348 



THE WONDERFUL CENTURY. 



CHAP. XX. 



see proofs of a growing dislike to the workhouse, so that 

 numbers actually die of want rather than apply to the 

 relieving officer. From 1860 to 1885 no less than 130 

 new charitable organizations had been established in 

 London, and in the next ten years there were nearly 50 

 more. Many of these were small and local, but others 

 embraced all London, and have continuously increased 

 in power. Dr. Barnado's Homes, for example, begin- 

 ning on a very small scale in 1866, have so increased 

 that 5000 children who would otherwise be paupers or 

 criminals are supported, educated, and started in life 

 either at home or abroad. And the Church of England 

 Society for Providing Homes for Waifs and Strays, 

 established only in 1882, now supports about 2000 chil- 

 dren. There are in London about forty other institu- 

 tions of similar character, each supporting from 250 to 

 1000 children, and fifty others with a smaller number; 

 besides a large number of almshouses, hospitals, reforma- 

 tories, homes, and charity schools. And all these insti- 

 tutions are constantly appealing for more funds, because 

 they cannot keep up with the ever-increasing flood of 

 want and misery. Then there is the large amount of 

 relief distributed through the Charity Organization So- 

 ciety, with the shelters, the farm-colony, and the exten- 

 sive rescue work of the Salvation Army. And all this 

 work of relief has been going on and ever increasing, 

 while the numbers of those who spend their last years 

 and die in public institutions has also been increasing, 

 not in numbers merely, but in proportion to the total 

 deaths. And in the face of this overwhelming evidence 

 of the increase of poverty and misery and starvation, 

 the official apologists for things as they are, most writers 



