第39章 A STUPENDOUS UNDERTAKING.(3)

I am under no delusion as to the possibility of inaugurating a millennium by my Scheme;but the triumphs of science deal so much with the utilisation of waste material,that I do not despair of something effectual being accomplished in the utilisation of this waste human product.The refuse which was a drug and a curse to our manufacturers,when treated under the hands of the chemist,has been the means of supplying us with dyes rivalling in loveliness and variety the hues of the rainbow.If the alchemy of science can extract beautiful colours from coal tar,cannot Divine alchemy enable us to evolve gladness and brightness out of the agonised hearts and dark,dreary,loveless lives of these doomed myriads?Is it too much to hope that in God's world God's children may be able to do something,if they set to work with a will,to carry out a plan of campaign against these great evils which are the nightmare of our existence?

The remedy,it may be,is simpler than some imagine.The key to the enigma may lie closer to our hands than we have any idea of.

Many devices have been tried,and many have failed,no doubt;it is only stubborn,reckless perseverance that can hope to succeed;it is well that we recognise this.How many ages did men try to make gunpowder and never succeeded?They would put saltpetre to charcoal,or charcoal to sulphur,or saltpetre to sulphur,and so were ever unable to make the compound explode.But it has only been discovered within the last few hundred years that all three were needed.

Before that gunpowder was a mere imagination,a phantasy of the alchemists.How easy it is to make gunpowder,now the secret of its manufacture is known!

But take a simpler illustration,one which lies even within the memory of some that read these pages.From the beginning of the world down to the beginning of this century,mankind had not found out,with all its striving after cheap and easy transport,the miraculous difference that would be brought about by laying down two parallel lines of metal.

All the great men and the wise men of the past lived and died oblivious of that fact.The greatest mechanicians and engineers of antiquity,the men who bridged all the rivers of Europe,the architects who built the cathedrals which are still the wonder of the world,failed to discern what seems to us so obviously simple a proposition,that two parallel lines of rail would diminish the cost and difficulty of transport to a minimum.Without that discovery the steam engine,which has itself been an invention of quite recent years,would have failed to transform civilisation.

What we have to do in the philanthropic sphere is to find something analogous to the engineers'parallel bars.This discovery think I have made,and hence have I written this book.

SECTION 2--MY SCHEME

What,then,is my Scheme?It is a very simple one,although in its ramifications and extensions it embraces the whole world.In this book I profess to do no more than to merely outline,as plainly and as simply as I can,the fundamental features of my proposals.I propose to devote the bulk of this volume to setting forth what can practically be done with one of the most pressing parts of the problem,namely,that relating to those who are out of work,and who,as the result,are more or less destitute.I have many ideas of what might be done with those who are at present cared for in some measure by the State,but I will leave these ideas for the present.

It is not urgent that I should explain how our Poor Law system could be reformed,or what I should like to see done for the Lunatics in Asylums,or the Criminals in Gaols.The persons who are provided for by the State we will,therefore,for the moment,leave out of count.

The indoor paupers,the convicts,the inmates of the lunatic asylums are cared for,in a fashion;already.But,over and above all these,there exists some hundreds of thousands who are not quartered on the State,but who are living on the verge of despair,and who at any moment,under circumstances of misfortune,might be compelled to demand relief or support in one shape or another.I will confine myself,therefore,for the present to those who have no helper.

It is possible,I think probable,if the proposals which I am now putting forward are carried out successfully in relation to the lost,homeless,and helpless of the population,that many of those who are at the present moment in somewhat better circumstances will demand that they also shall be allowed to partake in the benefits of the Scheme.

But upon this,also,I remain silent.I merely remark that we have,in the recognition of the importance of discipline and organisation;what may be called regimented co-operation,a principle that will be found valuable for solving many social problems other than that of destitution.Of these plans,which are at present being brooded over with a view to their realisation when the time is propitious and the opportunity occurs,I shall have something to say.

What is the outward and visible form of the Problem of the Unemployed?