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.
The Household Salvage Brigade will constitute an agency capable of being utilised to any extent for the distribution of parcels newspapers,&c.When once you have your reliable man who will call at every house with the regularity of a postman,and go his beat with the punctuality of a policeman,you can do great things with him.I do not need to elaborate this point.It will be a universal Corps of Commissionaires,created for the service of the public and in the interests of the poor,which will bring us into direct relations with every family in London,and will therefore constitute an unequalled medium for the distribution of advertisements and the collection of information.
It does not require a very fertile imagination to see that when such a house-to-house visitation is regularly established,it will develop in all directions;and working,as it would,in connection with our Anti-sweating Shops and Industrial Colony,would probably soon become the medium for negotiating sundry household repairs,from a broken window to a damaged stocking.If a porter were wanted to move furniture,or a woman wanted to do charing,or some one to clean windows or any other odd job,the ubiquitous Servant of All who called for the waste,either verbally or by postcard,would receive the order,and whoever was wanted would appear at the time desired without any further trouble on the part of the householder.
One word as to the cost.There are five hundred thousand houses in the Metropolitan Police district.To supply every house with a tub and a sack for the reception of waste would involve an initial expenditure which could not possibly be less than one shilling a house.So huge is London,and so enormous the numbers with which we shall have to deal,that this simple preliminary would require a cost of #25,000.
Of course I do not propose to begin on anything like such a vast scale.
That sum,which is only one of the many expenditures involved,will serve to illustrate the extent of the operations which the Household Salvage Brigade will necessitate.The enterprise is therefore beyond the reach of any but a great and powerful organisation,commanding capital and able to secure loyalty,discipline,and willing service.
