Agricultural colonies; Poor -- Great Britain; Salvation Army; Unemployed -- Great Britain
The whole would be collected, say once or twice a week, or more
frequently, according to the season and circumstances, and transferred
to depots as central as possible to the different districts.
At present much of this waste is thrown into the dust-bin, there to
fester and breed disease. Then there are old newspapers, ragged books,
old bottles, tins, canisters, etc. We all know what a number of
articles there are which are not quite bad enough to be thrown into the
dust heap, and yet are no good to us. We put them on one side,
hoping that something may turn up, and as that something very seldom
does turn up, there they remain.
Crippled musical instruments, for instance, old toys, broken-down
perambulators, old clothes, all the things, in short, for which we have
no more need, and for which there is no market within our reach, but
which we feel it would be a sin and a shame to destroy.
When I get my Household Salvage Brigade properly organised, beginning,
as I said, in some district where we should be likely to meet with most
material, our uniformed collectors would call every other day or twice
a week with their hand barrow or pony cart. As these men would be
under strict discipline, and numbered, the householder would have a
security against any abuse of which such regular callers might
otherwise be the occasion.
At present the rag and bone man who drives a more or less precarious
livelihood by intermittent visits, is looked upon askance by prudent
housewives. They fear in many cases he takes the refuse in order to
have the opportunity of finding something which may be worth while
"picking up," and should he be impudent or negligent there is no
authority to whom they can appeal. Under our Brigade, each district
would have its numbered officer, who would himself be subordinate to a
superior officer, to whom any complaints could be made, and whose duty
it would be to see that the officers under his command punctually
performed their rounds and discharged their duties without offence.
Here let me disclaim any intention of interfering with the Little
Sisters of the Poor, or any other persons, who collect the broken
victuals of hotels and other establishments for charitable purposes.
My object is not to poach on my neighbour's domains, nor shall I ever
be a party to any contentious quarrels for the control of this or that
source of supply. All that is already utilised I regard as outside my
sphere. The unoccupied wilderness of waste is a wide enough area for
the operations of our Brigade. But it will be found in practice that
there are no competing agencies. While the broken victuals of certain
large hotels are regularly collected, the things before enumerated,
and a number of others, are untouched because not sought after.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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