272 THE RELIEF OF THE UNEMPLOYED 



can they be maintained until they can resume their 

 normal occupation ? This is the problem which 

 'unemployment' presents in all countries, and it is 

 a problem for which more and more the State in all 

 countries is being pressed to find a solution. 



In the relief of the unemployed the practice of the 

 Government of India is in advance of that of any 

 European State, For every province an elaborate 

 code of instructions (known as the Famine Code) 

 had been prepared, laying down the principles to be 

 observed and the practice to be followed on every 

 occasion of threatened or actual scarcity. The actual 

 working of this code may be illustrated by the 

 measures taken in 1896-97 for the relief of the un- 

 employed in the United Provinces, 



The principle which guided the administration of 

 relief was at an early date declared in the following 

 words : ' The only limitation to the relief to be given 

 will be the necessities of the people.' But against this 

 principle must be set another, which was not less 

 steadily kept in view — the principle, namely, that 

 State relief must not interfere with the normal 

 organization of industry. There are two dangers 

 which must always be kept in view in rendering 

 State aid to the unemployed. The first is, that .'for 

 want of State aid the people may die of starva- 

 tion ; and the second is, that State aid may tempt 

 them away from the prosecution of their own in- 

 dustries ; for, if aid is given by the State on a lavish 

 scale, the people may find their lives upon the relief 

 works so comfortable that they may be unwilling to 

 return to their normal means of livelihood. This was 

 recognised by Sir Anthony MacDonnell, and unhesi- 

 tatingly enunciated, 



' It was a cardinal principle of relief administration 

 in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh that some 

 labour should be exacted from everyone seeking relief 

 who was not incapacitated for work by age or in- 



