338 . 
 
JOHN BULL 
 
 and his 
 Unemployed. 
 
 A Plain Statement on the Law 
 of England as it affects 
 the Unemployed. 
 
 By J. KEIR HARDIE, M.P. 
 
 ©NE PENNY. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 THE INDEPENDENT LABOUR PARTY. 
 10, RED LION COURT, E.C. 
 
The words which follow are not a legal treatise for the 
 guidance of legal minds. They are an attempt to set 
 forth in plain terms the right w T hich Parliament has 
 conferred upon that large section of the poor whom we 
 know as the able-bodied unemployed. They are intended 
 to assist these, and those who stand by them, in 
 courageously asserting their claim to have useful and 
 remunerative employment placed within their reach ; to 
 bring home to their minds the fact that they are being 
 robbed, first by our industrial system in depriving them 
 of the opportunity to work, and next by the State in not 
 enforcing those laws passed to give them that opportunity. 
 The patient endurance of the poor is due to ignorance of 
 what is theirs by right. I want them to be patient no 
 longer. Hence this tract. 
 
 J K.H. 
 
 I 
 
 . *v - 
 
John Bull and His Unemployed 
 
 T HIS is not a treatise on the causes of, or the remedies for, 
 unemployment. It is a plain and I hope easily com- 
 prehended statement of the law of England as it affects 
 the unemployed. The first act quoted was passed 304 years ago, 
 but ;t has never been repealed, is still good law and may be put 
 in operation any time a Board of Guardians and the Local 
 Government Board decree that it should. The clause quoted 
 deals with two classes of people, the able-bodied poor, who are 
 to be given work, and the sick, aged or disabled poor, who are 
 to be given relief. There is no limit to the extent to which rates 
 may be levied for this purpose, and no restrictions imposed upon 
 the kind of work which may be given. 
 
 THE LaW OF GOOD QUEEN BESS. 
 
 “45 Elizabeth, Chapter II. 
 
 “An Act for ihe Relief of the Poor, 1601. 
 
 “Be it enacted by the Authority of this present Parliament, That the 
 Churchwardens of every Parish, and Four, Three or Two substantial House- 
 holders there, as shall be thought meet, having respect to the Proportion and 
 Greatness of the same Parish and Parishes, to be nominated yearly in Easter 
 Week, or within one month after Easter, under the Hand and Seal of Two or 
 more Justices of the Peace in the same County, whereof One to be of the 
 Quorum, dwelling in or near the same Parish or Division where the same 
 <: Parish doth lie, shall be called Overseers of the Poor of the same Parish ; and 
 
 they, or the greater Part of them, shall take Order from Time to Time, by and 
 ' with the Consent of Two or more such Justices of Peace as is aforesaid, for 
 
 - setting to. work the Children of all such whose Parents shall not, by the said 
 
 ^ Churchwardens and Overseers, or the greater Part of them, be thought able to 
 
 keep and maintain their Children ; and also for setting to work all such Persons, 
 , married or unmarried, having no means to maintain them, and use no ordinary 
 
 ^ and daily Trade of Life to get their living by ; and also to raise weekly or 
 
 44 otherwise (by Taxation of every Inhabitant, Parson, Vicar, and other, and of 
 
 every Occupier of Lands, Houses, Tithes Impropriate, Propriations of Tithes, 
 Coal Mines or saleable Underwoods in the said Parish, in such competent Sum 
 X* and Sums of Money as they shall think fit,) a convenient Stock of Flax, Hemp, 
 Wool, Thread, Iron, and other Ware and Stuff to set the Poor on Work ; and 
 ^ also competent Sums of Money for and towards the necessary Relief of the 
 -- Lame, Impotent, Old, Blind, and such other among them being Poor, and not 
 able to work ; . and to do and execute all other Things, as well for 
 
 ^ the disposing of the said Stock, as otherwise concerning the Premises, as to 
 
 them shall seem convenient ; . . . . upon pain that every one of them 
 
 O'- absenting themselves without lawful Cause as aforesaid from such monthly 
 
 Meeting for the Purpose aforesaid, or being negligent in their Office or in the 
 Execution of the Orders aforesaid, being made by and with the Assent of the 
 said Justices of Peace or any Two of them before mentioned, to forfeit for 
 every such Default or Absence or Negligence Twenty Shillings.” 
 
I he foregoing is the foundation upon which the English 
 Poor Law has been reared. In 1694 a State paper was issued 
 giving Justices of the Peace power to come to the aid of over- 
 rated parishes by spreading the tax over an entire county for the 
 benefit of any particular parish. In 1819 the Act 59. Geo. III., 
 chap. 12, was passed. It deals with various matters relating to 
 the Poor Law, and after reciting the Act of Elizabeth, as quoted 
 above, proceeds to say (Clauses 12 and 13) : — 
 
 “ And whereas by ihe Laws mm in force sufficient Powers aie not given 
 to the Churchwardens and Overseers, to keep such Persons fully and constantly 
 employed : be it further enacted. That it shall he lawful for the Churchwardens 
 and Overseers of the Poor of any Parish, with the consent of the Inhabitants 
 thereof in Vestry assembled, to take into their hands any Land or Ground 
 which shall belong to such Pari>h. or to the Churchwardens and Overseers of 
 the Poor of such Parish, or to the Poor thereof, or to purchase or to kite <1//. 
 fair on lease for and on Account of the Parish, any suitable Portion or Portions 
 of Land within or near to uch Parish, not exceeding Twenty Acres in the 
 whole: and to employ and set to work in the Cultivation of such Land, on 
 account of the Parish, any such Persons as by Law thev are directed to set to 
 work, and to pay to such of the poor Persons so emploved as shall not be 
 it pp or ted by the Parish , reasonable wages for their / ork : and the poor Persons 
 so employed shall have such and the like Remedies for the Recovery of their 
 Wages, and shall be subject to such and the like Punishment for Misbehaviour 
 in their Employment, as other Labourers in Husbandry are bv Law entitled 
 and subject to.” 
 
 “Provided, and be it further enacted, That for the Promotion of industry 
 amongst the Poor, it shall be lawful for the Churchwardens and Overseeis of 
 the Poor of any Parish, with the Consent of the Inhabitants in Vestry 
 assembled, U let any Portion and Portions of such Parish Land as aforesaid, 
 or of the Land to be so purchased or taken on Account of the Parish, to any 
 poor and industrious Inhabitant of the Parish, to be by hint or her occupied and 
 cultivated on his or her own Account, and for his or her own Benefit, at such 
 reasonable Rent and for such Term as shall by the Inhabitants in Vestry be 
 tixed and determined.” 
 
 Here again it will be noted a broad and clear distinction is 
 drawn between the “ poor and industrious ” unemploved, who 
 are to be set to continuous work at “reasonable wages,” or to 
 whom land is to be let at a “ reasonable rent,” and the helpless 
 poor who are to be “ supported by the parish.” It is also worth 
 noting that women are included with men in the foregoing 
 enactment. 
 
 I11 1831-2 further enactments were passed, empowering the 
 Poor Law Authorities to acquire land in various ways, and the 
 20 acres mentioned in the last quoted Act was increased to 50 
 acres. Part at least of the land so acquired was to be let in 
 allotments of not less than one fourth or more than one whole 
 acre to such “ poor and industrious ” or “ such industrious 
 cottagers of good character, being day labourers or journeymen, 
 as should apply for the same and who undertook to cultivate the 
 land in such a manner as to preserve the land in a due state of 
 fertility.” Evidently these last were not paupers supported by 
 the parish. 
 
 Is the Law Obsolete? 
 
 It is frequently alleged by Clerks to the Guardians and 
 others that the law, as set forth above, is obsolete, and could not 
 
now be put in force. Tlie obvious retort to that is, that a law 
 once enacted remains operative until it has been repealed, and 
 these Acts have never been repealed. But this is no mere matter 
 of opinion. Three Presidents of the Local Government Board, 
 Sir Henry Fowler in 1895, Mr. Walter Long in 1903, and Mr. 
 Gerald Balfour in 1905, have all stated in reply to questions put 
 by me that these Acts are still operative. Here, for example, is 
 an extract from Hansard’s record of the House of Commons 
 proceedings for July 19th, 1905, which puts the matter beyond 
 doubt : — 
 
 Mr. Keir Hardie — I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board 
 whether, seeing that under the Act 42 Elizabeth, c. 12, and subsequent Acts, 
 Boards of Guardians may, with the consent of the Local Government Board, 
 acquire 50 acres of land in each parish upon which to set the able-bodied poor to / 
 work, and to pay them reasonable wages for their work, he will call the attention 
 of Boards of Guardians to these enactments, and suggest their application as a 
 method of relieving the rates from the burden of maintaining able-bodied men and 
 women in idleness ? 
 
 Mr. Gerald Balfour — The enactments referred to have for many years been 
 considered as obsolete, and have not been acted upon by Boards of Guardians -ince 
 the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act, 18 54. I could not undertake to 
 comply with the suggestion of the hon. member that the attention of Boards of 
 Guardians should be called to them. 
 
 Mr. Keir Hardie — The right honourable gentleman says these enactments are 
 obsolete, but could not any legal authority put them into operation if it choose? 
 
 Mr. Gerald Balfour— There would be nothing illegal in so doing ; but if I were,' 
 as requested, to call attention to them, it might be thought I was advising that they 
 be enforced. 
 
 Emigration. 
 
 Before departing from the provision made in the Poor Law 
 for the relief of the able-bodied, I may call attention to an 
 almost forgotten proposition relating to emigration. What it is 
 will be best seen by the following question and answer, which 
 will be found in Hansard for March 2nd, 1905 : — 
 
 Mr. Keir Hardie — I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board 
 whether, seeing that under the Act 12 and 13 Victoria, c. 103, s. 20, Guardians were- 
 empowered, with the consent of the Local Government Board, to spend one-half 
 the average yearly poor raised in the parish in emigrating destitute persons at a cost 
 not exceeding £10 per head, he will say whether these powers have ever been 
 repealed ; and, if not, he will call the attention of the Metropolitan Boards 
 of Guardians to the Act, and recommend them to work in conjunction with the 
 Central Unemployed Committee in selecting destitute applicants who desire to be 
 emigrated ? 
 
 The President of the Local Government Board ( Mr. Walter Long) -The sec. 
 referred to has not been repealed, though the effect of subsequent enactments has 
 been to modify its provisions. A Board of Guardians may, however, assist in 
 emigrating poor persons belonging to the union, and I am now considering the 
 question of recommending the making of arrangements between the Metropolitan 
 Boards of Guardians and the Central Committee, with a view -to aiding emigration 
 in suitable cases. 
 
 These laws are still unrepealed; they constitute the 
 Magna Charta of the poor of England. They not only recognise 
 the duty of the State to provide work for the landless, workless 
 poor, but they confer upon the Authorities full and ample powers 
 for giving effect to this duty. It was because of this that the 
 
 5 
 
 A 
 
Radical manufacturers, desirous of filling their mills with cheap 
 labour, and finding the Poor Law their greatest obstacle, made 
 its repeal or modification their first business after their en- 
 franchisement in 1832. It is a noteworthy fact that the last 
 enactment for the humane administration of the Poor Law should 
 have been passed in 1832, the year of the Reform Bill. Thence- 
 forward and on until now humanity towards the poor has had to 
 give way to the ruthless spirit of commerce. 
 
 DISFRANCHISEMENT. 
 
 The enforcement of these old laws rests entire!} with the 
 Boards of Guardians and the Local Government Board. Whether 
 or not work provided by Guardians under the old Acts entails 
 disfranchisement upon the recipient, could only be answered in a 
 court of law. The Local Government Board assumes that it 
 would ; but the Local Government Board assumes a good deal 
 for which there is no justification in law. The question turns 
 entirely upon the interpretation which the Courts would place 
 upon Clause 55 of the Reform Act of 1832, wherein it is set forth 
 that no person shall be entitled to be registered as an elector 
 “ who shall have within 12 calendar months.' . . . received 
 
 parochial relief.” My contention is, and did space permit I 
 would be prepared to elaborate it, that work or allotments 
 provided as set forth above to poor and industrious persons who 
 are “ not being supported by the parish,” is not parochial relief, 
 and that consequently no disfranchisement should follow; and 
 in this 1 am backed up by such legal opinion as I have been 
 able to consult. 
 
 The Relief of Destitute Children. 
 
 The effect on the children is such a vital part of the problem 
 of unemployment that it is necessary to treat of it separately. The 
 following is a brief statement of the law as it applies to the relief 
 of children who lack the necessities of civilised life. 
 
 It was decided in the Merthyr Jydvil Case of 1900 that child- 
 ren in want of the means of life must be relieved by the Guard- 
 ians. The facts were that the colliers of that district had 
 declared a strike, and whatever were the merits of the case, their 
 children were starving ; and the Guardians very rightly relieved 
 them with food and money. But one of the Coal Companies 
 brought an action, as ratepayers, objecting to the relief being 
 granted. That children were starving was nothing to the 
 directors and shareholders as compared with a rise in the rates.. 
 But they had to pay their rates, for the Court of Appeal decided 
 that it was the duty of Guardians to grant relief to all destitute 
 children, whatsoever might be the cause of their poverty. The 
 Judge said : “ The Poor Laws impose . on the comparatively 
 well-to-do the duty of supporting those who, by reason of their 
 poverty, cannot maintain themselves.” In brief, if it be brought 
 6 
 
to the knowledge of the Poor Law Officers that a child is 
 destitute of the necessities of life, that child must on demand be 
 relieved*under the Poor Law out of the rates. Of course, the law 
 having been made by landlords and capitalists, they have taken 
 care that the fathers shall lose their votes as the price of keeping 
 their children alive. It is Shylock’s pound of flesh. It is import- 
 ant to note that it is in the power of the Guardians to decide 
 what is “ destitution '' ; if they please to have a high standard of 
 “ necessaries,” so much the wiser of them. 
 
 Such was the existing law when the Local Government 
 Board issued The Relief ( School Children ) Order , /goy . This order 
 (which only applies to children in attendance at a Public 
 Elementary School, and does not apply to any of such children 
 who are blind, deaf arid dumb, or to those living away from 
 their father, or to those whose father is already in receipt of 
 relief) provides that a special application for the relief of poor 
 destitute children may be made to the Guardians or the Reliev- 
 ing Officers by any of the following persons : — (i) The Managers 
 of a Public Elementary School ; (2) any teacher who is so directed 
 by the managers ; (3) any officer appointed for that purpose by 
 the Local Education Authority. If the case be of urgent necessity , 
 any relief which the Guardians grant must be considered as given 
 by way of loan to the father, and the father of the child must be 
 informed that it has been so given. If the case be not of urgent 
 necessity, then the Guardians must endeavour to discover if the 
 father is habitually neglecting his child ; and if they are satisfied 
 that the destitution of the child is because of the father’s habitual 
 neglect, then any relief granted must be on the understanding that 
 it is a loan which the father must repay. But if they -find that 
 there is no habitual neglect, then the relief given can be by way 
 of loan or as ordinary relief as the Guardians please. Whenever 
 the Guardians, under this Order, gram: relief by loan, they must 
 take proceedings to recover the cost from the father ; unless they 
 obtain the Local Government Board’s consent to the proceedings 
 being stopped. 
 
 What then is the actual effect of this Order of the Local N 
 Government Board which allows relief to be granted to children 
 by way of loan to the father ? We have seen that 
 the Guardians already must relieve destitute children by 
 the way of ordinary relief. In what way does the loan 
 differ from the ordinary relief? The father is by law 
 responsible for the cost of ordinary relief, and he loses 
 his vote whenever such relief is granted to his child. Under 
 the new Order the father can be made to pay the cost of the 
 relief, and the President of the Local Government Board declared 
 last session, in answer to Mr. Keir Hardie, that relief by way of 
 loan caused the father to lose his vote, in the same manner as if 
 it were ordinary relief. If this be a correct statement of the law 
 we may well wonder why the new Order is supposed to be of 
 any benefit to the poor. Indeed, instead of aiding the parent and 
 the starving child, it appears merely to devise new methods of 
 
 7 
 
recovering the money from the father. Under the old law the 
 cost of the relief cannot be recovered after twelve months : by 
 the new Order it can, apparently, be recovered from the* father 
 at any time within six years. llut, as a matter of fact, it is by 
 no means certain that the law is as the President stated. At the 
 very least, it is an uncertain point whether relief by way of loan 
 disfranchises the recipient. The cases on the subject are few, 
 and so far as they go they lay it down that a loan does not 
 destroy the right to vote. This matter might easily be settled 
 by a test case in the law courts, either by the Guardians refusing 
 to report a parent out of work because his child had been fed, or 
 by someone so reported defending his vote. 
 
 To sum up, the Guardians are bound to grant relief to any 
 destitute child placed in their care; under the old law in all 
 cases ; and under the new Order in the case of application by 
 the special persons mentioned above. The Order, indeed, merely 
 suggests new methods of procedure, and does not give any new 
 right to relief. Its main value consists in the fact that it directs 
 the attention of Guardians to their powers and responsibilities 
 towards destitute school children, and empowers them to give out 
 relief in some cases where it would otherwise have been legally 
 necessary to make the child recipient enter the workhouse. 
 
 Summary. 
 
 The powers held and open to be exercised by Guardians 
 for dealing with the Unemployed can be summarised thus : — 
 
 (1) Levy a rate with which to open workshops wherein to 
 
 set the unemployed to work at reasonable wages. 
 Men and women so employed to have all the rights 
 of ordinary workers as to the recover)’ of wages in a 
 court of law, &c. 
 
 (2) Acquire land — at least fifty acres for each parish — which 
 
 may be let at a reasonable rent, in allotments of one- 
 fourth to one whole acre, to any approved applicant 
 in the parish. 
 
 (3) Spend one half their income in emigrating the able-bodied 
 
 unemployed. 
 
 (4) Co-operate with the local educational authority in pro- 
 
 viding meals for destitute children. 
 
 With these facts before us it will be seen how ridiculously 
 absurd is the oft-repeated statement that the Unemployment Act 
 is a new departure in the law of England. 
 
 The Unemployment Act, 1005. 
 
 Tlie descriptive title of the Act is “ An Act to establish an 
 organisation with a view to the provision of employment or 
 assistance for unemployed workmen in proper cases.” We shall 
 see later on how this promise is kept. All its provisions apply 
 to women in exactly the same way as to men y and wherever the 
 term men is used it includes women. 
 
 8 
 

 Under this Act — which expires on the nth August, 1908* 
 unless renewed— an authority for its administration must be set 
 up in every municipal borough and urban district in Great 
 Britain and Ireland with a population exceeding 50,000.* In a 
 borough or urban district where the population is under 50,000. 
 but over io,ooo,T the Local Government Board may establish 
 one of these authorities on the application of the borough 01 
 district council. On the application of a council or board ot 
 Guardians, or where necessary, without such application, the 
 L.G.B. may set up a Distress Committee for a county or part of 
 a county. 
 
 MACHINERY. 
 
 In the case of London each borough has a distress committee, 
 with a central body for the entire area of the metropolis; in 
 boroughs outside London, with a population exceeding 50,000. 
 the powers of the Distress Committee and Central Bod}' are 
 vested in one body. In County areas, where the Act is applied, 
 the London model is to be followed with local adaptations. 
 Distress Committees and Central Bodies are to be composed in 
 part of Councillors, part of Guardians, and a part, not exceeding 
 one fourth, of co-opted members from persons “ experienced 
 in the relief of distress.” Once formed the Central Body in 
 London is an entirely independent unit of administration, 
 and is under no obligation to report its proceedings to the 
 Borough Council or the Guardians. The new Body may make 
 what regulations it chooses as to the tenure of office of the co- 
 opted members, but Guardians and Councillors cannot be deposed 
 from office in the new Body so long as they are Guardians or 
 Councillors. The officers and the officials of existing Authorities 
 should as far as possible be used for the purposes of the new Act 
 so as to keep down the cost of administration. Where new ap- 
 pointments require to be made the engagement should be for not 
 more- than three years, so as to avoid all questions of compensa- 
 tion for loss of office if the Act lapses in 1908. At least one- 
 member of the Distress Committee and Central Body must be a 
 woman : as many more may be as can get selected either from 
 among the Guardians or the co-opted members. 
 
 The new Authority must make arrangements for making 
 themselves acquainted with the conditions of labour within their 
 area, and for this purpose they. may assist, establish, or take over — 
 labour exchanges and employment registries, and further, they 
 may seek enlightenment by the collection of information and 
 "‘otherwise as they think fit.” These words are wide and leave 
 the new authority very wide discretionary powers as to thei r method 
 of procedure. No person, male or female, who has not resided 
 
 * In Ireland 1 0,000. 
 
 t Ireland 5,000. By what appears to be a slip burghs in Scotland — Royal, 
 parliamentary, or police — must have a population of 20,000 to enable them to 
 
 adopt the Act. 
 
 9 
 
/ 
 
 for at least 12 months in the district is entitled to any considera- 
 tion at the hands of the new Authority. The Distress Committee 
 may, if ordered by the Central Body (in boroughs and districts 
 outside London with a population exceeding 50,000, there is one 
 body which has all those powers conferred upon it, under the 
 titleoi Distress Committee) “receive, enquire into and discriminate 
 between applications made to them from persons unemployed.” 
 As sub-sections three and five of section 1 are important I quote 
 them entire : 
 
 (3) If the Distress Committee are satisfied that any such applicant is 
 honestly desirous of obtaining work, but is temporarily unable to do so from 
 exceptional causes over which he has no control, and consider that his case is 
 capable of more suitable treatment under this Act than under the poor law. 
 they may endeavour to obtain work for the applicant, or, if they think the case 
 is one for treatment by the Central Body rather than by themselves, refer the 
 case to the Central Body, but the Distress Committee shall have no power to 
 provide, or contribute towards the provision of, work for any unemployed 
 person. 
 
 (5) The Central Body may, if they think fit, in any case of an unemployed 
 person referred to them by a Distress Committee, assist that person by aiding 
 •the emigration or removal to another area of that person and any of his de- 
 pendents, or by providing, or contributing towards the provision of, temporary 
 work in such manner as they think best calculated to put him in a position to 
 obtain regular work or other means of supporting himself. 
 
 The funds for the working of the Act are to be raised by 
 
 (a) Voluntary Contributions. • 
 
 {b) Contributions made on the demand of the Central Body by the Borough or 
 District Council, or a district of a county as the case may be, but in no 
 case must the contributions from a Council in any year exceed the amount 
 which would be produced by a rate of one halfpenny in the pound, or such 
 higher rate, not exceeding one penny, as the L.G.B. may approve. 
 
 The money received from the rates can only be spent on 
 the official costs, labour exchanges, migration, emigration, or 
 “ the acquisition of land for the purposes of this Act.” Every- 
 thing else has to be paid for out of the voluntary contributions. 
 We shall see later on how this works out. 
 
 County or Borough Councils which do not adopt the Act are 
 under obligation to. appoint a special committee one fourth co- 
 opted, to collect information about the condition of labour in 
 the same manner as the Distress Committees as described above. 
 The charge of this falls upon the County or Borough rate. 
 Scotland and Ireland are both exempted from this proviso, unless 
 where it is expressly ordered by the L.G.B. for these countries. 
 
 By Section IV. of the Act the L.G.B. is empowered to frame 
 regulations for giving effect to its various provisions, and these 
 are binding upon the new authorities until repealed. All such 
 regulations must be laid before Parliament without delay. These 
 regulations have now been issued. Let us now turn to them and 
 note how the L.G.B. has interpreted the provisions of the Act. 
 
 The Regulations. 
 
 The Local Government Board Regulations for the administration 
 of the Unemployed Workman Act is a bitterly disappointing document. 
 
 10 
 
Every line of it has C.O.S. stamped across its ’face. The intention 
 which underlay the original draft of the Bill to provide assistance for 
 the genuinely unemployed workman has been completely lost sight of. 
 and the whole of the degrading and hateful methods of the worst form 
 of Poor Law administration have been set up instead. Destitution 
 and not unemployment is apparently to be the test as to whether an 
 applicant is to be assisted under the Act. A whole army of Paul Prys 
 are to be called into being and empowered to poke their noses into 
 the affairs of decent people, and unless a person out of work can show 
 the rudiments of angels’ wings already in the sprouting stage, he or she 
 may go hang for anything the Act will do for them. There is not 
 a touch of human feeling within the four corners of the newly-issued 
 document, whilst the provisions of the Act itself have either been 
 narrowed down, or, and I say this quite deliberately, misinterpreted so 
 as to prevent its being of use to those for whose benefit it was origin- 
 ally intended. The regulations will have a history. 
 
 Under Article II. of the Regulations it is laid down that applicants 
 for employment shall make their application in person to an officer, 
 member, or any other person authorised by the Distress Committee to 
 receive and investigate applications. He has to reply to a long series 
 of questions to enable his record to be compiled. If he makes a false 
 or wrong statement on any point, that may be held to be an unpardon- 
 able offence, and he may thereupon be struck off' the list of those 
 entitled to receive help. When he has made his statement : — 
 
 “An officer, a member or any other person who is duly •authorised shall 
 visit and make inquiries at the home of the applicant for the verification of his 
 statements, and may also seek verification from the Guardians, or any other 
 . t-idy, authority, or person, able to supply useful information with respect to 
 the applicant.” 
 
 When all this has been done the case of the applicant (if he is 
 still alive !) is to be reported to the Distress Committee on a record 
 paper, of which a form has been prepared, and the Distress Committee 
 having satisfied itself that the applicant is of good character, that he 
 has not sufficient means to maintain himself and his dependents, that 
 he has, been regularly employed for a continuous period of 12 months 
 at the least, and has been “ well-conducted and thrifty,'’ that he has 
 not received Poor Law relief during the preceding 12 months, other 
 than medically, that he has a “ wife, child, or other dependent,” “that 
 he is able to work,’’ that in “ other respects his case is a fit and proper 
 one;” then his case “shall be treated bv the Distress Committee in 
 preference to cases of a different character.” 
 
 It is thus that the Distress Committees are empowered to help the 
 poor, hapless applicant who is “ honestly desirous of obtaining work, 
 and temporarily unemployed through causes over which he has no 
 control,” which is the wording of the Act itself. 
 
 The Record. 
 
 Here is the prescribed form for the Record of each applicant 
 for work as given in the Regulations, and which is to be care- 
 fully preserved by the Central Body 
 1 1 
 
1. Name of applicant. 
 
 Surname. 
 
 Christian name. 
 
 2. Present address in full, and duration of residence thereat. 
 
 3. Preceding address or addresses in full, and duration of residence there a.. . 
 
 4- Age. 
 
 5. Trade, calling, employment, or occupation. 
 
 6 . Condition (married or single, widow or widower). 
 
 7. Children or other dependents : — 
 
 Children — Number, ages, sex, trade, calling or occupation (if any). 
 
 8. Actual rent and number of rooms in applicant’s tenancy. 
 
 No. of rooms sublet (if any). 
 
 Deduct rent for rooms sublet. 
 
 Arrears of rent. 
 
 9. Nature and duration of applicant’s last employment. 
 
 Full name and address of employer. 
 
 Name of foreman. 
 
 10. Date and cause of termination of applicant’s last employment. 
 
 11. Rate of wages and average weekly earnings received by applicant in last 
 employment 
 
 12. Particulars of other employment of applicant during last five years. 
 
 Full names and addresses of employers. 
 
 Names of foremen. 
 
 1I3. Present income of applicant and dependents : — 
 
 Earnings of applicant. 
 
 ,, of wife. 
 
 ,, „ children. 
 
 ,, ,, other dependents. 
 
 Receipts from club or society, charitable sources, other sources. 
 
 14. Relief : — If no relief has been received by applicant or any of his 
 dependents. 
 
 If relief has been received by applicant or any of his dependents. 
 
 Date of last receipt. 
 
 From what Poor Law Union. 
 
 15. Particulars of membership past or present of trade or other provident 
 society. 
 
 16. Applicant's prospect of obtaining regular work or other means of support- 
 ing himself. 
 
 17. Applicant’s fitness : — 
 
 For work on land in rural area. 
 
 For change of occupation. 
 
 Particulars 01 previous experience (if any). 
 
 18. Reference to responsible persons, full names and addresses. 
 
 Reading the above one might imagine that it was a 
 certificate of character by an applicant for the post of Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, with its remuneration of .£15,000 a year. The 
 unemployed will not, I feel certain, either fill in such forms or 
 admit the new Paul Prys to their houses. We neither live in 
 Russia nor Germany, and will have none of their bureaucratic, 
 inquisitorial methods thrust upon us by a Government Depart- 
 ment. The one and only test needed under the -Act is that a 
 man is “ honestly desirous of obtaining work.” If he is. then 
 let work be found for him, if he is not, then by all means let him 
 be handed over to such authorities as may be best fitted for 
 dealing with his case. But work first : by that test let the 
 unemployed stand or fall. 
 
 Emigration and Migration. 
 
 Having been thus classified, catalogued, dissected, and 
 examined under the microscope as if he were some strange. 
 
weird specimen of a dangerous bug, the applicant’s name is to 
 be passed on to the Central Body, where a fresh enquiry may be 
 ordered. Everything about the Record having been found in 
 perfect order, the Central Body may now deal with the man. 
 
 Under Article III. of the Regulations, as I have all along 
 alleged would be the case, Emigration occupies the place of 
 honour amongst the measures of relief. The conditions upon 
 which people may be emigrated may be learned on application 
 at the nearest Labour Bureau. Article IV. deals with migration, 
 -the removal of an applicant to another part of the country. 
 Here it is laid down that an applicant can only be aided to 
 r emove “ to an area within the limits of England and Wales.” 
 As the Act applies to Ireland and Scotland, as well as England 
 and Wales, it is difficult to understand the reasons for this 
 limitation. Before aiding his removal the Central Body is to 
 satisfy itself that at least 12 months’ regular employment, with 
 suitable dwelling accommodation, are reasonably assured at the 
 place of destination. Here, as in the case of the Aliens’ Act, 
 there is nothing to hinder men being sent under contract to take 
 the place of workmen during a Trade Dispute, and this is a 
 matter which will need careful watching. The new Act must 
 not be allowed to become an agency for the supply of blacklegs. 
 
 Remuneration. 
 
 The applicant, having stood the test of the riddle of the 
 Distress Committee and the small sieve of the Central Body, 
 may, if neither migrated nor emigrated, have -work provided for 
 him for not more than 16 weeks for two successive years. The 
 work may be either on a Earm Colony or on any undertaking 
 by a public body. The regulations under this head (Article V. 
 of the Order) are fairly passable until we come to (f), which 
 deals with wages. Work must be continuous to the extent, at 
 least, that it must be given u during a period, or a succession of 
 periods, comprising in each case four consecutive days at least.” 
 If work is provided in such a way that the person can return 
 home each evening, the pay is to be fixed on the basis of an 
 unskilled labourer’s wages in the district where he works, but if 
 he requires to live away from home, the wages are still to be 
 fixed by those which obtain in the district in which his home is 
 situated. I think, on the whole, this is a good arrangement. 
 But when we come to the amount of the remuneration we are at 
 once face to face with wdiat looks like a bad breach of faith. 
 The original Bill contained a clause dealing with wages, which 
 set forth that the total remuneration to. be paid should be less 
 than that which co dd be earned by an unskilled labourer working 
 at his ordinary employment. Over and over again, both in public 
 and in private, Mr. Gerald Balfour explained that his intention 
 was that the full standard rates of pay should be given for the 
 time worked, but that the working time should be so arranged 
 that the total earnings would be less than the normal. Strong 
 
 *3 
 
objection was taken to the clause, on the grounds that it took 
 labourers’ wages as the standard, whereas many of the unemployed 
 are skilled artisans and are frequently set to work at their own 
 trade by the Borough Council. Painters are a common case in 
 point. The clause was finally withdrawn on the understanding 
 that it would be dealt with in the Regulations, where it now 
 appears in an even more objectionable form. The new words 
 are— “ the total remuneration . . . for any given period of 
 
 continuous work shall be less than that which, would under 
 ordinary circumstances be earned by an unskilled, labourer for 
 continuous work during the same period ” The sting is in the 
 last four words, which seem to imply that the rate per hour or 
 per day, must be below the standard. If this be so then it L ? 
 breach of faith, the breaking of a pledge repeatedly given, and 
 cannot be allowed to stand as it is. Further, to offer painters, 
 joiners, engineers, or the like, who are found work at their trade, 
 less than the wages of an unskilled labourer is not the kind of 
 thing which any public body in the present state of public opinion, 
 can either tolerate or countenance. 
 
 Summary. 
 
 To sum Up, 
 
 1. Work ot a temporary character may be provided by a central 
 
 body, but not for more than 16 weeks in any one year, 
 nor for more than two years in succession. 
 
 2. Such work must “ have for its object a purpose of actual and 
 
 substantial utility.” Emptying a draw-well with a sieve 
 would not come within this category. 
 
 3. The employment must be for “four consecutive days at least,” 
 
 which is a good point : and the man must be given reason- 
 able facilities to search for regular employment. 
 
 4. Where work is given away from home, a portion of the remu- 
 
 neration may be handed over by the committee to the 
 wife or other dependent. 
 
 3. The total remuneration “ shall be less than that which 
 would under ordinary circumstances be earned by an un- 
 skilled labourer for continuous work during the same 
 period in the place at which the work is provided.” If 
 work is provided in a district which necessitates the man 
 living away from home, the remuneration is to be fixed by 
 the standard obtaining in the district in which his home is 
 situate and not be that of the district in which the work is 
 provided. 
 
 6. A Central Body may contribute towards the cost of work if it 
 is being undertaken by a public authority with intent to 
 benefit the unemployed, but in that case all these regula- 
 lations in respect to wages, &c., apply. 
 
 Farm Colonies. 
 
 I now come to the farm colonies. All the regulations anient the 
 provision of work apply to these, and have indeed been obviously framed 
 
 i 1 ■ 
 
to meet the case of those who require to go to one of them for work. 
 Money may be borrowed for the purchase of land for a farm colony 
 on the^security of the penny rate. But before doing anything in this 
 matter the Central Body must submit its proposals to the Local 
 Government Board, and satisfy that authority that it will be able, by 
 voluntary contributions or otherwise — but not from the rates — -to 
 meet 
 
 “ All expenses which will be incurred ... in connection with the 
 establishment, maintenance, and working of the farm colony, the remuneration, 
 maintenance, and accommodation of persons employed, the payment of rates, 
 taxes, or assessments, or for any other purpose in relation to the farm colony.” 
 
 Nothing, it will be s6en, is to be left to chance. The hat is to be 
 sent round to pay the rates and taxes on a piec^ of land bought, or 
 leased, by public money, and administered by an authority empowered 
 to act by Act of Parliament. This is how the self-respect of the work- 
 ing classes is to be safeguarded, and the charity of the charitable 
 stimulated. The thing is a farce, though it may end in tragedy. The 
 income from the sale of produce, etc., arising from the working of the 
 farm colony is to be reckoned as a voluntary contribution to the Central 
 Committee, and will be available for the payment of the various items 
 set forth above. 
 
 Criticism and Suggestion. 
 
 Such is the gist of the new Regulations. I hope the new author- 
 ities will point-blank refuse to administer them until given a freer hand 
 in dealing with applicants, or at least ignore the regulations, by break- 
 ing them whenever necessary. One of the chief values of such a 
 measure as the Unemployment Act should have beeu that it would 
 have enabled local authorities to try experiments as to the best' 
 methods of dealing with the problem. But under the Regulations, 
 everything is of the cast iron order, the evident intention is to make 
 the Act unworkable. It is a wicked foolish policy, and it won’t succeed. 
 
 From this brief survey of the state of the law it will be seen how 
 superior in every sense is the old method of dealing with the un- 
 employed when compared with the new. The effect of the restrictions 
 and limitations imposed by the Act itself, and even more so by the 
 Regulations of the L. G. B., make it more a measure for ascertaining 
 the extent of unemployment than for providing work for the un- 
 employed. It does not contain one single provision that is new, and 
 the most that can be said for it is that it systematises charitable effort. 
 The financial provisions are totally inadequate for the needs of the 
 case, and there should be a united demand go forth that the local 
 penny rate be supplemented by grants from the National Exchequer. 
 There is no provision for this in the Act, but a willing Government 
 would doubtless find a way. One million a year from the Exchequer 
 would never be missed by the Nation, and would be of incalculable 
 benefit to the Unemployed and to the authorities who have to 
 administer the new Act. Apart from this, and to meet immediate 
 needs, there is always the method of voting a salary to the Mayor 
 open to those Councils which find their Distress Committees ham- 
 
 15 
 
pcred by lack of funds. Profits made by such municipal undertakings 
 as trams and the like are a more doubtful source, but no harm could 
 come of putting the matter to the test by voting a sum from this 
 source as a “ voluntary ” contribution. If Parliament, in its wisdom, 
 will so tie up local authorities as to hamper their freedom of action in 
 dealing with local matters, then localities must assert themselves by 
 over-riding the law if need be. A judge recently did this in the 
 matter of Building Bye-laws ; much more should a Corporation in 
 the matter of the unemployed. 
 
 In addition to financial grants from -the State Exchequer, 
 Parliament should be asked to confer much fuller powers on the new 
 authorities. A Bill of one clause transferring to the new authorities 
 the very ample powers now possessed by Boards of Guardians for 
 dealing with the unemployed would be something worth having. The 
 same result would be attained if the penalty of disfranchisement was 
 definitely abandoned in the case of work provided for the unemployed 
 by Boards of Guardians. Finally, Parliament itself must be forced to 
 assist localities by putting in hand, on a national scale, such works of 
 public utility as may be found to be needed. Work, not charity, is the 
 demand of the unemployed, and which, in one way or another, the 
 State must be prepared to meet. 
 
 To prevent misapprehension, I may add that the new Act in no 
 way lessens or weakens the powers hitherto possessed and used by- 
 borough and district councils for putting work in hand during the 
 winter months or to tide the unemployed over a period of exceptional 
 distress. The powers contained in the new Act are supplementary to 
 any which were already in existence at the time of its enactment. 
 That all powers, old and new alike, will be needed is a truth which 
 will force itself home upon the national mind in time, for it is certain 
 that the unemployed are with us to stay until some method of 
 industry be evolved which will not turn the over-production of wealth 
 into a weapon for smiting the producers. Unless John Bull grapples 
 vigorously with the problem it will undoubtedly undermine the 
 stability of the nation and ultimately lead to its downfall. It is upon 
 manhood that nations are built, and manhood is destroyed by 
 unemployment. 
 
 Printed by Wadsworth or 5 Co., The Rydal Press, Keighley.