第89章 ASSISTANCE IN GENERAL.(2)

Life in a boarding-house is better than the worst,but it is far from being the best form of human existence.Hence,the object I constantly keep in view is how to pilot those persons who have been set on their feet again by means of the Food and Shelter Depots,and who have obtained employment in the City,into the possession of homes of their own.

Neither can I regard the one,or at most two,rooms in which the large majority of the inhabitants of our great cities are compelled to spend their days,as a solution of the question.The overcrowding which fills every separate room of a tenement with a human litter,and compels family life from the cradle to the grave to be lived within the four walls of a single apartment,must go on reproducing in endless succession all the terrible evils which such a state of things must inevitably create.

Neither can I be satisfied with the vast,unsightly piles of barrack-like buildings,which are only a slight advance upon the Union Bastille--dubbed Model Industrial Dwellings--so much in fashion at present,as being a satisfactory settlement of the burning question of the housing of the poor.As a contribution to this question,I propose the establishment of a series of Industrial Settlements or Suburban Villages,lying out in the country,within a reasonable distance of all our great cities,composed of cottages of suitable size and construction,and with all needful comfort and accommodation for the families of working-men,the rent of which,together with the railway fare,and other economic conveniences,should be within the reach of a family of moderate income.

This proposal lies slightly apart from the scope of this book,otherwise I should be disposed to elaborate the project at greater length.I may say,however,that what I here propose has been carefully thought out,and is of a perfectly practical character.

In the planning of it I have received some valuable assistance from a friend who has had considerable experience in the building trade,and he stakes his professional reputation on its feasibility.

The following,however,may be taken as a rough outline:--The Village should not be more than twelve miles from town;should be in a dry and healthy situation,and on a line of railway.It is not absolutely necessary that it should be near a station,seeing that the company would,for their own interests,immediately erect one.

The Cottages should be built of the best material and workmanship.

This would be effected most satisfactorily by securing a contract for the labour only,the projectors of the Scheme purchasing the materials and supplying them direct from the manufacturers to the builders.

The cottages would consist of three or four rooms,with a scullery,and out-building in the garden.The cottages should be built in terraces,each having a good garden attached.Arrangements should be made for the erection of from one thousand to two thousand houses at the onset.In the Village a Co-operative Goods Store should be established,supplying everything that was really necessary for the villagers at the most economic prices.The sale of intoxicating drink should be strictly forbidden on the Estate,and,if possible,the landowner from whom the land is obtained should be tied off from allowing any licences to be held on any other portion of the adjoining land.It is thought that the Railway Company,in consideration of the inconvenience and suffering they have inflicted on the poor,and in their own interests,might be induced to make the following advantageous arrangements:--(1)The conveyance of each member actually living in the village to and from London at the rate of sixpence per week.Each pass should have on it the portrait of the owner,and be fastened to some article of the dress,and be available only by Workmen's Trains running early and late and during certain hours of the day,when the trains are almost empty.

(2)The conveyance of goods and parcels should be at half the ordinary rates.It is reasonable to suppose that large landowners would gladly give one hundred acres of land in view of the immensely advanced values of the surrounding property which would immediately follow,seeing that the erection of one thousand or two thousand cottages would constitute the nucleus of a much larger Settlement.

Lastly,the rent of a four-roomed cottage must not exceed 3s.per week.

Add to this the sixpenny ticket to and from London,and you have 3s.6d.

and if the company should insist on 1s.,it will make 4s.,for which there would be all the advantages of a comfortable cottage--of which it would be possible for the tenant to become the owner--a good garden,pleasant surroundings,and other influences promotive of the health and happiness of the family.It is hardly necessary to remark that in connection with this Village there will be perfect freedom of opinion on all matters.A glance at the ordinary homes of the poor people of this great City will at once assure us that such a village would be a veritable Paradise to them,and that were four,five,or six settlements provided at once they would not contain a tithe of the people who would throng to occupy them.

SECTION 3.--THE POOR MAN'S BANK.

If the love of money is the root of all evil,the want of money is the cause of an immensity of evil and trouble.The moment you begin practically to alleviate the miseries of the people,you discover that the eternal want of pence is one of their greatest difficulties.

In my most sanguine moments I have never dreamed of smoothing this difficulty out of the lot of man,but it is surely no unattainable ideal to establish a Poor Man's Bank,which will extend to the lower middle class and the working population the advantages of the credit system,which is the very foundation of our boasted commerce.