EVILS OF THE DOLE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 157, 31 December 1931, Page 9

EVILS OF THE DOLE

DETERIORATING PEOPLE

CONTENT TO VEGETATE

The greatest evil of the dole system, said Mr. C. J. B. Norwood, from his experiences in England, was the fact that there was no control of those in receipt of it, whose time was spent absolutely aimlessly, the old proverb about idle hands and the dovil being amply demonstrated. "A good deal has been said about the dole and its operation in England," said Mr. Norwood. "During my three months' stay there I covered the wholß of Britain right up to the Highlands, and the absence of bogging in any part Of the, country was a great contrast to previous visits. It is possibly the most scientific method of dealing with problems of this kind, which will probably always exist, oven in days of prosperity. The regrettable phase of it was the second generation growing up, a generation which is quite happy to live on the dole, without a thought beyond that, or any aim in life tit all. Their surroundings make a harbour for the encouragement of tho worst aspects of overcrowded civilisation, and their unused time is occupied partly if not wholly in developing sedition and the worst traits of Bolshevism. They have quite enough food to sustain them, they do not need to do anything, and it ia not surprising to find that under such conditions they arc the greatest malcontents imaginable. Everything they do not do, and they do nothing, is wrong and an injustico to them, and this feeling, growing continually, breeds dishonesty and an increasing amount of the sort of crime that keeps Scotland Yard busy. If it were possible to extract from the slum areas the male members of the dole battalion, and put them in camp under sanitary and salutaiy control, they would at,least not eat off tho samo plate all three meals in the day without even wiping'it, they would have to wash themselves, and they would have to clean up their own litter. Perhaps it is too much to expect men under the slothful conditions they enjoy to achieve cleanliness, promptness, and initiative, but somo form of control of those in receipt of the dole would certainly give them some chance of becoming useful citizen 3, which they never will be of their own. sweet will. The- effect on the country is bud, and even if the remedy wero drastic, it would be worth while for England's future."