SOCIAL REFORM.
General Booth's Mome.
The heroic scheme of social reform, if which so such has recently been said, and which General Booth is about to elucidate in a book especially devoted to the subject, is one that if worthy of much thought, It is not surprising, therefore, that the author has been much "interviewed" on the question; From'one of the best ol this class of productions, published hifa London Daily Chronicle, wt cull the following extracts. In roplj to queries the General inter alio says;—" The scheme is a good oneI hope one also likely to do som< good—and I am glad and encouraged to find eminent meu sympathetic to wards it, interested in its purposes, I baye had inquiries made aboul it from suoh men as Cardinal Manning, the Earl of Ilosehery Lerd Wolseley, Henry George, Michae Davitt, D: Ulifford, and others. Al theso men view the scheme with mucl kindliness, and they beliovo that ii may bo useful, which judgment is tin rhoro important seeinu how well qnali fled most of them are to judge proposal for social and lahonr reform. Althougl it is a large scheme, it is, I think founded on very simple principles The social evil, mixed up with tin labour _ question if you like, witl which it is intended to denl,has twi sides—it is two-fold. If a man falls becomes a social wreck, a drag upoi society, itis'either the result of hi own fault, or he is the victim o misfortune; and the purpose of m; scheme is to elevate again, to rescu' that man, whether he has fallen 01 account of one cause or the other. I a man's poverty and destitution ar the result of vioo on his part I you must change that man's nature for if you do not he will mos readily sink back into his old con dition. Likewise if a man is th. riotim of circumstances, you mus lift him away from those circum stances, put him in a way to be»in njng a new life. If a man is starving if he sees his wife and childrei starving, he flies to the gin cup t drown bis oare,. and the result i increased degradation, Take th criminal classes as a • whofo, t instance the want of usefulness ii our sochl system. Docs anybod, think of rofoimiug them 1 Does tb policeman when he catches the thie by tho aoruff of the,neck think c reforming him ? Does the Magistral when he sends him oh" to prison thin! of reforming him! Noj tho idea i one o| correction, o( puniahmenl Tl|at coiwtiuu may mean hotter ment to a oortain extent, but it i temporary,' not lasting, and so in great measure useless, What m; scheme will preach and endeavor t ■put in praolico is this; Change tb, man's nature,change his circumstance and you havo a qh»u.co of getting, a th,e outcome, a. man who, no matte what hia past may have been, i like|y to have a future. , , , In, % citjea. we. shall have iudustria refuge? and homes for the immediat reception of people; from thesi rofuges and homes thoy will after i time bo lect off to rural settlements, ti agricultural villages and communitiei whioh we hope to settle in the coun try, and from these again, to settle monts in the Colonies—settlement: which may—who knows ?-be th( foundation of another empire, Then is plenty of room abroad, roqm, and tc spare j and luiyjaj} pdually.'fiwit by fbp. oity homes, and then by the country houses, reclaimed the degraded and ruined, we shall Anally set tb,nm lip five? the seas. There may be some wh,o would prefer to stay at home \ very well, perhaps thoy can be treated efficaciously at home.... I hope to show in my book that those measures are practicable, and I think I shall satisfy reasonable people qn that point. To W'p (p department of tlja scheme as a test of the practicability of it all, lust let me point out that tho other day a letter appeared in one of the papers remarking'on tho number of millions sterling—l thing it was 15-which wo Bpend annually in the administration of our poor laws, Well, at the end of the yetr, when all those millions are spent, the people upon whom thoy are spent aro pretty much in the same position as they were atthe beginning, I do not want to boast, but I think the investment of an amount equivalent to one or two years expenuiture under the poor laws qn tho plan whioh. I shall set forth, would dispense for ever with tho necessity for the expenditure of throe-fourths of that annual amount. Again, let us tab the test of oniigration,which under the system would mean tho peopling of onr Colonial settlements. At present people in poverty, tho wrecked ones, will nqt go abroad ; they don't want to, they will only go if compelled, It requires a man with some spirit and :onfidence to emigrate, but even if those distressed ones wished to emigrate, who would pay for their parages ? Private benevolence ;ould not do so, Government will iot, beoause what would these people lo if, without any preparation, they i ffero set down in the most fertile of :sgions?They would starve, very likely. Under this scheme everything would jo done for them, but if at, present fouwere to emigrate such people ihey would not know-how could hey know I—how to get their Hying mtofthe soil; they would wry ikelyseekfora whisky shop, and )y-and-by, it Blums grow up with the [rowtb. of t, community, tijey would link back again to the slumns. What . say in this book, what the scheme cads so far as aj| stages of the work ire concerned,;.|s ''Prepare your, wintry for yo,u,r people, your people bv the country,"
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Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3664, 17 November 1890, Page 2
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970SOCIAL REFORM. Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3664, 17 November 1890, Page 2
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