Agricultural colonies; Poor -- Great Britain; Salvation Army; Unemployed -- Great Britain
The Inebriate Home, I calculate, will maintain itself. All its inmates
will have to engage in some kind of remunerative labour, and we
calculate, in addition, upon receiving money with a considerable number
of those availing themselves of its benefits. But to practically
assist the half-million slaves of the cup we must have money not only
to launch out but to keep our operations going.
The Food Depots, once fitted up, pay their own working expenses.
The Emigration, Advice, and Inquiry Bureaux must maintain themselves or
nearly so. The Labour Shops, Anti-Sweating, and other similar
operations will without question require money to make ends meet.
But on the whole, a very small sum of money, in proportion to the
immense amount of work done, will enable us to accomplish a vast deal
of good.
THE FARM COLONY FROM A FINANCIAL POINT OF VIEW.
Let us now turn to the Farm Colony, and consider it from a monetary
standpoint. Here also a certain amount of money will have to be
expended at the outset; some of the chief items of which will be the
purchase of land, the erection of buildings, the supply of stock, and
the production of first crops. There is an abundance of land in the
market, at the present time, at very low prices. It is rather
important for the initial experiment that an estate should be obtained
not too far from London, with land suitable for immediate cultivation.
Such an estate would beyond question be expensive. After a time,
I have no doubt, we shall be able to deal with land of almost any
quality (and that in almost any part of the country), in consequence of
the superabundance of labour we shall possess. There is no question if
the scheme goes forward, but that estates will be required in
connection with all our large towns and cities. I am not without hope
that a sufficient quantity of land will be given, or, in any way,
sold to us on very favourable terms.
When acquired and stocked, it is calculated that this land,
if cultivated by spade husbandry, will support at least two persons
per acre. The ordinary reckoning of those who have had experience
with allotments gives five persons to three acres.
But, even supposing that this calculation is a little too sanguine,
we can still reckon a farm of 500 acres supporting, without any
outside assistance, say, 750 persons. But, in this Scheme, we should
have many advantages not possessed by the simple peasant, such as
those resulting from combination, market gardening, and the other
forms of cultivation already referred to, and thus we should want to
place two or three times this number on that quantity of land.
By a combination of City and Town Colonies, there will be a market for
at least a large portion of the products. At the rate of our present
consumption in the London Food Depots and Homes for the Destitute
alone, at least 50 acres would be required for potatoes alone,
and every additional Colonist would be an additional consumer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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