The chief Officers of the Colony would be individuals who had given themselves to the work,not for a livelihood,but from a desire to be useful to the suffering poor.They would be selected at the outset from the Army,and that on the ground of their possessing certain capabilities for the position,such as knowledge of the particular kind of work they had to superintend,or their being good disciplinarians and having the faculty for controlling men and being themselves influenced by a spirit of love.Ultimately the Officers,we have no doubt,would be,as is the case in all our other operations,men and women raised up from the Colonists themselves,and who will consequently,possess some special qualifications for dealing with those they have to superintend.The Colonists will be divided into two classes:the 1st,the class which receives no wages will consist of:--(a)The new arrivals,whose ability,character,and habits are as yet unknown.
(b)The less capable in strength,mental calibre,or other capacity.
(c)The indolent,and those whose conduct and character appeared doubtful.These would remain in this class,until sufficiently improved for advancement,or are pronounced so hopeless as to justify expulsion.
The 2nd class would have a small extra allowance,a part of which would be given to the workers for private use,and a part reserved for future contingencies,the payment of travelling expenses,etc.
From this class we should obtain our petty officers,send out hired labourers,emigrants,etc.,etc.
Such is the Scheme as I have conceived it.Intelligently applied,and resolutely persevered in,I cannot doubt that it will produce a great and salutary change in the condition of many of the most hopeless of our fellow countrymen.Nor is it only our fellow countrymen to whom it is capable of application.In its salient features,with such alterations as are necessary,owing to differences of climate and of race,it is capable of adoption in every city in the world,for it is an attempt to restore to the masses of humanity that are crowded together in cities,the human and natural elements of life which they possessed when they lived in the smaller unit of the village or the market town.Of the extent of the need there can be no question.
It is,perhaps,greatest in London,where the masses of population are denser than those of any other city;but it exists equally in the chief centres of population in the new Englands that have sprung up beyond the sea,as well as in the larger cities of Europe.It is a remarkable fact that up to the present moment the most eager welcome that has been extended to this Scheme reaches us from Melbourne,where our officers have been compelled to begin operations by the pressure of public opinion and in compliance with the urgent entreaties of the Government on one side and the leaders of the working classes on the other before the plan had been elaborated,or instructions could be sent out for their guidance.
It is rather strange to hear of distress reaching starvation point in a city like Melbourne,the capital of a great new country which teems with natural wealth of every kind.But Melbourne,too,has its unemployed,and in no city in the Empire have we been more successful in dealing with the social problem than in the capital of Victoria.
The Australian papers for some weeks back have been filled with reports of the dealings of the Salvation Army with the unemployed of Melbourne.
