Books: The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

R >> Robert Tressell >> The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56

The wood-sawing was done piecework. A log of wood about the size of a
railway sleeper had to be sawn into twelve pieces, and each of these
had to be chopped into four. For sawing and chopping one log in this
manner the worker was paid ninepence. One log made two bags of
firewood, which were sold for a shilling each - a trifle under the
usual price. The men who delivered the bags were paid three
half-pence for each two bags.

As there were such a lot of men wanting to do this work, no one was
allowed to do more than three lots in one day - that came to two
shillings and threepence - and no one was allowed to do more than two
days in one week.

The Vicar had a number of bills printed and displayed in shop windows
calling attention to what he was doing, and informing the public that
orders could be sent to the Vicarage by post and would receive prompt
attention and the fuel could be delivered at any address - Messrs
Rushton & Co. having very kindly lent a handcart for the use of the
men employed at the Labour Yard.

As a result of the appearance of this bill, and of the laudatory
notices in the columns of the Ananias, the Obscurer, and the
Chloroform - the papers did not mind giving the business a free
advertisement, because it was a charitable concern - many persons
withdrew their custom from those who usually supplied them with
firewood, and gave their orders to the Yard; and they had the
satisfaction of getting their fuel cheaper than before and of
performing a charitable action at the same time.

As a remedy for unemployment this scheme was on a par with the method
of the tailor in the fable who thought to lengthen his cloth by
cutting a piece off one end and sewing it on to the other; but there
was one thing about it that recommended it to the Vicar - it was
self-supporting. He found that there would be no need to use all the
money he had extracted from the semi-imbecile old ladies for timber,
so he bought himself a Newfoundland dog, an antique set of carved
ivory chessmen, and a dozen bottles of whisky with the remainder of
the cash.

The reverend gentleman hit upon yet another means of helping the poor.
He wrote a letter to the Weekly Chloroform appealing for cast-off
boots for poor children. This was considered such a splendid idea
that the editors of all the local papers referred to it in leading
articles, and several other letters were written by prominent citizens
extolling the wisdom and benevolence of the profound Bosher. Most of
the boots that were sent in response to this appeal had been worn
until they needed repair - in a very large proportion of instances,
until they were beyond repair. The poor people to whom they were
given could not afford to have them mended before using them, and the
result was that the boots generally began to fall to pieces after a
few days' wear.

This scheme amounted to very little. It did not increase the
number of cast-off boots, and most of the people who `cast off' their
boots generally gave them to someone or other. The only difference It
can have made was that possibly a few persons who usually threw their
boots away or sold them to second-hand dealers may have been induced
to send them to Mr Bosher instead. But all the same nearly everybody
said it was a splendid idea: its originator was applauded as a public
benefactor, and the pettifogging busybodies who amused themselves with
what they were pleased to term `charitable work' went into imbecile
ecstasies over him.

Chapter 36

The OBS

One of the most important agencies for the relief of distress was the
Organized Benevolence Society. This association received money from
many sources. The proceeds of the fancy-dress carnival; the
collections from different churches and chapels which held special
services in aid of the unemployed; the weekly collections made by the
employees of several local firms and business houses; the proceeds of
concerts, bazaars, and entertainments, donations from charitable
persons, and the subscriptions of the members. The society also
received large quantities of cast-off clothing and boots, and tickets
of admission to hospitals, convalescent homes and dispensaries from
subscribers to those institutions, or from people like Rushton & Co.,
who had collecting-boxes in their workshops and offices.

Altogether during the last year the Society had received from various
sources about three hundred pounds in hard cash. This money was
devoted to the relief of cases of distress.

The largest item in the expenditure of the Society was the salary of
the General Secretary, Mr Sawney Grinder - a most deserving case - who
was paid one hundred pounds a year.

After the death of the previous secretary there were so many
candidates for the vacant post that the election of the new secretary
was a rather exciting affair. The excitement was all the more intense
because it was restrained. A special meeting of the society was held:
the Mayor, Alderman Sweater, presided, and amongst those present were
Councillors Rushton, Didlum and Grinder, Mrs Starvem, Rev. Mr Bosher,
a number of the rich, semi-imbecile old women who had helped to open
the Labour Yard, and several other `ladies'. Some of these were the
district visitors already alluded to, most of them the wives of
wealthy citizens and retired tradesmen, richly dressed, ignorant,
insolent, overbearing frumps, who - after filling themselves with good
things in their own luxurious homes - went flouncing into the
poverty-stricken dwellings of their poor `sisters' and talked to them
of `religion', lectured them about sobriety and thrift, and -
sometimes - gave them tickets for soup or orders for shillingsworths
of groceries or coal. Some of these overfed females - the wives of
tradesmen, for instance - belonged to the Organized Benevolence
Society, and engaged in this `work' for the purpose of becoming
acquainted with people of superior social position - one of the
members was a colonel, and Sir Graball D'Encloseland - the Member of
Parliament for the borough - also belonged to the Society and
occasionally attended its meetings. Others took up district visiting
as a hobby; they had nothing to do, and being densely ignorant and of
inferior mentality, they had no desire or capacity for any
intellectual pursuit. So they took up this work for the pleasure of
playing the grand lady and the superior person at a very small
expense. Other of these visiting ladies were middle-aged, unmarried
women with small private incomes - some of them well-meaning,
compassionate, gentle creatures who did this work because they
sincerely desired to help others, and they knew of no better way.
These did not take much part in the business of the meetings; they
paid their subscriptions and helped to distribute the cast-off
clothing and boots to those who needed them, and occasionally obtained
from the secretary an order for provisions or coal or bread for some
poverty-stricken family; but the poor, toil-worn women whom they
visited welcomed them more for their sisterly sympathy than for the
gifts they brought. Some of the visiting ladies were of this
character - but they were not many. They were as a few fragrant
flowers amidst a dense accumulation of noxious weeds. They were
examples of humility and kindness shining amidst a vile and loathsome
mass of hypocrisy, arrogance, and cant.

When the Chairman had opened the meeting, Mr Rushton moved a vote of
condolence with the relatives of the late secretary whom he eulogized
in the most extraordinary terms.

`The poor of Mugsborough had lost a kind and sympathetic friend', `One
who had devoted his life to helping the needy', and so on and so
forth. (As a matter of fact, most of the time of the defunct had been
passed in helping himself, but Rushton said nothing about that.)

Mr Didlum seconded the vote of condolence in similar terms, and it was
carried unanimously. Then the Chairman said that the next business
was to elect a successor to the departed paragon; and immediately no
fewer than nine members rose to propose a suitable person - they each
had a noble-minded friend or relative willing to sacrifice himself for
the good of the poor.

The nine Benevolent stood looking at each other and at the Chairman
with sickly smiles upon their hypocritical faces. It was a dramatic
moment. No one spoke. It was necessary to be careful. It would
never do to have a contest. The Secretary of the OBS was usually
regarded as a sort of philanthropist by the outside public, and it was
necessary to keep this fiction alive.

For one or two minutes an awkward silence reigned. Then, one after
another they all reluctantly resumed their seats with the exception
of Mr Amos Grinder, who said he wished to propose his nephew, Mr
Sawney Grinder, a young man of a most benevolent disposition who
was desirous of immolating himself upon the altar of charity for the
benefit of the poor - or words to that effect.

Mr Didlum seconded, and there being no other nomination - for they all
knew that it would give the game away to have a contest - the Chairman
put Mr Grinder's proposal to the meeting and declared it carried
unanimously.

Another considerable item in the expenditure of the society was the
rent of the offices - a house in a back street. The landlord of this
place was another very deserving case.

There were numerous other expenses: stationery and stamps, printing,
and so on, and what was left of the money was used for the purpose for
which it had been given - a reasonable amount being kept in hand for
future expenses. All the details were of course duly set forth in the
Report and Balance Sheet at the annual meetings. No copy of this
document was ever handed to the reporters for publication; it was read
to the meeting by the Secretary; the representatives of the Press took
notes, and in the reports of the meeting that subsequently appeared in
the local papers the thing was so mixed up and garbled together that
the few people who read it could not make head or tail of it. The
only thing that was clear was that the society had been doing a great
deal of good to someone or other, and that more money was urgently
needed to carry on the work. It usually appeared something like this:

HELPING THE NEEDY
Mugsborough Organized Benevolence Society
Annual Meeting at the Town Hall

A Splendid record of Miscellaneous and Valuable Work.

The annual meeting of the above Society was held yesterday at the
Town Hall. The Mayor, Alderman Sweater, presided, and amongst
those present were Sir Graball D'Encloseland, Lady D'Encloseland,
Lady Slumrent. Rev. Mr Bosher, Mr Cheeseman, Mrs Bilder, Mrs
Grosare, Mrs Daree, Mrs Butcher, Mrs Taylor, Mrs Baker, Mrs
Starvem, Mrs Slodging, Mrs M. B. Sile, Mrs Knobrane, Mrs M. T.
Head, Mr Rushton, Mr Didlum, Mr Grinder and (here followed about a
quarter of a column of names of other charitable persons, all
subscribers to the Society).

The Secretary read the annual report which contained the following
amongst other interesting items:

During the year, 1,972 applications for assistance have been
received, and of this number 1,302 have been assisted as follows:
Bread or grocery orders, 273. Coal or coke orders, 57.
Nourishment 579. (Applause.) Pairs of boots granted, 29.
Clothing, 105. Crutch granted to poor man, 1. Nurses provided,
2. Hospital tickets, 26. Sent to Consumption Sanatorium, 1.
Twenty-nine persons, whose cases being chronic, were referred to
the Poor Law Guardians. Work found for 19 persons. (Cheers.)
Pedlar's licences, 4. Dispensary tickets, 24. Bedding redeemed,
1. Loans granted to people to enable them to pay their rent, 8.
(Loud cheers.) Dental tickets, 2. Railway fares for men who were
going away from the town to employment elsewhere, 12. (Great
cheering.) Loans granted, 5. Advertisements for employment, 4 -
and so on.

There was about another quarter of a column of these details, the
reading of which was punctuated with applause and concluded with:
`Leaving 670 cases which for various reasons the Society was unable to
assist'. The report then went on to explain that the work of
inquiring into the genuineness of the applications entailed a lot of
labour on the part of the Secretary, some cases taking several days.
No fewer than 649 letters had been sent out from the office, and 97
postcards. (Applause.) Very few cash gifts were granted, as it was
most necessary to guard against the Charity being abused. (Hear,
hear.)

Then followed a most remarkable paragraph headed `The Balance Sheet',
which - as it was put - `included the following'. `The following' was
a jumbled list of items of expenditure, subscriptions, donations,
legacies, and collections, winding up with `the general summary showed
a balance in hand of £178.4.6'. (They always kept a good balance in
hand because of the Secretary's salary and the rent of the offices.)

After this very explicit financial statement came the most important
part of the report: `Thanks are expressed to Sir Graball D'Encloseland
for a donation of 2 guineas. Mrs Grosare, 1 guinea. Mrs Starvem,
Hospital tickets. Lady Slumrent, letter of admission to Convalescent
Home. Mrs Knobrane, 1 guinea. Mrs M.B. Sile, 1 guinea. Mrs M.T.
Head, 1 guinea. Mrs Sledging, gifts of clothing - and so on for
another quarter of a column, the whole concluding with a vote of
thanks to the Secretary and an urgent appeal to the charitable public
for more funds to enable the Society to continue its noble work.

Meantime, in spite of this and kindred organizations the conditions of
the under-paid poverty stricken and unemployed workers remained the
same. Although the people who got the grocery and coal orders, the
`Nourishment', and the cast-off clothes and boots, were very glad to
have them, yet these things did far more harm than good. They
humiliated, degraded and pauperized those who received them, and the
existence of the societies prevented the problem being grappled with
in a sane and practical manner. The people lacked the necessaries of
life: the necessaries of life are produced by Work: these people were
willing to work, but were prevented from doing so by the idiotic
system of society which these `charitable' people are determined to do
their best to perpetuate.

If the people who expect to be praised and glorified for being
charitable were never to give another farthing it would be far better
for the industrious poor, because then the community as a whole would
be compelled to deal with the absurd and unnecessary state of affairs
that exists today - millions of people living and dying in
wretchedness and poverty in an age when science and machinery have
made it possible to produce such an abundance of everything that
everyone might enjoy plenty and comfort. It if were not for all this
so-called charity the starving unemployed men all over the country
would demand to be allowed to work and produce the things they are
perishing for want of, instead of being - as they are now - content to
wear their masters' cast-off clothing and to eat the crumbs that fall
from his table.

Chapter 37

A Brilliant Epigram

All through the winter, the wise, practical, philanthropic, fat
persons whom the people of Mugsborough had elected to manage their
affairs - or whom they permitted to manage them without being
elected - continued to grapple, or to pretend to grapple, with the
`problem' of unemployment and poverty. They continued to hold
meetings, rummage and jumble sales, entertainments and special
services. They continued to distribute the rotten cast-off clothing
and boots, and the nourishment tickets. They were all so sorry for
the poor, especially for the `dear little children'. They did all
sorts of things to help the children. In fact, there was nothing that
they would not do for them except levy a halfpenny rate. It would
never do to do that. It might pauperize the parents and destroy
parental responsibility. They evidently thought that it would be
better to destroy the health or even the lives of the `dear little
children' than to pauperize the parents or undermine parental
responsibility. These people seemed to think that the children were
the property of their parents. They did not have sense enough to see
that the children are not the property of their parents at all, but
the property of the community. When they attain to manhood and
womanhood they will be, if mentally or physically inefficient, a
burden on the community; if they become criminals, they will prey upon
the community, and if they are healthy, educated and brought up in
good surroundings, they will become useful citizens, able to render
valuable service, not merely to their parents, but to the community.
Therefore the children are the property of the community, and it is
the business and to the interest of the community to see that their
constitutions are not undermined by starvation. The Secretary of the
local Trades Council, a body formed of delegates from all the
different trades unions in the town, wrote a letter to the Obscurer,
setting forth this view. He pointed out that a halfpenny rate in that
town would produce a sum of £800, which would be more than sufficient
to provide food for all the hungry schoolchildren. In the next issue
of the paper several other letters appeared from leading citizens,
including, of course, Sweater, Rushton, Didlum and Grinder, ridiculing
the proposal of the Trades Council, who were insultingly alluded to as
`pothouse politicians', `beer-sodden agitators' and so forth. Their
right to be regarded as representatives of the working men was denied,
and Grinder, who, having made inquiries amongst working men, was
acquainted with the facts, stated that there was scarcely one of the
local branches of the trades unions which had more than a dozen
members; and as Grinder's statement was true, the Secretary was unable
to contradict it. The majority of the working men were also very
indignant when they heard about the Secretary's letter: they said the
rates were quite high enough as it was, and they sneered at him for
presuming to write to the papers at all:

`Who the bloody 'ell was 'e?' they said. `'E was not a Gentleman! 'E
was only a workin' man the same as themselves - a common carpenter!
What the 'ell did 'e know about it? Nothing. 'E was just trying to
make 'isself out to be Somebody, that was all. The idea of one of the
likes of them writing to the papers!'

One day, having nothing better to do, Owen was looking at some books
that were exposed for sale on a table outside a second-hand furniture
shop. One book in particular took his attention: he read several
pages with great interest, and regretted that he had not the necessary
sixpence to buy it. The title of the book was: Consumption: Its
Causes and Its Cure. The author was a well-known physician who
devoted his whole attention to the study of that disease. Amongst
other things, the book gave rules for the feeding of delicate
children, and there were also several different dietaries recommended
for adult persons suffering from the disease. One of these dietaries
amused him very much, because as far as the majority of those who
suffer from consumption are concerned, the good doctor might just as
well have prescribed a trip to the moon:

`Immediately on waking in the morning, half a pint of milk - this
should be hot, if possible - with a small slice of bread and butter.

`At breakfast: half a pint of milk, with coffee, chocolate, or
oatmeal: eggs and bacon, bread and butter, or dry toast.

`At eleven o'clock: half a pint of milk with an egg beaten up in it or
some beef tea and bread and butter.

`At one o'clock: half a pint of warm milk with a biscuit or sandwich.

`At two o'clock: fish and roast mutton, or a mutton chop, with as much
fat as possible: poultry, game, etc., may be taken with vegetables,
and milk pudding.

`At five o'clock: hot milk with coffee or chocolate, bread and butter,
watercress, etc.

`At eight o'clock: a pint of milk, with oatmeal or chocolate, and
gluten bread, or two lightly boiled eggs with bread and butter.

`Before retiring to rest: a glass of warm milk.

`During the night: a glass of milk with a biscuit or bread and butter
should be placed by the bedside and be eaten if the patient awakes.'

Whilst Owen was reading this book, Crass, Harlow, Philpot and Easton
were talking together on the other side of the street, and presently
Crass caught sight of him. They had been discussing the Secretary's
letter re the halfpenny rate, and as Owen was one of the members of
the Trades Council, Crass suggested that they should go across and
tackle him about it.

`How much is your house assessed at?' asked Owen after listening for
about a quarter of an hour to Crass's objection.

`Fourteen pound,' replied Crass.

`That means that you would have to pay sevenpence per year if we had a
halfpenny rate. Wouldn't it be worth sevenpence a year to you to know
that there were no starving children in the town?'

`Why should I 'ave to 'elp to keep the children of a man who's too
lazy to work, or spends all 'is money on drink?' shouted Crass. `'Ow
are yer goin' to make out about the likes o' them?'

`If his children are starving we should feed them first, and punish
him afterwards.'

`The rates is quite high enough as it is,' grumbled Harlow, who had
four children himself.

`That's quite true, but you must remember that the rates the working
classes at present pay are spent mostly for the benefit of other
people. Good roads are maintained for people who ride in motor cars
and carriages; the Park and the Town Band for those who have leisure
to enjoy them; the Police force to protect the property of those who
have something to lose, and so on. But if we pay this rate we shall
get something for our money.'

`We gets the benefit of the good roads when we 'as to push a 'andcart
with a load o' paint and ladders,' said Easton.

`Of course,' said Crass, `and besides, the workin' class gets the
benefit of all the other things too, because it all makes work.'

`Well, for my part,' said Philpot, `I wouldn't mind payin' my share
towards a 'appeny rate, although I ain't got no kids o' me own.'

The hostility of most of.the working men to the proposed rate was
almost as bitter as that of the `better' classes - the noble-minded
philanthropists who were always gushing out their sympathy for the
`dear little ones', the loathsome hypocrites who pretended that there
was no need to levy a rate because they were willing to give
sufficient money in the form of charity to meet the case: but the
children continued to go hungry all the same.

`Loathsome hypocrites' may seem a hard saying, but it was a matter of
common knowledge that the majority of the children attending the local
elementary schools were insufficiently fed. It was admitted that the
money that could be raised by a halfpenny rate would be more than
sufficient to provide them all with one good meal every day. The
charity-mongers who professed such extravagant sympathy with the `dear
little children' resisted the levying of the rate `because it would
press so heavily on the poorer ratepayers', and said that they were
willing to give more in voluntary charity than the rate would amount
to: but, the `dear little children' - as they were so fond of calling
them - continued to go to school hungry all the same.

To judge them by their profession. and their performances, it appeared
that these good kind persons were willing to do any mortal thing for
the `dear little children' except allow them to be fed.

If these people had really meant to do what they pretended, they would
not have cared whether they paid the money to a rate-collector or to
the secretary of a charity society and they would have preferred to
accomplish their object in the most efficient and economical way.

But although they would not allow the children to be fed, they went to
church and to chapel, glittering with jewellery, their fat carcases
clothed in rich raiment, and sat with smug smiles upon their faces
listening to the fat parsons reading out of a Book that none of them
seemed able to understand, for this was what they read:

`And Jesus called a little child unto Him, and set him in the midst of
them, and said: Whosoever shall receive one such little child in My
name, receiveth Me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones,
it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and
that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

`Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones, for I say
unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My
Father.'

And this: `Then shall He say unto them: Depart from me, ye cursed,
into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I
was an hungered and ye gave Me no meat: I was thirsty and ye gave Me
no drink: I was a stranger and ye took Me not in; naked, and ye
clothed Me not.