Agricultural colonies; Poor -- Great Britain; Salvation Army; Unemployed -- Great Britain
I see in the old tins of London at least one means of establishing an
industry which is at present almost monopolised by our neighbours.
Most of the toys which are sold in France on New Year's Day are almost
entirely made of sardine tins collected in the French capital. The toy
market of England is at present far from being overstocked, for there
are multitudes of children who have no toys worth speaking of with
which to amuse themselves. In these empty tins I see a means of
employing a large number of people in turning out cheap toys which will
add a new joy to the households of the poor--the poor to whom every
farthing is important, not the rich the rich can always get toys--but
the children of the poor, who live in one room and have nothing to look
out upon but the slum or the street. These desolate little things need
our toys, and if supplied cheap enough they will take them in
sufficient quantities to make it worth while to manufacture them.
A whole book might be written concerning the utilisation of the waste
of London. But I am not going to write one. I hope before long to do
something much better than write a book, namely, to establish an
organisation to utilise the waste, and then if I describe what is being
done it will be much better than by now explaining what I propose to do.
But there is one more waste material to which it is necessary to allude.
I refer to old newspapers and magazines, and books.
Newspapers accumulate in our houses until we sometimes burn them in
sheer disgust. Magazines and old books lumber our shelves until we
hardly know where to turn to put a new volume. My Brigade will relieve
the householder from these difficulties, and thereby become a great
distributing agency of cheap literature. After the magazine has done
its duty in the middle class household it can be passed on to the
reading-rooms, workhouses, and hospitals. Every publication issued
from the Press that is of the slightest use to men and women will,
by our Scheme, acquire a double share of usefulness. It will be read
first by its owner, and then by many people who would never otherwise
see it.
We shall establish an immense second-hand book shop. All the best
books that come into our hands will be exposed for sale, not merely at
our central depots, but on the barrows of our peripatetic colporteurs,
who will go from street to street with literature which, I trust, will
be somewhat superior to the ordinary pabulum supplied to the poor.
After we have sold all we could, and given away all that is needed to
public institutions, the remainder will be carried down to our great
Paper Mill, of which we shall speak later, in connection with our Farm
Colony.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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