half million of money annually spent on\ntraining colleges would not be required for the training now proposed.\nIt cannot, however, be said that the money would be returned to the\ntaxpayers; education--if the nation is to be saved--must become more and\nmore costly, but it may be said that the greater part of this sum and\nthe existing buildings would be used for the general education of\npersons taken from all classes of the community and preparing to walk in\nall sorts of careers. (3) There would be no body of men and women with\nthe grievance that, having been selected at an early age, trained as\nteachers, and bound to a profession, no work was provided. Every one\nwould have had the best sort of education for any career, and only one\nyear, after a fair time for choice and probation, would have been given\nto special training. (4) The danger of professionalism would be\nlessened. Men and women educated in schools and colleges alongside of\nother students with other aims, would, by their association, gain a\nwider outlook on life, and would be freed from the influences which tend\nnow to force them into an organization for the defence of their rights.\nIf afterwards they did join such organizations they would do so with a\nwider consciousness of their relation to a body larger than their own,\nand to a knowledge greater than they themselves had acquired.\n\nA substantial number of young persons do even under present conditions\nspend their three years with the Government scholarship at Universities\nor University colleges, and the experience thus gained illustrates the\nadvantage to intending students of mixing with persons intended for\nother careers.\n\nHere, then, I submit, is a way of reform in what is confessedly the most\nimportant part of our system of education. It might be undertaken at no\nextra expense, and with small dislocation of existing institutions. The\none thing necessary is zeal for education among our political leaders.\nThe best students of the social problem tell us the remedy for the\nunrest is education, and anyone considering the signs of the times in\nEngland will say also that there must be more education if employers and\nemployed, if statesmen and people, if the pulpit and the pew are to\nunderstand one another. The chief Minister in any Government, the\nMinister on whose zeal and ability all the others depend for the\nultimate success of their work, is the Minister of Education. If he is\nzealous he will find a way of equipping the teachers.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    OXFORD UNIVERSITY AND THE WORKING PEOPLE.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    FIRST ARTICLE.\n\n    February, 1909.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Westminster Gazette\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\nOxford last year invited seven working men to act with seven members of\nthe University on a Committee appointed to consider what the University\ncan do for the education of working people. The step is notable--Oxford\nand Cambridge have long done something to make it possible for the sons\nof workmen, by means of scholarships, to enter the colleges, to take\ndegrees, and, as members of the University, to climb to a place among\nthe professional classes. Oxford, in appointing this Committee, has\ntaken a new departure, and aimed to put its resources at the disposal of\npeople who continue to be members of the working classes.\n\nThe report of the Committee, of which the Dean of Christ Church was\nChairman, and Mr. Shackleton, M.P., Vice-Chairman, forms a most\ninteresting pamphlet, which may be obtained for a shilling from any\nbookseller or the Clarendon Press. It tells of the purpose, the history,\nand the endowments of the University, and it also gathers together\nevidence of the demand which is being raised by working people for\nsomething more than education in \u201cbread and butter\u201d subjects. This\nevidence is summed up in the following report:--\n\nThe ideal expressed in John Milton\u2019s definition of education, \u201cthat\nwhich fits a man to perform justly, skilfully, and magnanimously, all\nthe duties of all offices,\u201d is one which is, we think, very deeply\nembedded in the minds of the working classes, and we attribute part of\nthe failure of higher education among them in the past, to the feeling\nthat, by means of it their ablest members were being removed to spheres\nwhere they would not be available for the service of their fellows. What\nthey desire is not that men should escape from their class, but that\nthey should remain in it and raise the whole level. The eleven millions\nwho weave our clothes, build our houses, and carry us safely on our\njourneys demand university education in order that they may face with\nwisdom the unsolved problems of their present position, not in order\nthat they may escape to another.... To-day in their strivings for a\nfuller life, they ask that men of their own class should co-operate as\nstudents with Oxford in order that, with minds enlarged by impartial\nstudy, they in their turn may become the public teachers and leaders,\nthe philosophers and economists of the working classes. The movement,\nwhich is thus formulated in a report signed by seven representative\nworkmen, is fraught with incalculable possibilities.\n\nThe sum of happiness in the nation might be vastly increased, and\npolitics might be guided by more persistent wisdom. The great sources of\nhappiness which rise within the mind and are nourished by contact with\nother minds are largely out of reach of the majority of the people.\nThese sources might be brought within their reach. The working classes\nwhose minds are strengthened by the discipline of work, might have the\nknowledge which would interest them in the things their hands make; they\nmight, in the long monotonies of toil, be illuminated by the thoughts of\nthe great, and inspired by ideals; they might be introduced to the\nsecrets of beauty, and taught the joy of admiration. They might be\nreleased from the isolation of ignorance, so that, speaking a common\nlanguage, and sharing common thoughts, they would have the pleasure of\nhelping and being helped in discussions with members of other classes on\nall things under the sun.\n\nThe workman knows about livelihood; he might know also about life, if\nthe great avenues of art, literature, and history, down which come the\nthoughts and ideals of ages, were open to him. He might be happy in\nreading, in thinking, or in admiring, and not be driven to find\nhappiness in the excitement of sport or drink. The mass of the people it\nis often said are dumb, so that they cannot tell their thoughts; deaf,\nso that they cannot understand the language of modern truth; and blind,\nso that they cannot see the beauty of the world.\n\nThe speaker, in Mr. Lowes Dickenson\u2019s dialogue, condemns this generation\nwhen he says, \u201ctheir idea of being better off is to eat and drink to\nexcess, to dress absurdly, and to play stupidly and cruelly\u201d.\n\nThe majority of the people, it must be admitted, cannot have the best\nsort of happiness, that which comes from within themselves, from the\nexercise of their own thoughts, and from the use of their own faculties.\nFor want of knowledge the sum of happiness is decreased, and for want of\nthe same knowledge the dangers of war and social troubles are increased.\nThe working people have now become the governing class in the nation. Up\nto now, the acting governors--the majority which controls the\nGovernment--have cajoled them by party cries, by appeals to passion, and\nby the familiar blandishments of expert canvassers, to fall in with\ntheir policy. But every year working people are forming their own\nopinions, and making their opinions felt, both in home and foreign\npolicy. They will break in upon the international equilibrium, so\ndelicately poised amid passions and prejudices; they will decide the use\nof the Dreadnoughts and the armies of the world; they will settle\nquestions of property and of tariff; they will form the authority which\nwill have to control individual action for the good of the whole. How\ncan they possibly carry this responsibility if they have no wider\noutlook on life, no greater knowledge of men, no more power of\nforesight, no more respect for tradition than that which they already\npossess?\n\nHow shortsighted is the policy which spends millions on armaments, and\nleaves them to become destructive in ignorant hands. How important for\nnational security is a knowledge \u201cin widest commonalty spread\u201d. Oxford,\nto a large extent, possesses this knowledge and the means of its\ndistribution.\n\n\u201cThe national Universities, which are the national fountainheads of\nnational culture,\u201d as one workman has said, have been regarded as the\nlegitimate preserves of the leisured class. They have helped the rich to\nenjoy and defend their possessions, they have given them out of their\nresources the power to see and to reason; they have made them wise in\ntheir own interests; they have given to one class, and to the recruits\nwho have been drawn to that class from the ranks of the workman, the\nknowledge in which is happiness and power. The question arises, should\nOxford, can Oxford, give the same gifts to working people while they\nremain working people? The answer of the report is an unequivocal \u201cYes\u201d.\n\nIn the first place the University has inherited the duty of educating\nthe poor. Its colleges have in many cases been founded for poor\nscholars, and its tradition is that poverty shall be no bar to learning.\n\nIn the next place its long-established custom, of bringing men into\nassociation in pursuit of knowledge, is one which peculiarly fits it\nto help workmen, whose strength lies in that power of association\nwhich has covered some districts of England with a network of\ninstitutions--industrial, social, political, and religious. Men who\nhave joined in the discussions of the workshop, been members of the\ncommittee of a co-operative store, and acted as officials of a\nfriendly society, have had in some ways a better preparation for\nabsorbing the teaching of the University on life, than is given in the\nforms and playing field of a public school. The tutor of a class of\nthirty-nine working people at N---- who read with him, the regular\nsession through, a course of Economic History, reports that the work\nwas excellent, and a visitor from Oxford was impressed \u201cby the high\nlevel of the discussion and the remarkable acumen displayed in asking\nquestions\u201d.\n\nIn the last place, the University has the money. The total net receipts\nof the Universities and colleges--apart from a sum of \u00a3178,000 collected\nfrom the members of the Universities and colleges--is \u00a3265,000. Of this\nsum, \u00a350,000 is given in scholarships and exhibitions to boys who for\nthe most part have been trained in the schools of the richer classes,\nand of this sum \u00a334,000 is given yearly without reference to the\nfinancial means of the recipient. The report does not analyse the\nexpenditure of this large income, except in so far as to suggest that\nsome of the scholarship and fellowship money might be diverted to the\nmore direct service of working people\u2019s education. Common sense,\nhowever, suggests that there must be many possible economies in the\nmanagement of estates, in the overlapping of lecturers, and in the\nexpense on buildings. The experience of the Ecclesiastical Commission\nhas shown how much may be gained if estates are removed from the care of\nmany amateur corporations, and placed under a centralized and efficient\nmanagement. The knowledge, too, that some colleges have ten times the\nincome of others, without corresponding difference in the educational\noutput, suggests that money may be saved.\n\nOxford seems to be compelled, both by its traditions, its customs, and\nits money to do something for the education of the working people. The\nquestion whether it can do so, is answered by the scheme which the\nreport recommends; that a committee be formed in Oxford, consisting of\nworking-class representatives, in equal numbers with members of the\nUniversity; that this Committee should draw up a two years\u2019 curriculum,\nselect the tutors, who must also have work in Oxford, and settle the\nlocalities in which classes shall be held; that students at these\nclasses be admitted to the diploma course; that half of the teachers\u2019\nsalary be paid by the University, and the other half by the Committee of\nthe locality in which the classes are held. The report, with a view to\nbringing working people under the influence of Oxford itself, further\nrecommends that colleges be asked to set aside a number of scholarships\nor exhibitions, to enable selected students from the tutorial classes to\nreside in Oxford, either in Colleges, in University Halls, as\nnon-collegiate students, or at Ruskin Hall.\n\nThese recommendations have certain advantages and certain shortcomings,\nthe consideration of which must be deferred to another article.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    OXFORD UNIVERSITY AND THE WORKING PEOPLE.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    SECOND ARTICLE.\n\n    February, 1909.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Westminster Gazette\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\nThe points in the scheme which Oxford proposes to adopt for bringing its\nresources to the services of working people are: The appointment of\nrepresentative workmen on the Committee responsible for the object. The\noffer of a working University tutor to a locality where a class of\nthirty workpeople has been formed, willing to adopt one of the two\nyears\u2019 courses which the committee has approved. The recognition of the\nstudents of these classes as eligible for a diploma in Economics,\nPolitical Science, etc. The open door, so that students selected from\nthe classes may be able to enter and to reside in the University.\n\nTwo questions arise: Will the scheme attract workmen? Will it get the\nsympathetic, if not the enthusiastic, support of the University?\n\n1. Will it attract workmen? Workmen, apart from the demand that they, as\na class, should share in the joy and the power of knowledge, have learnt\nthat they must have educated men of their own class to direct their own\norganizations. There are 1,153 trade unions, 389 friendly societies,\n2,646 co-operative societies, and many other councils or congresses,\nmost of which employ paid officers who are daily discharging duties of\nthe utmost responsibility and delicacy, and which make demands on their\njudgment of men and knowledge of economic and political principles, as\ngreat or greater than those made on the Civil servant in India or in\nthis country. Workmen want officials who, familiar with their point of\nview, will have the knowledge and experience to convince educated\nopponents of the justice of their contentions. The education which\nOxford can give by broadening a man\u2019s knowledge and strengthening his\njudgment, would make him a more efficient servant of his own society,\nand a more potent influence on the side of industrial peace.\n\nWill workmen accept the offer which Oxford makes? Much shyness and\nprejudice have to be overcome. Oxford is often associated with opinions\nforeign to the democratic ideal. The manners of University men sometimes\nsuggest that they are superior persons, and a reputation for expensive\ntrifling is widely spread. Workmen are afraid that their young men in\nthe University atmosphere may be alienated from their class, grow\nashamed of their belongings, and put on artificial manners. They doubt\nwhether the teaching may not be of a kind directed in the interest of\nproperty, and they fear lest there may be too many temptations to\nidleness and to play. They do not want, as one Labour leader has said,\n\u201cgood democratic stuff spoiled by Oxford lecturers, who may give our\npeople a shoddy notion of respectability, and a superficial idea of\nthings which can be shown by the airs and graces of book learning\u201d.\n\nOxford is thus suspect; but, on the other hand, the place has immense\nattraction, as is proved by the fact that so many Trade Unions send\ntheir men to study at Ruskin College.\n\n\u201cWhat,\u201d it was asked of one of their students, \u201cdo you get here you\ncould not have got in a college in your own town?\u201d\n\n\u201cI get Oxford,\u201d was his reply; and it is evident in much talk that, even\nwhen Oxford is \u201csuspect,\u201d it has a great hold on the workman\u2019s mind.\nThere may be shyness, but it is only shyness that may be overcome by\ntrust.\n\nThe place of workmen, therefore, on the University committees must be an\nassured place, and not one allowed as a favour or on sufferance. Their\nvoices must be heard as to the subjects to be taught, and as to the\nteachers who are chosen; they must be able to make their influence felt\nin the University, which, as it is national, is their University. The\nlocal centres where classes are given must, in the same way, be locally\ncontrolled and independent of University control. The committees of\nthese centres must have full choice of the place and time of their\nmeetings, select from the list the courses of study to be followed, and\napprove the tutor. They must, indeed, have the same character as club or\nco-operative classes, while, through the Oxford tutor, the course of\nstudies and the examination, light is let in from the University. The\nlife must be in the local centres, but it must draw its air from Oxford.\n\nThe problem as to the admission of working people to residence is more\ndifficult. The proposal is that, by means of scholarships, they should\nbe enabled to live in colleges or in halls, or as non-collegiate\nstudents. The difficulty would be got over if enough students could come\nto be a support to one another. There must always be a fear lest, if\nthey be few in number, they may either lose their independence or else\ngo to the extreme of protest. The University can, however, get over this\ndifficulty by providing sufficient money to bring up a sufficient number\nof men, who will strengthen one another and influence the corporate life\nof the place. The question whether students should reside in colleges,\nin halls, or in lodgings may be left to solve itself. If they are to\nreside in colleges, the present system of erecting new buildings, with\nsuites of expensive rooms, might well be checked. Simpler buildings,\nadapted to the needs of workmen students, would save money, bring\ntogether types of men in one community, and not detract from the beauty\nof the city.\n\nThe schemes will, I believe, attract workmen if the University\ntakes pain to subordinate itself, and trusts to truth rather than\nto power. Workmen, if once their suspicion--justified, it must be\nallowed--be allayed, will find that there is in Oxford more sympathy\nwith their point of view than can possibly be found in any other\nEnglish community. Oxford men have, as a rule, open minds, and many\nof their younger Fellows are close and devoted students of social\nquestions. Many working men have already experienced what Mr. Crooks\nexperienced when, at a meeting in a college hall, having hurled some\nstinging sentences at the superiority which University men assumed,\nhis remarks were received, \u201cnot with boot-jacks, but with cheers\u201d\nFriendships between working men and members of the University are soon\nformed--both are used to living in associations, both have a love of\nfree discussion, both, to a larger extent than other Englishmen, are\nbelievers in equality. The scheme, if the University wishes it, will\nattract workmen.\n\n2. The other question is, Will the scheme win the support of the\nUniversity? A statute has already been passed appointing a committee\nconsisting of working-class representatives, and it has been agreed that\ntutorial-class students may be admitted to the diploma course. The\nUniversity can hardly do more. It cannot alter its constitution, which\nto a large extent leaves the government in the hands of college\nnominees, with an ultimate appeal to members of the University,\nscattered throughout the country. Its total income is only \u00a324,000 a\nyear, and it has no power to enforce adequate contributions from the\ncolleges, although their total income from endowments is \u00a3265,000 a\nyear. The University itself, unless it be reformed by Act of Parliament,\nor unless the colleges voluntarily endow it with the power and the\nmeans, can do very little to carry out the scheme.\n\nWill the Colleges act in the matter? Will they pass over to the control\nof the University a fair portion of the money they now spend either on\nscholarships and fellowships confined to boys from a few schools, or on\nthe maintenance of choirs and tutors, or on new buildings? It is not\nenough that one or two colleges make a grant to support some workmen\u2019s\ncentre. Workmen will resent the patronage of a college. The money must\nbe transferred to the University, the tutors must have a University\nstanding, and the scholarships, which enable men to reside in Oxford,\nmust be both ample and numerous. The University has, so far as it can,\nacted on the recommendation of the report. Will the Colleges rise to the\nopportunity, and enable Oxford to give the people the knowledge they\nneed, for the satisfaction of their own lives and the security of the\nnation?\n\nThe Colleges as yet have given little sign of a will to do anything but\nstrengthen their own independence, and make provision for students\nprepared in the public schools. In one or two instances, fellowships\nhave been given to men who have become lecturers under the University\nExtension Scheme, but the example has not been followed.\n\nFor many years pupil teachers from the elementary schools have come to\nOxford for their training; one or two colleges have given scholarships;\nbut again the example has not spread, and the inspector has had to\ncomplain of the scant provision which has been made for the men\u2019s\nadvantage.\n\nA plan was once initiated by which parties of teachers and others were\naccommodated in colleges during the long vacation, and tasted some of\nthe advantages of Oxford life and teaching. The plan worked excellently;\nit removed the reproach that for six months in the year the greatest\neducational capital of the nation is allowed to lie idle. But there was\nlittle enthusiasm; the energy of the few residents who were responsible\nwas, after a few years, worn out, if not by opposition, by apathy.\n\nThe colleges have as yet shown little power of adapting themselves to\nthe education of the new governing class. It may be that they will be\nroused by this report, and that something adequate may be done.\n\nThe point I would urge is that the something be adequate--a few classes\nscattered about the country, a few men admitted to Oxford, will court a\nfailure, and justify condemnation of the attempt.\n\nThe colleges have their opportunity, but beyond the colleges is my\nfriend Bishop Gore, now Bishop of Oxford, with his demand for a\nCommission, and beyond the Bishop is the rising power of labour, with\nits tendency, if it be not checked by University influence, to use all\nnational endowments for material rather than spiritual ends.\n\nThe Bishop\u2019s case for a commission is broadly based on the impossibility\nof working the present constitution of the University for its efficient\ngovernment; on the mischievous waste which spends the resources of fine\nminds and unique surroundings on boys, many of whom are capable of doing\nlittle more than play; on the folly of subsidizing with scholarships and\nfellowships one set of schools, and one or two types of knowledge; on\nthe expensive habits which the system fostered. The case was not\nanswered, and cannot be answered. The report of the committee is the\nfirst response to its call, and, as the Bishop said in a speech at\nToynbee Hall, it has given him a hope for which he has long waited.\n\nThe next response ought to be an appeal from the University itself for a\nCommission which will enable it to order the resources of Oxford as a\nwhole, and apply its powers so as to carry out fully the recommendations\nof the report.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    JUSTICE TO YOUNG WORKERS.\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    8 November, 1909.\n\n\nThirty years ago the \u201cbitter cry\u201d of the poor disturbed the public mind.\nHousing has since been improved. Technical teaching has since been\nestablished. The expenditure on the Poor Law has been greatly increased.\nGeneral Booth has raised the money for his social scheme. Philanthropy\nhas redoubled its efforts, and taken new forms. But still the \u201cbitter\ncry\u201d is raised. The number of the unemployed is greater than ever. There\nis more vagrancy, which the Prison Commissioners complain is adding to\nthe inmates of the prisons, and the amount spent on poor relief goes up\nby leaps and bounds. Royal Commissions, Departmental Committees,\nphilanthropic conferences, scientific professors have been facing the\nproblem which every year becomes more threatening to the national\nwelfare. Their recommendations are many. The striking fact is that in\none recommendation they all concur. The one thing which they agree to be\nnecessary is further training for young people between the ages of\nthirteen and seventeen.\n\nThe report of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education,\nlately published, gives the final word on the subject. The reports begin\nby showing that out of the 2,000,000 children in England and Wales who\nhave passed their fourteenth birthday, and are still under seventeen\nyears of age, only one in four receives on week-days any continued\neducation. \u201cThe result is a tragic waste of early promise.\u201d The children\ngo out of the elementary schools, which have been built up at immense\nexpense, and before they reach the age of seventeen, when the technical\nschools may be entered, many have acquired desultory habits, and lost\nthe power of study. Released from school, they become idle and lawless,\nor they enter \u201cblind alley\u201d employments, and for the sake of high\nimmediate wages, miss the chance of ultimate responsible employment. The\nCommittee agree with the Poor Law Commissioners, \u201cthat the results of\nthe large employment of boys in occupations which offer no opportunity\nof employment as men are disastrous,\u201d and go on to quote the Minority\nReport: \u201cThe nation cannot long persist in ignoring the fact that the\nunemployed, and particularly the under-employed, are thus being daily\ncreated under our eyes out of bright young things, for whose training we\nmake no provision\u201d.\n\nThe Committee having brought out this extravagant waste of money and\neffort and young life, sets itself to consider a remedy. It suggests\nimprovements in the day schools by giving a larger place in the\ncurriculum to subjects which train the hand and eye, and develop the\nconstructive powers. It further suggests that steps should be taken to\nprolong the school life of children, and it will be a surprise to many\nreaders that under the age of thirteen years 5,300 every year pass out\nof school, and that the extension of the age to fourteen would involve\nthe addition of 150,000 children to the registers. These numbers do not\ninclude the scholars now partially exempted from school attendance by\nthe wisdom or unwisdom of managers, who may be estimated as numbering\nsome 48,000 children, between thirteen and fourteen years of age. The\nCommittee add their opinion that the law which permits half-time in the\ntextile districts should be materially changed, and it goes on to\nrecommend that \u201cno children under sixteen should be allowed to leave the\nday school unless they could show to the satisfaction of the local\neducation authority that they were going to be suitably occupied, and\nthat such exemptions should only continue so long as they remained in\nsuitable employment\u201d.\n\nThis recommendation follows on evidence of how large a proportion of\nboys and girls enter forms of employment \u201cwhich discourage the habit of\nsteady work, lessen the power of mental concentration, and are\neconomically injurious to the community, and deteriorating in their\neffect on individual character\u201d. Employment or apprenticeship Committees\nhave been formed, whose members spare no pains in advising the older\nscholars, and the parents of such scholars, in the choice of an\noccupation. They have done enough to show how much more might be done\ncould the advice be driven home with more system and authority. If the\nrecommendation were made the law, no child under sixteen would be\nallowed to enter upon industrial life without sufficient guidance, both\nas to the choice of a place, and as to continued education.\n\n\u201cContinued education,\u201d whatever be the improvements in the day school or\nthe laudation of exemption from attendance, comes thus to be regarded as\nthe one thing necessary. \u201cIt is clear to the Committee that the lack of\ncontinued educational care during the years of adolescence is one of the\ndeeper causes of national unemployment.\u201d\n\nContinuation schools have greatly developed during late years. They are\nmore frequent, they offer teaching which is more attractive and more\nadapted to the social needs of the neighbourhoods in which they have\nbeen opened. Educational authorities and private organizations have\ntaken pains to commend the schools and make them known. Employers have\nin some cases required attendance at continuation schools as a condition\nof employment, and in other cases have encouraged attendance by giving\noff-time, by payment of fees, and by the offer of prizes. Workpeople\nhave taken pleasure in visiting the schools, and when they are\nrepresented on the management, get rid of some suspicions, often to\nbecome enthusiastic supporters.\n\nContinuation schools may thus be said to have passed the period of\nexperiment, and it is now recognized that the curriculum should neither\nbe that of the old night-school, nor of the modern recreation evening.\nIt should aim rather at providing a good general education, to equip men\nand women for intelligent citizenship, as well as to supply workers with\ntechnical knowledge, and with that adaptability which is one of the most\nvaluable possessions of workpeople under modern conditions. It cannot\ntoo often be repeated that the aim of education is not to make machines,\nbut to make men and women. People who know how to think and to reason,\nwho have capacities for enjoyment which do not need the stimulus of\nexcitement, will be more valuable citizens, and when they lose one form\nof work, will more readily take to another.\n\nThe right sort of continuation school is now known. Such schools\nincrease yearly in number, and the attendances also increase, but the\nCommittee has been led to the conclusion that voluntary methods alone\nwill not solve the problem. There must be recourse to compulsory powers.\nIn many districts the authorities are apathetic, in other districts\nvoluntary methods are powerless against the ignorance and indifference\nof the people. The majority of employers, moreover, are indifferent,\nfailing to recognize that closer care for the educational interest of\ntheir young employ\u00e9s would enhance their own profit, and the pupils are\noften too tired to attend any school. The law at present says, \u201cChildren\nare compelled to attend school till the age of thirteen,\u201d it therefore\ncreates the impression that at the age of thirteen the obligation\nceases. The law alone can remove this impression, and it must in the\nfuture say: \u201cYoung people are compelled to attend continuation schools\ntill the age of seventeen\u201d.\n\nThe Committee, in coming to the conclusion that a compulsory system is\nnecessary, has been confirmed in the conclusion by the elaborate\norganization of day and evening schools (continuation) in Germany and\nSwitzerland, and by the movement in France for the extension of\neducational opportunities during the years following the conclusion of\nthe day-school course. The Committee has also discovered signs of the\ngrowth of opinion in England in favour of such a course, and this\nGovernment has already adopted it in the Scotch Act of 1908. Out of\neighty-nine witnesses examined on this question sixty declared\nthemselves in favour of this compulsion, and of the twenty-nine who\nobjected, many modified their objections. The Committee felt themselves\njustified in recommending that the example of the Scotch Act be\nfollowed, and that every local education authority should be required to\nestablish suitable continuation classes, and that attendance should be\nmade compulsory for all young persons under seventeen, when the local\neducation authority make by-laws to that effect.\n\nThe obligation for the satisfactory working of the compulsion would be\nthrown primarily on the employer. Every employer would be bound to\nsupply the officer of the education authority with the names of young\npeople in his employ; to arrange the hours of work so as to make it\npossible for them to attend classes on certain days or nights without\ncausing the overstrain of their bodies; it would be his duty to inspect\nthe attendance cards of pupils at the classes; and he would be forbidden\nunder penalties to keep in his employment anyone not in regular\nattendance.\n\nThe local authority would be called on to draw up its by-laws with due\nregard to the character of the employment in various districts, so as to\ncause as little inconvenience as possible to trade, and avoid any\nphysical overstrain to pupils. All street selling by boys and girls\nunder seventeen would be prohibited, except in the case of those who\nwere formerly licensed, and this licence would be forfeited unless the\nholders\u2019 attendance card proved the necessary attendance at the\ncontinuation school.\n\nThe Committee make special suggestions as to girls in urban districts,\nand generally as regards rural districts. Various needs demand various\nprovisions. The point, however, which stands out most clearly is that\nafter all needs have been weighed, and after all objections have been\nconsidered, a system of compulsory continuation classes is recommended\nboth in the interests of the young people, who, for want of such\nclasses, miss the fruit of their education, and in the interest of the\ncommunity, who have to bear the burden of the unemployed.\n\nGermany and Switzerland have established compulsory continuation\nschools; Scotland has now followed their example. The Consultative\nCommittee has now shown that England is ready, and has suggested a\npracticable scheme. Will the men and women whose hearts are torn, and\nwhose national pride is wounded by the sight of so many workers unable\nto earn a living wage, and whose reason tells them that their unemployed\nare often incompetent, because their training stopped and licence began\nat thirteen years of age, and whose minds have now been informed by\nfigures that it is for want of care during the most critical period of\ntheir lives that loafers and vagrants are made--will the men and women\nwho thus feel and know make the Government understand that this one\nthing it is necessary shall be taken in hand without further delay?\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n\n\n    A RACE BETWEEN EDUCATION AND RUIN.[1]\n\n    BY CANON BARNETT.\n\n    March, 1912.\n\n  [1] From \u201cThe Westminster Gazette\u201d. By permission of the Editor.\n\n\n    I.\n\n\u201cTwenty years too late\u201d is the reflection suggested by the report of the\nsuccess of the Universities\u2019 Experiment of Tutorial Classes for Working\nPeople. The present industrial situation needs, it may be agreed, a\nworking-class able to take large and generous views, capable of shaping\nnot only a class but a national policy, trained to separate the\nessential from the unessential, and to act consistently on principles\ntried and proved in the history of the past. The old Universities have\nthe resources for giving the people this equipment. They have wealth;\nthey have teachers penetrated by the traditions accumulated in Oxford\nand Cambridge; they exist, we are told, to give liberal culture a\nbroader outlook, a historical perspective. The Universities, roused by\nthe Workers\u2019 Education Association, have, by means of the Tutorial\nClasses, achieved notable success. They have offered to groups of twenty\nor thirty working people in the great towns means by which they might\nenter a larger life, feel the years which are behind, and get a grasp of\neternal principles. The means have been seized with surprising\neagerness. Men after a hard day\u2019s work have been found week after week\nat the tutors\u2019 tables for the study of economics, political philosophy,\nor history; they have kept up attendance for three years, and they have\nlearnt, to quote the words of some who attended a summer meeting in\nBalliol College, \u201cthe wonderful development which has taken place in my\nmind\u201d now \u201cthat my prejudices have been dispelled and mental horizon\nwidened\u201d--that \u201cstudy is a pleasure rather than a task\u201d.\n\nThe students, in a word, receive a share of that larger education which\nthe Universities exist to give. But success over so small an area,\naffecting only a few thousand men, but serves to show what might have\nbeen if the movement had commenced twenty years earlier.\n\nThe working people have now come into power, and they have many wrongs\nto put right. The anxious question is, Will they use their power more\nwisely and more generously than the capitalist class? There is not much\nsign of a wide and generous outlook in a policy which assumes that war\nis the necessary attitude of employed and employers. There is not much\nevidence of an inspiring vision of society when there is so little\nrecognition of the interdependence of all sorts and conditions of men.\nThere is not much grasp of principle among those who begin a strike,\nwhich must involve untold suffering, as if it were a holiday. The\nworking people may have wrongs to bear, they may have splendid qualities\nof faithfulness to comrades and endurance under hardships, but they can\nhardly be said to have that knowledge of humanity which makes them\nhumble before the best, with a capacity for judgment and a standard by\nwhich to apply it.\n\nThe race in all nations seems to be one between Education and Ruin. The\nUniversities who are especially responsible for national education have\ntoo late begun to share their resources with working people, and the\nsuccess of their long-delayed start has only served to encourage the\nformation of the rival Central Labour College. This College is thus\ndescribed by Mr. Rowland Kenney: \u201cIt makes no pretence of giving a\n\u2018broad\u2019 education.... Its teaching is frankly partisan. History is dealt\nwith as a record of the struggles which have taken place in social\ngroups, because of the conflicting interests of the various classes that\nhave from time to time divided society.... Its key to the interpretation\nof Sociology is class interest; dividing the social groups into the\nowners and non-owners of property, it points out the common interest of\nall those who work for wages.... It absolutely cuts out any idea of\nconciliation as a final solution of labour problems.\u201d The College, in\nthe name of education, appears to be using its forces to block the way\nto peace and goodwill which it is largely the object of education to\nkeep open. It preaches a class war, treats every member of the middle\nclass as \u201csuspect,\u201d and bitterly opposes the Workers\u2019 Education\nAssociation because its Council includes University men. This College is\nsaid to supply the brains behind the labour revolt.\n\nThe Universities, hating to be reformed, and allowing the misuse of\ntheir resources by undergraduates, sometimes described by Rhodes\nscholars as \u201cBritish babes,\u201d have been unable to do their part for the\nnation. They have stood aside from elementary education, only coldly\ntolerating the establishment of training colleges in their\nneighbourhood, and only timidly following a few of their members when\nthey have led the way in the extension of University teaching. It may\nalmost be said that they have lost influence over public opinion, and\nthat their mission of raising the tone of democracy, of clarifying human\nsympathies and elevating human preferences have passed to other hands. A\nrecent visitor to India remarked on his return that many of its\ndifficulties seemed due to its government by \u201cunreformed Oxford,\u201d and\nreflecting on the strike, one is led to say that some of its most\ndisturbing features are due to unreformed Universities.\n\n\n    II.\n\nThere is something more needed, if not demanded, than a rise of wages. A\nfew more shillings a week would soon be absorbed by men whose first use\nof leisure is in the enjoyment of somewhat sordid forms of sport. The\nmen are hardly to be blamed for what are condemned as low tastes and\nbrutal pleasures. They are what their environment has made them, and a\nmining village is not likely to develop a love of home-making, a taste\nfor beauty, or any joy in the use of the higher faculties of admiration,\nhope, and love. The long, grimy rows of houses, without any distinctive\nfeatures by which a man might recognize and become proud of his home.\nThe absence of gardens which would call him to enjoy nature and be its\nfellow-worker; the want of a bathroom other than a tub in the\nsitting-room, by which to feel clean from the dirt of the day; the\nmeanness of such public buildings as are provided--the church, the\nlibrary, or the meeting-hall--do not provoke his soul to admiration or\nstir up a thirst for knowledge; such surroundings are likely to make the\nminer content with his pigeons, his dogs, and his football matches. Why,\nit may be asked, have not more owners done what some owners have done,\nand make a Bournville or a Port Sunlight for the workpeople. If out of\nthe average 10 per cent profits, it is impossible to provide an\nappreciable addition to the men\u2019s weekly wages, it is not impossible to\nprovide better and pleasanter housing. Why is it that owners and\nmanagers, who by many acts have shown themselves to be people of\ngoodwill, have been content that workmen should live under conditions\nwhich unfit them to enjoy the best things: why is it that with all their\ncharity they miss their opportunity? The fault lies, I believe, largely\nwith the Church--Established and Free. The Church has too often gone on\npreaching a medi\u00e6val system, it has not moved with the times, and does\nnot recognize that goodwill to-day must find other ways of charity than\nthose trodden by our fathers, when they built almshouses and provided\nfood or clothing. It has allowed a business man to be hard in his\nbusiness, if he is easy in response to charitable appeals. But times\nhave changed, and we no longer hope for a society in which rich people\nare kind to poor people; we rather think of a society where employers\nand employed share justly the profits of work; where there is no\ndependent class, and all find pleasure in the gifts of character which\nfollow the full growth of manhood in rich and poor. If the Church\nrecognized some such conception of society it would aim to humanize\nbusiness relations and teach investors to ask, as Bishop Stubbs (whose\n\u201cSocial Creed,\u201d lately published in the \u201cTimes,\u201d well repays study)\nsuggests, \u201cNot only whether a business is _safe_ to pay, but whether the\nbusiness _deserves_ to pay\u201d. Coal-owners, under the Church\u2019s influence,\nmight substitute for such villages as Tonypandy, villages such as\nEarswick, and then every increase of wages would mean that widening of\nhuman interests which helps to satisfy the individual and to increase\nthe stability of the nation.\n\n                  ------------------------------------\n\nThe strike is doing vast mischief, as it dislocates trade, spreads\npoverty, and embitters class relationships. But all its mischief may be\noutweighed if it forces people to think. Our prosperity, the triumphs of\nmachinery, the daily provision of opinions by an ubiquitous Press, have\nencouraged a self-satisfied and easy-going spirit. We do not take pains\nto make up our minds; we do not try to think our rivals\u2019 thoughts;\nemployers do not put themselves in the men\u2019s place, and the men do not\nput themselves in the employers\u2019 place; none of us put ourselves in the\nGermans\u2019 place when they are angry at our policy. The greatest danger of\nthe time is the forgetfulness of danger, the light-heartedness of the\npeople, and the want of seriousness which prefers enjoyment to study,\nand the carelessness which, for example, goes on refusing to consider\nthe Insurance Act, saying, \u201cIt will never come into force\u201d. People will\nnot think. The Tariff Reform agitation has done untold good in making,\nat any rate, a few people think out the meaning of Free Trade. The\nstrike will do good if it makes people--masters and men--think out the\ninterdependence of trade--whence it is that profits come--what is the\nrelation between home and foreign trade--what is the duty which a trade\nbears to the State--what is the justification for a strike or a lock-out\nwhich cripples the State--and what are the calls for State interference.\nProfessor William James declares that the secret and glory of our\nEnglish-speaking race \u201cconsists in nothing but two common habits carried\ninto public life--habits more precious, perhaps, than any that the human\nrace has gained.... One of them is the habit of trained and disciplined\ngood temper towards the opposite party when it fairly wins its innings.\nThe other is that of fierce and merciless resentment towards every man\nor set of men who break the public peace.\u201d The strike and its sufferings\nwill not be in vain if by making us think it strengthens our hold on\nthose heirlooms.\n\n  SAMUEL A. BARNETT.\n\n\n    PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, ABERDEEN\n\n\n\n\n    TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES\n\n\nThe following changes have been made to the text as printed:\n\n    1. Footnotes have been placed close to their respective markers and\n         renumbered sequentially within each chapter.\n    2. Page 5: 'When, however we come to the third constituent' ... A\n         comma has been inserted after 'however'. [There is extra space\n         in the line as printed, where a comma would be expected.]\n    3. Page 32 (footnote): 'Fom' changed to 'From'.\n    4. Page 50: Changed \u2019 to \u201d after 'respect'. [Quote opens with \u201c]\n    5. Page 54: Changed 'some unmeaning task, work die unfreed,' to '...\n         taskwork, die unfreed'. [The reference is to the poem 'A\n         Summer Night' by Matthew Arnold: 'Their lives to some unmeaning\n         taskwork give,' ...]\n    6. Page 95 (bottom line): 'Henrietta A. Barnett' changed to\n         'Henrietta O. Barnett'.\n    7. Page 137: 'labouror' changed to 'labourer'. [The spelling has\n         been checked in a facsimile (not e-text) of the 1834 document\n         being quoted]\n    8. Page 141: 'satifies' changed to 'satisfies'.\n    9. Page 156: 'The corresponding mortality ... it between two and\n         three times' changed to 'is between ...'.\n   10. Page 205: Removed quote mark before 'Mr. Williams said:'\n   11. Page 212: 'motthering' changed to 'mothering'.\n   12. Page 230: Footnote index 1 inserted in front of 'From \u201cThe\n         Contemporary Review\u201d'.\n   13. Page 249: 'between \u00a3160 and \u00a3200 per annum' changed to 'between\n         \u00a3160 and \u00a3700'. [Figures verified from the work cited: Riches\n         and Poverty, by E. Chiozza Money (1905), p. 42.]\n   14. Page 271: Inserted comma after 'Why' in 'Why what would the men\n         have to lean against?'\n   15. Page 328: '5\u00b7300' changed to '5,300'.\n   16. Page 332 (bottom line): 'Samuel H. Barnett' changed to 'Samuel A.\n         Barnett'.\n\nThe following anomalies in the printed text are noted, but no change has\nbeen made:\n\n    1. Inconsistent hyphenations, spellings and punctuation have been\n         retained as printed, where not definitely erroneous. [These are\n         discrete essays, written at different times by two hands and\n         reprinted from a range of publications.]\n    2. In the children\u2019s writings quoted in Chapter 4, all non-standard\n         spelling, punctuation and grammar have been retained as\n         printed.\n    3. Table of contents: Chapter 33 begins on page 327, not 320 as\n         printed. Chapter 34 begins on page 333, not 327.","title":"Practicable Socialism, New Series","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":105090}