Full download ebooks at https://ebookmeta.

com

Ink & Wash Florals: Stunning botanical projects

in watercolor & ink 1st Edition Camilla Damsbo
Brix

For dowload this book click link below

https://ebookmeta.com/product/ink-wash-florals-stunning-
botanical-projects-in-watercolor-ink-1st-edition-camilla-
damsbo-brix/

OR CLICK BUTTON

DOWLOAD NOW
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Written in Ink Carrie Ann Ryan

https://ebookmeta.com/product/written-in-ink-carrie-ann-ryan/

Ink 1st Edition Elizabeth Hunter

https://ebookmeta.com/product/ink-1st-edition-elizabeth-hunter/

26 and Change Deacon Rie

https://ebookmeta.com/product/26-and-change-deacon-rie/

Never Going Home 1st Edition Wet Ink Games

https://ebookmeta.com/product/never-going-home-1st-edition-wet-
ink-games/
The Ink Black Heart 1st Edition Robert Galbraith

https://ebookmeta.com/product/the-ink-black-heart-1st-edition-
robert-galbraith-2/

The Ink Black Heart 1st Edition Robert Galbraith

https://ebookmeta.com/product/the-ink-black-heart-1st-edition-
robert-galbraith/

Protector Rugged Mountain Ink 9 1st Edition Khloe

Summers

https://ebookmeta.com/product/protector-rugged-mountain-
ink-9-1st-edition-khloe-summers/

Filthy Rugged Mountain Ink 3 1st Edition Khloe Summers

https://ebookmeta.com/product/filthy-rugged-mountain-ink-3-1st-
edition-khloe-summers/

Badass Rugged Mountain Ink 5 1st Edition Khloe Summers

https://ebookmeta.com/product/badass-rugged-mountain-ink-5-1st-
edition-khloe-summers/
 ink & wash
florals
stunning botanical projects in watercolor & ink

camilla damsbo brix

artist, teacher & creator of camilla damsbo art

 Begin Reading

Table of Contents

About the Author

Copyright Page

Thank you for buying this

Page Street Publishing Co. ebook.

To receive special offers, bonus content,

and info on new releases and other great reads,
sign up for our newsletters.

Or visit us online at
www.pagestreetpublishing.com
The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your
personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available
in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you
believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the
author’s copyright, please notify the publisher at:
http://us.macmillanusa.com/piracy.
dedication
This book is dedicated to my husband Andreas for always believing
in me and to my sweet children Agnes and Gilbert who always ask
me to paint, sketch and buy more flowers.
welcome!
Hi! I am super excited to welcome you to this book, because
working through these projects will make a huge impact on your
life. I know I am setting your expectations high, but hear me out.
Ink and wash (also known as line and wash) as a technique is the
perfect way to do quick sketches. The combination of the soft
watercolor against the hard lines of the fineliner creates the most
beautiful contrast, so you are really in for a treat. You can sketch
houses, your lamp or, like in this book, all the flowers around you. I
personally love flowers and feel a deep connection with nature
while sketching. A sketch is often quick and can be done in less than
twenty minutes! Yes, I know it’s crazy. You can actually fit this
creative time into a busy lifestyle with jobs, schools, laundry, dinner
and everything else. By creating regularly, you will change your life
—yes, that is a promise. You will get better at focusing and feel
more relaxed and present as you grow your skill. You will be so
proud of the beauty you create.
Personally, I turned to this medium a few years back when I was
pregnant and really tired all the time. I was going crazy with lack of
energy and I only had short periods of time before having to nap
again. This was a time when sketches in watercolor and ink came in
super handy. I loved it. I could do an entire sketch that I loved
before having to rest again, and I continued doing this after my
baby girl was born. These sketches were the perfect break in
between feeding, napping and sleepless nights. We all have reasons
for lacking time and energy, but I promise you that this style will fit
into your life perfectly.
That sounds good, right? Well, let me give you a quick overview of
the book so you know what you’ve gotten yourself into. First, I’ll
talk a bit about supplies—don’t worry, there are not too many of
them and you don’t need them all. Afterward, I’ll guide you through
basic techniques for using a fineliner and then, watercolor. After all,
we are actually mixing two different techniques in this book:
drawing with fineliners and painting in watercolor. Since we are
sketching flowers, it can be nice to have a few drawing basics down
as well, so here to here, I’ll go over floral observation, basic floral
shapes and shading. Those should be all the techniques we need,
and then it will be time for sketching.
First, I’ll show you how to sketch seventeen different flowers
ranging from simple daisies to more complex peonies. This chapter
is so much fun that you might just want to start there and refer back
to the technique pages when you need them (it’s totally cool with
me). After you’ve sketched a lot of nice flowers, it’ll be time to
combine them in balanced and pretty compositions. So in that
section, I’ll once more give you a bit of technical instruction, but
this time it will be all about creating a harmonious floral piece.
Afterward, you get to practice what you learned in five different
floral compositions ranging from poppies in a field to pretty posies.
To finish off strong, I’ll give you tips on sharing your art and turning
it into the best habit ever—but enough chatting. Let’s get started!
part I:
fundamentals of watercolor and ink
As mentioned in the introduction, you are going to learn two
techniques in this book: how to draw in fineliners and how to use a
pop of watercolor to make your sketches glow with vibrancy. In this
part of the book, you can dive into all the supplies and techniques
you need to have a strong base, in order to start sketching beautiful
flowers.

supplies
You will need a few basic supplies for the projects in this book,
though I tried to keep them to a minimum. It’s also important to
note that you don’t need the exact supplies I use. If you have
another type of paper or another color, that is totally cool—go with
that and then write the supplies you dream of getting on your wish-
list.

fineliners
A fineliner is a type of pen with a tip made of fine fibers or plastic
that is filled with pigment-based ink. This means that the ink sits on
the surface without bleeding through the paper when you sketch
and is usually waterproof. That way, it’s the perfect match to
watercolor. Fineliners are great for defining shapes, strokes and
shadows. When used strategically, they can help lead the viewer’s
eye right to where you want them to look.
In this book, we’ll use black fineliners from Micron and Staedtler in
sizes 005, 01 and 02. You might wonder why I use two different
brands, and that is frankly because the brand does not matter that
much. What matters is that it’s waterproof and lightfast. That way,
you can use it with your watercolors without too many problems,
and it won’t fade in the sun. You can usually check if your fineliner
meets those requirements by checking the text on the side of the
pen.
When deciding which sizes to get, you want to take a good look at
your paper. It kind of goes without saying that small paper like an
A6 equals thin fineliners and larger paper like A4 calls for bigger
pens. I use smaller pens like 005, 01 and 02 in the book, but the
illustrations are also pretty small, drawn on a size A5 paper. You
want to make sure to have a variety of pen sizes so you can switch
between them for thin details and thicker lines.

brushes
One of the very basic materials, but also one of the most important
ones, is the brush. The brush is an extension of your arm, and it’s
the only thing standing between you and your art. Therefore, you
really have to bond and become best friends with your brush. In this
book, we use round synthetic brushes in sizes 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9.
Choosing a brand is like choosing a religion, like developing loyalty
for PCs or MacBooks. Some like da Vinci brushes and some like
Black Velvet®. In this book, I use brushes from Betty Hayways and
Panart, but you can use what you already have in your stash. If you
don’t have a stash, then you can go to a local art store and they will
often have a cheap alternative for you to start with.
Of course, like with our pens, size also matters for brushes, and I
wish I could tell you which exact numbers to go for. However, it’s
not as easy as that, because sizes vary from brand to brand, and a
size 6 can be very small or very large, depending on what brand
made the brush. It’s a jungle, really. You want to have a brush for
finer details—either a thin brush or a bigger brush with a fine tip—
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
by the Press which he had done nothing to conciliate, he
continued on his headlong course, and at the end of January,
1908, he signed a decree practically amounting to a suspension
of civil liberties."

Lisbon Correspondence,
London Times.

A tragedy followed quickly. On the 1st day of February, 1908,

the King, Dom Carlos, and the Crown Prince, Luiz Felipe, as
they rode through the streets of Lisbon, with the Queen and a
younger son in the same carriage, and attended by an escort,
were attacked by a throng of assassins and killed. The younger
prince was wounded; the Queen escaped by a miracle, one of the
assassins having been shot at the instant his pistol was aimed
at her. The two princes fought bravely, and the Queen threw
herself in front of her husband, attempting vainly to shield
him.

Prince Manuel, whose wound was not serious, succeeded to the

throne; but "the shots that killed Dom Carlos and Dom Luiz on
February 1 swept away the dictatorship of Senhor Franco and
the whole fabric which he had built up at so much cost during
18 months. Within a few hours of the murder Senhor Franco
resigned, under pressure, it is said, and left the country,
declaring that he had done with politics for ever. From being
the saviour of his country, the admiration of all enlightened
men, both at home and abroad, he became a pariah. His
supporters became mute and his system vanished. From that day
to this his followers have had no more than three or four
seats in the Chamber, where they have remained voiceless and
without influence on the course of events.

"That a seemingly vulgar crime should have so disproportionate

an effect was strange, and no less strange was the attitude of
the country. Whether owing to the widely entertained suspicion
that the murderers of the King were the tools of more
important personages whom it would not be safe to discover, or
to the fear of a Republican rising felt by the moderate and
respectable members of the community, is still a matter of
opinion; the fact remains that society lost its nerve. No
burst of indignation, no adequate expression of sympathy for
the Royal Family was heard; no steps were taken to trace the
authors of the crime. … The disappearance of Senhor Franco
left the two old ‘rotativist’ parties in presence, the
Progressistas under Senhor Luciano de Castro, and the
Regeneradores under Senhor Vilhena, the recently elected
successor of the veteran Hintze Ribeiro. Compared to these,
neither the Republicans, whose strength was supposed to be
considerable in the country, nor the ‘dissident’
Progressistas, under Senhor Alpoim, were of any account as
Parliamentary factors. A coalition Government was formed on
March 4, under Admiral Ferreira do Amaral, consisting of two
Regeneradores, two Progressistas, and two so-called
Independents, personal adherents of the Premier, who resembled
him in having no marked political ideals or convictions. The
elections, which took place in April, returned 62
Regeneradores and 59 Progressistas, thus starting the
Government on its career with the handsome following of 121 in
a House of 155. The matters with which the Government had to
deal were mainly three—namely, the revision of the decrees
issued by Senhor Franco as Dictator, the question of the Civil
List and of the advances made by the nation to the Royal
Family, and electoral reform. The Civil List was successfully
settled, but little progress had been made with the remainder
of the programme when the first serious defection occurred.
During the recess the Government announced that the municipal
elections, which had been suspended by Senhor Franco in favour
of nominated councils, would be held again in November, a
decision bitterly attacked by Senhor Vilhena, who announced
that the Regeneradores could no longer support the Government.
The elections were duly held, and, owing to the deliberate
abstention of the Monarchist parties, the Republicans captured
unopposed every seat on the Lisbon council. The unpopularity
incurred by the Government on account of this unnecessary gift
to the common enemy brought about a Government crisis. Admiral
Amaral referred the matter to the Council of State, who, to
his great surprise and annoyance, advised the resignation of
the Government. The Premier and his two independents
accordingly retired, and the Cabinet was reconstituted under
Senhor Campos Henriques, who together with Senhor Wenceslao de
Lima, Minister of Foreign Affairs, continued to represent the
Regenerador party. The late Premier’s ‘Independents’ made way
for the Progressistas, who thus held five seats in the Cabinet
to two held by the Regeneradores. Senhor Vilhena, who had
brought about the fall of the late Government, was not offered
a seat in the new one, and he immediately resumed his
opposition; but on this occasion he only carried two-thirds of
his party with him, 22 members deciding to support the
Government. This defection of the Regeneradores under Senhor
Vilhena, the first serious indication of a return to the old
system of ‘rotativism,’ was shortly followed by that of the
late Premier and his ‘Independents,’ so that when the Cortes
met on March 1, [1909], the imposing Government majority of a
year before had dwindled to 10 or 15."

Then followed daily scenes of disorder and obstruction in

Parliament until Senhor Campos Henriques surrendered, at the
end of March. As The Times correspondent expressed it,
"as soon as the Opposition in the Lower House expressed its
impatience by a banging of desks, while its leader in the
House of Peers solemnly affirmed the ‘incompatibility’ of his
party with the Government, Ministers determined to avoid all
further unpleasantness by resigning." The resignation was
accepted by the King, and three party leaders in succession
made attempts in the next month to conduct the Government,
without success. Senhor Sebastiäo Telles held the reins for
three weeks, and then passed them to Senhor Wenceslao de Lima,
who framed up a nominally non-party Ministry on the 13th of
May. Senhor De Lima conducted the Government until the
following December, when, on the 19th, he resigned, and a
 "Progressist Ministry" was formed, under Senhor Beirao.

London Times Correspondence of various Dates.

{507}

Writing from Lisbon on the 5th of January, 1910, the

Times correspondent said:

"It is the Republicans who alone seem to be making progress.

Their activities are unceasing, their newspapers the best
informed and most ably conducted, their meetings, held all
over the land, the most largely attended and most
enthusiastic. At the same hour as that of the Royal reception
on New Year’s Day the Republican municipality of Lisbon held a
like function, not only largely and most influentially
attended, but to the distinct diminution of the attendance in
the Royal Palace."

PORTUGAL: A. D. 1909.
Demonstration against the Religious Orders.

The following despatch to the Press was sent from Lisbon

August 3, 1909:

"Freethinkers from all political parties in Portugal,

represented by a Liberal committee, to-day presented to the
Cortes a petition for the suppression of the religious orders
in Portugal and the abrogation of the existing laws against
freedom of conscience. This step was an outcome of the meeting
held in this city yesterday.

"The committee was accompanied to the Houses of Parliament by

an immense crowd, and some wild scenes ensued. Among other
things the petitioners asked for the abrogation of the recent
law permitting religious associations to acquire landed
property, a procedure which up to the present time has been
 illegal. Senhor Camacho moved the consideration of the
subject, and when the motion was voted down the galleries
broke out in protestation. There was considerable violence on
the floor of the House. The Deputies engaged in a struggle in
which desks and chairs were overturned, and the Chamber had to
be cleared twice. The tumult was continued in the streets, but
without serious results."

PORTUGAL: A. D. 1909.
Offer of Dom Miguel to renounce his Claim to the Throne.

Dom Miguel, son of the Dom Miguel who, from 1828 to 1833 held
the throne of Portugal in defiance of the rights of Maria da
Gloria, his elder brother’s daughter (see, in Volume IV.,
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1824-1889), had kept up his father’s
pretensions to the crown until the spring of 1909, when he
offered to renounce it, if permitted to live in Portugal as a
citizen. The permission was refused, for the reason that his
return, with that of a number of nobles of his party, "would
be regarded as a challenge to the rising tide of Liberalism."

PORTUGAL: A. D. 1909 (April).

Earthquake in and around Lisbon.

See (in this Volume)

EARTHQUAKES: PORTUGAL.

PORTUGUESE AFRICA.

See (in this Volume)

AFRICA: PORTUGUESE.

POSTAGE, BEGINNING OF INTERNATIONAL PENNY.

The postal treaty establishing two-cent or penny postage on

letters between Great Britain and the United States went into
effect October 1, 1909.
POSTAL SERVICE, IN CHINA.

See (in this Volume)

CHINA: A. D. 1908.

POSTAL SERVICE STRIKE, IN FRANCE.

See (in this Volume)

LABOR ORGANIZATION: FRANCE: A. D. 1909 (MARCH-MAY).

POSTAL AND TELEGRAPHIC STRIKE, IN RUSSIA.

See (in this Volume)

RUSSIA: A. D. 1904-1905.

----------POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT: THEIR PROBLEMS:

Start---

POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT:

Old Age Homes, in Vienna.

"In most towns there is a tendency, in this our day, to deal

more generously with destitute children than with destitute
men and women. In Berlin and New York, for instance, both
money and thought are lavished on the young whom the community
supports; while as for the aged, what is given to them is
given only of necessity. In Vienna it is otherwise; there the
arrangements for the relief of the old people are better—both
more carefully considered and more liberal—than those for the
relief of children, a fact that says more, perhaps, for the
hearts than for the heads of the authorities.

"If a man—or a woman—above 60 is without money wherewith to

provide for himself, or the strength to earn the money, he
applies to the Guardian of his ward for help. Then, if he has
a home to live in, and someone to take care of him, or is able
to take care of himself, he is granted out relief, a money
allowance if he can be trusted to spend it wisely, otherwise
relief in kind. Supposing, however, he is homeless, feeble and
‘alone-standing,’ he is sent to a Versorgungshaus, or old-age
home, if there is a vacant place there; and, if not, to a
small poor-house until there is.

"Versorgungshäuser are the distinctive feature of the Austrian

Poor Relief system so far as the aged are concerned. Already
in the days of Joseph II. Vienna had two if not more of these
homes, and at the present time it has six. One of them is
reserved exclusively for Citizens; another, that at Mauerbach,
is reserved for persons who, owing to their perverted notions
as to what is seemly, cannot be accorded the full liberty the
old people in the other homes enjoy. In all the six together
there is space for more than 6,000 inmates. As the
Versorgungshäuser are looked upon by classes and masses alike
as the homes of the aged poor, the place where they have a
right to be, no disgrace is attached to going there. …

"Although in Vienna much is done for the poor, the burden

entailed by Poor Relief is by no means overwhelming. In 1903
the full cost of indoor relief, outdoor relief and sick
relief, together with the cost of administration, was only
£942,870, and of this £250,672 was obtained from private
sources. At that time the town was providing 31,000 adults—old
men and women for the most part—with allowances ranging in
amount from 30 kronen to 6 kronen a month; it was maintaining
6,790 more in old-age homes and other institutions; and was
defraying the cost of the Asyl and workhouse. It was
supporting, or contributing to the support of, 10,260 children
who were either with their own relatives or were boarded out;
and was maintaining 3,246 in orphanages, etc. It defrayed the
cost of the 27,000 babies who passed through the Foundling
Hospital, and of the 19,085 children who were temporarily in
institutions. It also provided 77,000 boys and girls with
school books, and contributed generously to many private
 philanthropic societies. Roughly speaking, the cost to the
town of Poor Relief in Vienna per head of the population is
8s. 4d."

Edith Sellers,
Poor Relief in Vienna
(Contemporary Review, December, 1900).

{508}

POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT:

Pensions, &c.: Denmark: A. D. 1907.
Old Age Pensions.

Some interesting details of the working of the Danish old-age

pensions system are contained in a British Consular report
issued in May, 1909. The latest available statistics show that
on March 31, 1907, 70,445 persons over 60 years of age were in
receipt of pensions, which amounted in the aggregate to
£451,000 [$2,255,000] for the financial year 1906-1907. The
number of pensioners on March 31, 1906, was 68,800, and the
amount distributed in the financial year 1905-1906, £420,444.
Both the number of pensioners and the average amount of the
pensions are increasing. The ages of the "principal"
pensioners (i. e., of the actual recipients of pensions
apart from wives and children dependent on them) were, on
March 31st, 1906, as follows:
60 to 65 years of age—3,173 men, 4,239 women;
65 to 70 years—5,831 men, 6,756 women;
70 years and over—13,974 men and 17,037 women.

About a quarter of the population over 60 years of age is in

receipt of pensions, the women especially availing themselves
of their benefits. The average amount distributed to each
"principal" recipient was £6 5s. in 1905-1906 and £6 11s. in
1906-1907.
POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT: England: A. D. 1908.
Old Age Pensions Act.
The Working of the Law.
Its Pitiful and Appalling Disclosures.

The Act of the British Parliament, "to Provide for Old Age
Pensions" (August 1, 1908), declares in its first section that
"the receipt of an old age pension under this Act shall not
deprive the pensioner of any franchise, right, or privilege,
or subject him to any disability." The second section defines
the "statutory conditions for the receipt of an old age
pension by any person" to be: the person must have attained
the age of seventy; must satisfy the pension authorities that
he has been a British subject and resident in the United
Kingdom for at least twenty years; that his yearly means, as
calculated under the stipulations of the Act, do not exceed
thirty-one pounds ten shillings. But, notwithstanding the
fulfilment of these statutory conditions, a person is
disqualified while he is in receipt of any poor relief, other
than medical or surgical assistance on the recommendation of a
medical officer, or relief rendered by means of the
maintenance of a dependent in an asylum, infirmary, or
hospital, or any relief that by law is expressly declared not
to be a disqualification for any franchise, right, or
privilege. Furthermore, any person is disqualified for the
receipt of an old age pension "if, before he becomes entitled
to a pension, he has habitually failed to work according to
his ability, opportunity, and need, for the maintenance or
benefit of himself and those legally dependent upon him:
Provided that a person shall not be disqualified under this
paragraph if he has continuously for ten years up to attaining
the age of sixty, by means of payments to friendly, provident,
or other societies, or trade unions, or other approved steps,
made such provision against old age, sickness, infirmity, or
want or loss of employment as may be recognized as proper
provision for the purpose by regulations under this Act, and
any such provision, when made by the husband in the case of a
married couple living together, shall, as respects any right
of the wife to a pension, be treated as provision made by the
wife as well as by the husband."

Disqualification exists, also, during detention in a lunatic

asylum; and not only during any penal imprisonment that has
been ordered "without the option fine," but for ten years
thereafter.

Specific rules are given in the Act for "calculating the means
of a person" who seeks the pension; and the rate of weekly
pension to be paid is proportioned inversely to such
ascertained means, as follows: "Where the yearly means of the
pensioner as calculated under this Act:
Do not exceed £21.,—5s. 0d.;
exceed £21, but do not exceed £23, 12s. 6d.,—4s. 0d.;
exceed £23 12s. 6d., but do not exceed £26 5s.,—3s. 0d.;
exceed £26 5s., but do not exceed £28 17s. 6d.,—2s. 0c2.;
exceed £28 17s. 6d., but do not exceed £31 10s.,—1s. 0d.;
exceed £31 10s., no pension."

The Act became operative on the 1st of January, 1909. At that

time the persons recommended for pensions, throughout the
Kingdom, numbered 490,028, with somewhat over 148,000 pending
claims. The original estimate, on the discussion of the
measure, had been that the eligible pensioners would not
exceed 500,000, and that the cost of the undertaking, to begin
with, would be about £6,000,000. It was evident, therefore,
before pension payments began, that these estimates were much
too low.

From Ireland it was reported by the Press on the opening day

of pension payments that "more than 4,000 persons will to-day
receive old-age pensions in the city of Dublin. Claims
continue to be received in large numbers, and the pension
authorities estimate that, inasmuch as the last census of the
city showed that there were 6,800 persons over 70 years of age
 then alive, at least 1,200 eligible persons have not yet made
application. Yesterday afternoon it was stated that in all
5,600 claims had been lodged.

"Of the 209,000 claims lodged altogether in Ireland, it is

estimated that 50,000 will be disallowed, and that £30,000
weekly will be required to satisfy those which have been held
to be good. So far as Dublin is concerned, less than 90 per
cent, of the inhabitants who are over 70 years of age have
claimed pensions, so that the rural districts are responsible
for the larger percentage of claimants in Ireland as compared
with England and Scotland."

From Scotland it was reported that "in Glasgow, the number of

persons of 70 years and over is 13,160, and fully half of
those made claims. A rough estimate places the number of full
pensions granted at about 5,550. In addition, a number of
allowances of the smaller amounts, ranging from 4s. to 1s.,
have been made."

In London, on the 1st of January, 1908, there had been 39,043

claims considered, of which 36,108 were allowed. Of these,
31,327 were for 5s., 1,701 for 4s., 1,827 for 3s., 797 for
2s., and 456 for 1s.

{509}

Speaking in Parliament on the 1st of March, with deep feeling,

of the working of the Pension Act and of the revelation of
poverty it had made, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr.
Lloyd-George, said: "The pension officers, especially in
Ireland, had been appalled at the amount of undisclosed
poverty, and that was why he was not disposed to criticize too
harshly the administration of the Act in that country, even if
it had resulted in addition of a considerable sum to the
estimate of the Government. The details of poverty in Ireland
were perfectly horrifying. It was a disgrace to any civilized
 country that reasonable human beings should be allowed to live
under such conditions. But the same condition of things was
found in Great Britain also in many cases. He made a special
point of investigating the matter, and pension committees and
pension officers all told the same story of people facing
poverty and privation for years with resignation, fortitude,
and uncomplaining patience, and all asked the same question
and asked it in vain—How on earth could those poor people have
managed to keep body and soul together on such slender
resources? They had not understated their resources; on the
contrary, there were cases in which they had overstated them
from a feeling of pride.

"What struck one in such cases was how the people had fought
against the horror of the Poor Law. There were 270,000 people
over 70 years of age in receipt of Poor Law relief. The
Old-Age Pensions Act had disclosed the presence in the
community of over 600,000 people the vast majority of whom
were living in circumstances of great poverty, and yet
disdained the charity of the Poor Law."

In the report of the Local Government Board for 1908, the

inspector of poor-law administration in the eastern counties
of England reported a substantial decrease in pauperism during
the year, and attributed this mainly to the passing of the
Old-Age Pensions Act. Persons verging on the age of 70 were
doing everything possible to preserve their qualifications for
pensions, and their sons and daughters, in the hope that the
old folk will be able to stand alone, are maintaining them
till the pensions are due in order that they may not be
forfeited by parish relief.

POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT: France: A. D. 1909.

State Railway Servants Pensions.

In July, 1909, the Chamber of Deputies adopted a Bill for

pensioning the railway employees of the State which had
 already passed the Senate. It applies to some 308,000 persons,
who will be pensioned in several classes at ages ranging from
50 to 60 years, and the estimated annual cost will exceed
$5,000,000. The Minister of Public Works, M. Barthou,
described the measure as an acknowledgment on the part of the
country of a debt which it owed to a deserving body of public
servants, who for the last 11 years had waited patiently for
the fulfilment of a promise and upon various trying occasions
during that period had not abused the confidence which had
been reposed in their good sense and public spirit.

POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT: France: A. D. 1910.

General Old-Age Pension Law.

A general measure for the pensioning of workmen in old age,

which had been pending in the French Parliament for nearly
three years, became law in April, 1910. Passed in the first
instance by the Chamber of Deputies in 1907, it was held in
the Senate, undergoing an extensive remodeling, until the 12th
of February, 1910, when that body gave it an unanimous vote.
In the Chamber of Deputies its exaction of compulsory
contributions from the wages of workmen to the pension fund
was opposed by a section of the Socialists, but supported by
the Socialist leader Jaures, as well as by the Briand
Ministry, and carried by a decisive vote on April 1st.
"Workingmen, domestic servants, clerks, and farm laborers to
the number of nearly 12,000,000, whose annual earnings are
below 3,000 francs, are placed under a system of compulsory
insurance. For the farmer and small proprietor whose income
ranges between 3,000 and 5,000 francs, an optional form of
insurance is provided. Of this class there are nearly six
million men and women in the country." In all, about
18,000,000 of the population of France are beneficiaries of
the Act.

POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT:

The German System of State-aided Pensions,
compared with other systems.

The following is from the report of a lecture on State-aided

Pensions for the Poor, given in London, on the 3d of February,
1909, by the Honourable W. P. Reeves, Director of the London
School of Economics and Political Science. It is an admirable
summary of facts that exhibit the working, down to the present
time, of the German system of working men’s insurance adopted
between 1883-1889.

See (in Volume IV. of this work)

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: A. D. 1883-1889.

See (in Volume VI. of this work)

GERMANY: A. D. 1897-1900, in Volume VI.):

"The subject, said the lecturer, fell into three

groups—contributory pensions, free State universal pensions,
and free State limited pensions. Germany, France, and Belgium
afforded examples of the contributory pensions, and Denmark,
Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom of the limited
free pensions. The universal free pensions were likely to
remain an ideal. The Belgian superannuation for the poor,
provided by voluntary contributions on the part of the insurer
and by State bonuses, had encouraged thrift, but it yielded an
average pension of only £3 a year. It could not, therefore, be
pronounced to be a success, and the State had recognized its
failure by inaugurating a system of free old-age pensions for
the utterly destitute. A similar superannuation scheme in
France, also maintained principally by voluntary
contributions, had only attracted 8 per cent. of the class for
which it was intended, and there, too, it had been found
necessary to introduce free old-age pensions. There was also a
voluntary system in Germany, but that was a kind of side show
to the great national system of insurance by compulsory
contributions. This latter system was a gigantic experiment,
and it really did deserve the name of national. Professor
 Ashley had shown that of the 10,700,000 men who were insurable
under this scheme 8,857,000 actually were insured; and of the
5,800,000 women who were qualified to provide for pensions
4,524,000 were actually paying their contributions. The system
had been in operation for 26 years, and the amount paid out in
that time must have exceeded £300,000,000, while 70 or 80
million persons had been benefited by it from first to last.
The number of persons affected yearly by the system was
25,000,000; and in 1907 nearly £30,000,000 was spent in the
three divisions of the triple system—old age, sickness, and
accidents. He had only to deal with one division—old age and
infirmity. The accumulated funds in this division amounted to
about £70,000,000; and the amount paid out to the insurers in
1906 was nearly £8,300,000, and in 1907 £8,400,000. The
population liable to insure was about 14¼ millions, and the
number of pensions in force at the end of 1907 was 979,000.

{510}

"Under this German scheme the class compulsorily insured

consisted of men and single women earning less than £100 a
year. The funds were provided in equal contributions by
employers and employed—the principle underlying the system
being that of deferred wages. It was a question whether it was
encouraging thrift to withhold from such wage-earners 2 per
cent. of their wages. The State bore the cost of management,
and added to every pension a bonus of £2 10s. a year. For the
working of the system the wage-earners were divided into five
grades:

(1) Those who earn up to £17 10s. a year;

(2) those who earn any sum between £17 10s. and £27 10s.;
(3) those who earn any sum between £27 10s. and £42 10s.;
(4) those who earn any sum between £42 10s. and £57; and
(5) those who earn any sum between £57 and £100.

The lowest wage-earners paid seven-eighths of a penny per week

for their old-age pension, and the highest wage-earners about
2¼d. No special consideration was shown for a married man. The
five grades of pensions were:

(1) £5 10s. a year;

(2) £7;
(3) £8 10s.;
(4) £10; and
(5) £11 10s.

If the labourer died after subscribing for 200 weeks his wife
and children were entitled to receive what he had subscribed,
but nothing more.

"The lot of the widows and orphans was one of the black
features of the system. A married woman could not qualify for
an old-age pension. The amount of the weekly contribution was
fixed for ten years. In 1906 the receipts exceeded the
expenditure by £6,000,000; the cost of administration was only
£850,000. But that was only the minor part of the provision
made for elderly people in Germany. The main provision was
made under the head of infirmity or invalidity occurring
before the pension age—70. If the insurers, after having
subscribed for not less than four years, broke down and were
unable to earn wages, they were entitled to more generous
treatment. If curable they were cured in State sanatoriums and
received temporary sickness pensions. If incurable they
received a pension which was regulated by the number of years
they had subscribed, and varied from a minimum of £5
16s. in the lowest grade for four years’ subscriptions to £22
10s. in the highest grade for 50 years’ subscriptions. The
insurer began to pay his contributions at the age of 17, and
for an old-age pension he had to subscribe 50 weeks a year for
24 years—1,200 weeks in all. Though the system had not checked
Socialism or militant trade unionism, it had attained its real
purpose, for it had conferred an enormous boon upon the poor."
At the time when the remark quoted above, touching the
defective provision of the German law for widows and orphans,
was made, the Imperial Government was preparing to amend it.
The London Times of April 17, 1909, gave, in its
correspondence from Berlin, the account of a draft Bill, just
made public, which the Imperial Ministry of the Interior had
prepared for presentation to the Federal Council, the object
being to combine and coordinate "the seven compulsory
insurance laws of 1883 to 1899," together with certain
amendments and additions. "It is understood," wrote the
correspondent, "that the Bill will not reach the Reichstag
before the autumn of this year. Whereas many authorities …
have favored a thorough unification of the three systems of
invalidity and old age, accident, and sick insurance, the
immediate proposals of the Government would leave the three
systems separate and distinct, while codifying the law and the
regulations which are common to all branches of compulsory
insurance, and establishing a joint and threefold system of
higher administration." The main purpose of the bill was to
rectify that lack of proper provision for widows and orphans
which was noted above. "The need of solving this problem,"
said the correspondent, "is really the immediate occasion of
reform, and the proposed solution is the most important
feature of the reform scheme. An essential feature of the
tariff law of 1902 was the ear-marking—by the so-called Lex
Trimborn—for widows and orphans’ insurance of the surplus
revenue from the increased Customs duties on corn and cattle.
The Lex Trimborn takes effect on January 1, 1910, but the
surplus revenue is lacking. For the financial year 1906 there
was no surplus. For 1907 there was a surplus of about
£2,000,000. For the financial year 1908 there will be no
surplus, although £2,650,000 was estimated for. In these
circumstances the Government—while apparently still cherishing
the hope that, upon the average of a long period of years, the
revised tariff will do what was expected of it—proposes to
provide for widows and orphans insurance by a simple all-round
extension of the system of invalidity and old-age insurance.
 That is to say, the ‘contributions’ of employers and employed
are to be raised, and an Imperial subsidy, of fixed amount,
without regard to the annual revenue from Customs, is to be
added to the contributions.

"It is at present proposed that the weekly 'contributions' to

invalidity and old-age insurance shall, in order to provide
funds for widows and orphans’ pensions, be increased—upon the
mean average of the contributions of the five classes of
wage-earners—by one-fourth, and that the Empire shall add a
subsidy of £2 10s. a year to each widow’s pension and a
subsidy of £1 5s. a year to each orphan’s pension."

In February, 1909, a Parliamentary Committee of the British

Trades Union Congress, composed of men representing the Labor
Party in Parliament, reported the results of a visit to
Germany which the Committee had made in the previous November,
to examine conditions in that country, especially with
reference to the operation of the state system of insurance.
In their report they said: "The State assistance has acted as
an incentive and encouragement to workmen to make additional
provision for themselves and families through their trade
unions and private sick clubs. This is especially the case in
invalidity and old age. It has always been the workman’s
complaint, as well as that of the organizations, that the
assistance obtainable under the workman’s insurance system is
quite out of proportion to the subscriptions paid, and quite
insufficient for the maintenance of the pensioner.
{511}
In this connexion, it is interesting to note that in 1907 the
'Free' or Socialist unions, with a membership of 1,866,000,
granted £174,000 in sick pay and £19,000 in invalidity pay;
the State subsidies to invalidity and old-age pensions
amounting in 1906 to £2,437,000. The insurance pensions are
continually increasing; and it is stated that the invalidity
pensions will eventually reach a maximum in the lowest
wages class of £9 5s., and in the highest one of £22 10s. The
 funds accumulated in the hands of the Invalidity Pension
Offices amounted at the end of 1907 to about 70 million
pounds, and the workmen maintain that the time has now arrived
when either the pensions paid should be increased, or the
contributions levied decreased, as provided for by law."

"The members of the deputation were struck by the absence of

slums in the manufacturing quarters of the towns visited.
Nowhere did they see any quarter that could be classified
under the heading ‘slum.’ The cleanliness prevailing
throughout all the towns visited was also remarkable. No
beggars, feeble or emaciated men in tatters and rags were
encountered in the streets. Hundreds upon hundreds of
unemployed were seen by the deputation, but they seemed to
lack that dejection and absolute misery that is so frequently
met with in the streets of English towns.

"Workmen throughout Germany do not complain of any compulsory

deductions made by their employers from their wages for the
purpose of workmen’s insurances. Many of the largest employers
are favourably disposed towards these laws, and pay willingly.
On the other hand, probably the majority do complain of the
cost, although not opposed to the laws in principle."

POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT: Poor Laws: England: A. D. 1896-

1906.
Report of Royal Commission.
Increasing Pauperism.

In December, 1905, a Royal Commission, composed of nineteen

men and women of distinguished ability and of special
qualifications for the service, was appointed in Great
Britain, "to inquire—(1) Into the working of the laws relating
to the relief of poor persons in the United Kingdom; (2) into
the various means which have been adopted outside of the Poor
Laws for meeting distress arising from want of employment,
particularly during periods of severe industrial depression;
and to consider and report whether any, and, if so, what
modification of the Poor Laws or changes in their
administration or fresh legislation for dealing with distress
are advisable."

After three years of laborious investigation, making "more

than 800 personal visits to unions, meetings of boards of
guardians, and institutions in England, Scotland, and
Ireland," as well as examining over 1300 witnesses, the
Commission submitted an elaborate report in February, 1909.
Its findings as to the present working of the poor-laws and
the relief-systems of the United Kingdom, and its
recommendations for reform, cannot be summarized with any
clearness in such space as can be given to the subject here;
but there is a startling significance in what it shows of the
increase of pauperism and of the public cost of poor relief in
late years.

It appears from the returns of the Local Government Board that

the mean number of paupers in 1906, 1907 and 1908, was at a
higher level than it had been for 31 previous years.
Excluding, however, these three especially bad years, it is
found that throughout the period 1896-1906 there were 24,000
more paupers than in the period 1888-1896, and 7000 more than
in the period 1880-1888. In discussing the report the London
Times remarks: "Further examination even diminishes the
meagre consolation these figures afford as to the results of a
generation of effort at reducing pauperism. Comparing the
period 1896-1906 with 1871-1880, there has been a decrease of
3.9 per cent. in the total number of paupers, but this
decrease has been accompanied by a large increase of male
pauperism and is due entirely to the large decrease in the
number of children, whose numbers have decreased by 18 per
cent., and a small reduction in the number of women, whose
numbers have increased by 2 per cent. The decrease in these
two classes so affects the total as entirely to conceal an
absolute increase of 18 per cent, in the number of male
paupers. Even in regard to the children, at any rate during
the last 15 years, the decrease has been almost wholly in
rural unions, and in the children of widows, and there has
been a general increase in the number of children of
able-bodied men.

"Further, so far as figures are available, they show a greater

proportionate increase in the number of paupers during the
working years of life than in the very young or the very old.
Taking only the able-bodied in health, we find that in the
period 1896-1906 in metropolitan unions the indoor paupers
have increased by 38 per cent. and the outdoor by 137 per
cent.; in urban unions the indoor by 24 per cent. and the
outdoor by 133 per cent.; and in the whole of England and
Wales the indoor by 21 per cent. and the outdoor by 49 per
cent. In London alone 15,800 more paupers are being maintained
than in the eighties, and the rate per 1,000 of the
population, which used to be below that for England and Wales,
has risen above it."

As for expenditure, it was some £8,000,000 in the year

1871-1872, and £14,000,000 in the year 1905-1906. Summing up
the general situation with regard to this expenditure, the
Commission says: "We find that, whilst the expenditure per
inhabitant has increased from 7s. ¼d. to 8s. 2£d. since
1871-1872, and is only 7£d. less than it was in 1834, the
expenditure per pauper has increased from £7 12s. 1d. to £15
12s. 6d. in the same period. The country is maintaining a
multitude of paupers not far short of the numbers maintained
in 1871-1902, and is spending more than double the amount upon
each individual. The increased expenditure has done little
towards diminishing the extent of pauperism. Such advance as
the nation has made has been accomplished at an enormous cost,
and absorbs an annual amount which is now equivalent to nearly
one-half of the present expenditure upon the Army. It may be
urged that the rate of pauperism has diminished from 31.2 per
1,000 in 1871-1879 to 22.2 per 1,000 in 1896-1905, and this is
 certainly a matter for congratulation, but it has been the
result of the large increase in the population rather than of
any considerable reduction in the number of paupers."

{512}

This discouraging result has occurred notwithstanding the fact

that the nation is spending £20,000,000 more in education than
in 1831, and £13,000,000 more in sanitation and the prevention
of disease than in 1841; notwithstanding the fact "that money
wages in the nineties were 10 per cent. above those of the
eighties, and 30 per cent, above those of the sixties," and
notwithstanding the fact that "there has been a considerable
flow of the working classes from the lower paid occupations to
the higher paid industries."

The recommendations of the Commission include a scheme for a

permanent system of public assistance for the able-bodied,
which contemplates the establishment in every district of four
coöperating organizations:

(a) An organization for insurance against unemployment, to

develop and secure (with contributions from public funds) the
greatest possible benefits to the workmen from coöperative
insurance against unemployment;

(b) a labor exchange established and maintained by the Board

of Trade to provide efficient machinery for putting those
requiring work and those requiring workers into prompt
communication;

(c) a voluntary aid committee to give advice and aid out of

voluntary funds especially to the better class of workmen
reduced to want through unemployment;

(d) a public assistance authority representing the county or

county borough and acting locally through a public assistance
 committee to assist necessitous workmen under specified
conditions at the public expense. The report adds that it must
be a fundamental principle of the system of public assistance
that the responsibility for the due and effective assistance
of all necessitous persons at the public expense shall be in
the hands of one, and only one, authority in each county and
county borough—viz., the public assistance authority.

POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT:

Small Holdings Act of Great Britain.

See (in this Volume)

ENGLAND: A. D. 1907-1908.

POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT:

Starvation Poverty in India.

See (in this Volume)

INDIA: A. D. 1905-1908.

POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT:

Underfed School Children:
Provision for Meals to them.
How it is done in Various Cities.

In March, 1905, the British Foreign Office undertook, at the

request of the Board of Education, to obtain information
regarding the methods adopted in the great Continental and
American cities for dealing with ill-fed school children. The
facts collected were tabulated and published subsequently in a
Parliamentary Paper (Cd. 2926-1906) from which the following
statements are derived:

Generally, in the larger cities of Western Europe, some system

was found to be in operation for feeding ill-fed children in
the schools. Commonly this is conducted unofficially, by
private charitable organizations, but sometimes in indirect
connection with the municipality, and frequently with help
from municipal funds. In Berlin, however, the municipality
takes on itself the responsibility of not only feeding but
clothing properly the necessitous children attending its
elementary schools. This made one of the functions of a
municipal department, the Städtisrhe Schuldeputation, which is
assisted by a "Society for Feeding Poor Children" in the
supplying of meals at the elementary school buildings of the
city. The committee which conducts the work of that auxiliary
society is appointed by the Government. As a rule, breakfasts
only are given in Berlin, and only during the winter months;
but four meals are supplied to such children as are thought by
the head-masters of the schools to require them. No steps are
taken to collect from parents any part of the cost of meals
furnished in the schools.

In Paris the organization which installs and conducts cantines

scolaires in schools belonging to the city, called the
Caisse des Écoles, is privately constituted, but
presided over by the mayor. This connects it with the
municipality, and in 1905 it had been receiving a municipal
subvention of 1,000,000 francs yearly for three years, but
this was not to be depended on as a permanent grant. It was
necessary for the Caisse des Écoles to seek voluntary
contributions. The City, however, undertakes to supply the
necessary accommodations and all utensils for the school
canteens, which are in operation throughout the year, every
day of the week, but generally for a noon meal only; though
soup is distributed in some arrondissements at the opening and
closing of school. All children are entitled to feed at the
canteen, but the meals are supplied gratis only to the
children of poor families. The others pay a small sum which
does not exceed 15 centimes (about 2 cents). In 1904 the total
cost of meals furnished at the school canteens was 1,461,305
francs, of which 359,093 francs was paid by parents, who buy
tickets for the purpose. All meals are supplied on the
presentation of tickets, and nothing shows whether the tickets
 have been bought or received as gifts.

In Vienna meals for poor school children are provided by a

central Association, indirectly connected with the
municipality, the Burgomaster being its president, and
financial assistance being given to it from both imperial and
municipal funds. Dinners only are provided, on every week day
from November 16 to March 31, partly in the school buildings,
partly in certain restaurants and kitchens. As in Paris,
parents can buy tickets for these meals, but it is said to be
rarely done. The total cost is about $23,000 per year. Once a
year, in the autumn, the Association makes an appeal for
funds, and all classes of people respond, the Emperor giving
4,000 crowns and the Town Council voting 8,000.

Information on the subject was obtained by the British Foreign

Office from thirty-eight cities, in all, of Austria, Belgium,
Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Norway, Sweden,
Spain, Switzerland, and the United States. Some systematic
provision, more or less adequate, for securing proper food to
the children of the schools by private or public organization,
was reported from more than thirty. The reports from New York,
Philadelphia, and Chicago, in the United States, showed less
undertakings in this direction than in any other cities of
considerable size.

{513}

POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT: In England:

Provision of Meals Act.

An order from the English Local Government Board on the

subject of providing food for underfed school children was
published on the 29th of April, 1905. It applied only to
children under sixteen who were neither blind, deaf or dumb,
and who were living with a father not in receipt of relief.
Application in each case must be made by school managers, or
 by a teacher empowered by the managers, or by an officer
empowered by the education authorities. The relief might be
granted in the ordinary way or as a loan, the father being
allowed the opportunity of making the needful provision
himself. If he failed to do so, the poor-law guardians were
empowered to make it and to recover the cost, as if it were a
loan. In no case could the relief be given in money, or
continued on a single application for more than a month. Where
possible, arrangements should be made with local charitable
organizations for the issue of tickets for meals.

The above mentioned tentative order was followed, in the next

year, by the passage of an Act which authorizes any "local
education authority" in England and Wales to "take such steps
as they think fit for the provision of meals for children" at
any public elementary school, and for that purpose to
"associate with themselves any committee on which the
authority are represented, who will undertake to provide food
for those children." Such education authority may aid the
committee by furnishing necessary land, buildings, furniture
and apparatus, and necessary officers and servants; but, "save
as hereinafter provided, the authority shall not incur any
expense in respect of the purchase of food to be supplied at
such meals."

POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT: Unemployment: Belgium: A. D.

1900-1904.
Municipal Organizations of Insurance against Unemployment.
The Ghent System.

The following is abridged from a report on "Agencies and

Methods for Dealing with the Unemployed in certain Foreign
Countries," made to the British Board of Trade, in 1904, by
Mr. David F. Schloss:

During the last few years the Public Authorities of certain

Belgian towns and Provinces have organised a system, to which
the name of Insurance against Unemployment is given, and under
which the efforts of workmen to secure for themselves the
means of tiding over periods of unemployment are assisted by
the grant of subsidies provided out of public moneys, which
form a supplement to the sums derived from the contributions
of these work-people. This system is now in force at Ghent,
Brussels, Antwerp, Bruges, Liege, Malines, and Louvain, and in
the Provinces of Liege and Antwerp. In details it has been
varied somewhat in different places, but the general scheme is
the same, and it will be sufficient to give some account of it
as organized in Ghent, where it was first worked out.

The Unemployed Fund at Ghent was initiated as the result of

the recommendations made by a Special Commission on the
question of unemployment, which on April 10, 1900, presented a
Report, advising the creation of a Municipal Unemployed Fund
under the conditions specified in a set of rules, which they
submitted for consideration. The annual subvention to the Fund
by the City was fixed, for three years, at $4000. Expenses of
the administration of the Fund to be borne by the City.
Administration of the Fund to be entrusted to a committee of
ten citizens named by the municipal authority, but one half of
whom must be members of those organizations of workmen which
affiliate themselves with the Fund. The Fund may be augmented
by subscriptions, donations, moneys collected by fêtes, etc.
"The intervention of the Special Fund shall consist either

(a.) in providing a supplement to sums paid to their

members as unemployed benefit by workmen’s organisations, or

(b.) in supplementing any provision made by individual

thrift for the specific case of unemployment. The Special Fund
will supplement the unemployed benefits paid by workmen's
organisations by the payment of a subsidy, which may be equal
to, but shall not be greater than, the amount of such
benefits."
 "Strikes and lock-outs, or the results attendant upon such
disputes, sickness and physical incapacity for labour shall in
no case give rise to the payment of an indemnity out of the
monies of the Unemployed Fund."

"All workmen’s organisations desiring that their members shall

participate in the subsidies provided by the Fund will be
required to send in each month a return showing the number and
amount of all payments on account of benefits made by them,
and to furnish every year their balance-sheet, also their
rules and regulations."

"Workmen not being members of any Trade Union which enjoys

participation in the Fund, are at liberty to join a Thrift
Fund specifically constituted to meet the case of
unemployment." By this rule, it will be seen, the scheme
provides, under distinct branches, for Trade Unionists and
non-Unionists.

POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT: England: A. D. 1905-1909.

Unemployed Workmen Act, and its operation.

In the summer of 1905 a Bill brought into Parliament by the

President of the Local Government Board, to provide for an
organization to assist unemployed workmen, was carried through
both houses with little opposition. It sought to bring about a
careful discrimination between workmen who were accustomed to
regular employment in ordinary circumstances, but temporarily
unemployed through circumstances beyond their control, and the
needy, on the other hand, who were proper objects of ordinary
Poor Law relief. Its provisions were for the former entirely,
and their purpose was to establish both local and central
bodies, which should organize and maintain labor exchanges and
employment bureaus, assist migration and emigration, and
acquire, equip, and maintain farm colonies; the latter to
operate continuously, for the training of persons to
agricultural pursuits, preparing them for emigration or for
 permanent transfer from city to country life. The local bodies
contemplated were not empowered to provide work at public
expense. That power was entrusted discretionally to the
central bodies, which could draw on the rates for the purpose
to a limited extent. Voluntary contributions were to be looked
to in part for the necessary funds. The measure was decidedly
conservative and tentative.

A report on the applications for relief and the relief given

in England and Wales under this Act during the year ending
March 81, 1909, compared with the previous year, shows as
follows: The total number of applications received was
196,757, of which 49,239 were made to 29 committees in London,
and 147,518 to 95 committees in other parts of the country.

{514}

The applicants belonging to the general or casual labour class

(64,773) formed as in previous years by far the largest
section—47.4 per cent.—of the whole number. The building trade
ranked second with 23,047, or 16.9 per cent. of the total. The
engineering, shipbuilding, and metal trades accounted for
17,028, or 12.5 per cent., as compared with only 8.6 per cent,
in the previous year.

A Bill known as the "Right to Work" Bill came before the House
of Commons in April, 1909, with the endorsement of the trade
unions and the Labor Party. It was opposed by John Burns, the
former labor leader, but now speaking as President of the
Local Government Board and member of the Cabinet, who said:
"For three and a half years he had had intimate experience of
relief works, and he could not exaggerate the degradation of
the workmen, the demoralization of the honest labourer, the
extent to which money had been wasted and character impaired
by the relief works which he had had in the name of Parliament
to administer. Any member had only to take up the report of
any one of the distress committees to see that what the
 minority report said had happened would increasingly happen so
long as these means of meeting unemployment were resorted to.
The amount of work would be disproportionate to the wages
paid, the wrong men would get the right work, and the best men
would be excluded, because modesty was a characteristic of
good workmanship and craftsmanship, and the worst men were
always in the front line when relief works were set on foot."

POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT: A. D. 1909.

Report of a Royal Commission.

The Royal Commission on the working of the English Poor Laws,

whose general report is referred to above, issued, in
September, 1909, a supplementary report on Unemployment. The
main ultimate conclusions of the Commission are the following:

"When we consider the remedies proposed for unemployment we

are convinced that they do not lie on the lines proposed by
the Unemployed Workmen’s Act, which has done nothing but
systematize Relief Works. These, whether national or
municipal, appear to us merely to intensify the evil as far as
the ordinary workmen are concerned. The great thing necessary,
we believe, is to obtain a general agreement as to the need of
regularizing labour. In this the Government and municipalities
ought to set a good example.

"It might be better, if any rate or State funds are to be

spent on the unemployed, that such aid should take the form of
supplementing trade union funds and give thereby a bonus on
thrift. Any such supplementation of trade union funds would
involve a Local Government Board audit, the control of the
expenses of management, and a separation of the war and
benefit funds. It is very doubtful whether it would be wise
for trade unions to accept State aid if it involved loss of
independence and an interference with their efforts to improve
wages. There is little doubt, however, that grants of this
kind would enormously increase their membership.