560 PROSPECTS OF INDUSTRY 



the lowness of wages, or other adverse circumstances, have been 

 forced to have recourse to parish allowances to keep them from abso- 

 lute starvation. Now, these are a body of men, on whom if the 

 full force of the spirit of the Bill fall, they will be at once lost to us as 

 useful citizens ; and it is on account of these we are anxious that the 

 views of Government should be directed to the working of this por- 

 tion of the Bill. 



It will probably at once be urged that these are men to whom the 

 plan of advancing loans is particularly applicable. Upon the first 

 view of the matter, it may appear so ; but it would be a false conclu- 

 sion. We have had some experience of the loan system, and have 

 seen very decided advantages resulting from it, during temporary 

 depressions in the labour-market, to the sober and well-disposed 

 workmen. But the framers of the Bill have overlooked one im- 

 portant point, and this is, that the causes which have driven the in- 

 dustrious labourer to the relief fund, are not of a temporary nature ; 

 they have been long acting, are acting still, and must be acting for a 

 considerable period. It is an absurdity to advance money, or cloth- 

 ing, or food, or medicine to a man, in the expectation that the outlay 

 is to be repaid from his earning, unless we improve his existing means 

 of support, or find new channels for his industry. But what says 

 the Bill to these men ? ' We will allow you 2s. or 4s. a week for 

 a month, because we understand that you really merit assistance. 

 After that time, nothing farther can be allowed to you, as the evils 

 of the system are so great that we must check it ; meantime you 

 must get work/ This is the language held by the Bill, but it is 

 language at once both unjust and impolitic unjust because the man 

 has been striving body and soul to do that recommended by the 

 Commissioners, and has been unable to attain his end ; and impolitic, 

 because it must either force him to emigrate, or drive him to despera- 

 tion, as men neither can nor will starve. 



If Government,' as a rider to the Poor Law Amendment Act, 

 had laid down some scheme for absorbing the superfluous industry of 

 the country, or had it enlarged the present channels of labour, the 

 extinction of out-door relief would have been hailed by every man 

 as a blessing. But it has done nothing of the sort. It appears to 

 have taken for granted, that the mass of individuals now dependent 

 upon the poor-rates have become dependent upon them solely 



