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The Review of Reviews. 



Juli/ 1, 1906. 



THE ELBERFELD SYSTEM IN ENGLAND. 



yiuch the most interesting paper in tiie In- 

 dcpcndeiit Revirw is by Mr. J. Holden Byles on the 

 subject of the adaptation to English habits and cus- 

 toms of the Elberfeld system of dealing with poverty. 

 So much has been said in " The Review of Reviews " 

 about this system, as outlined in Miss Sutter's 

 " Britain's Ne.xt Campaign," that there is no need 

 here to resume its leading features. 



Three months' study of the system in Berlin, Ham- 

 burg, Leipzig and Cologne made Mr. Byles a more 

 enthusiastic admirer of it than ever, but still some- 

 what sceptical as to its being adapted to England. 

 Another three months spent in organising on Elber- 

 feld lines a Constitution for a Citizens' Guild of 

 Help in Halifax, while making difficulties, no less 

 plain, yet made him hopeful that all the essential 

 features of Elberfeld might be adopted in England. 

 Halifax, though a small town, presents all ordinar)- 

 povertv problems : and Bradford, the pioneer town 

 in England, is large, and has had the system at work 

 now for eighteen months, with excellent results. 

 Swinton, Liscard, and Eccles also have it actually at 

 work, while from all parts of the country inquiries 

 are coming in. 



FOEEWAEXIXG3. 



It is my aim. says Mr. Byles, to give the needful 

 forewarnings. In the Elberfe'.d system we have, as 

 he puts it, '■ not merely a lifeboat to rescue the 

 wrecked, but a lighthouse that will prevent the 

 wreck," The greatest difficulty in England is finding 

 enough volunteer helpers. The reason why this is 

 not a difficulty in Germany is that every German 

 citv has Home Rule, and, therefore, a civic sense 

 generally absent in England. In Germany it is 

 natural to join the citizens' army for helping the 

 poor. In England we have so long commuted this 

 form of military service by the payment of poor 

 rates that manv fear that the necessary enthusiasm 

 for working the Elberfeld system is simply not forth- 

 coming. Though the writer once shared that fear, 

 his experience so far has removed it. In Halifax — 



We asked for twenty-three D'.strict Captains, and we ob- 

 tained them at once. It was the same with the Helpers. 

 Three hundred and thirty were required. We had a list 

 submitted to ua of more than six hundred. sa.id to be 

 willing to undertake the work, and in little more than a 

 fortnieht the roll was complet-e. I believe that Bradford 

 and Swinton had very similar experiences. 



The real difficulty, however, is getting enough of 

 the right kind of helpers. Careless selection, es- 

 peciallv of Captains, is certain to cause disappoint- 

 ment, perhaps failure. In England the labourers 

 are not so much few, as untrained. This. Mr, Byles 

 ver)' trulv says, is not enough : — 



The battle with povert.v is tile stiffest battle we have to 

 fiErht. to-dav; and there must be clear grit in those who 

 would fisht it. There is no place for the dilettante, the 

 mere sentimentalist, or for the ^ooiy-s-oody chatterer. Soft 

 STwder won't crack hard nuts; and there are none harder 

 than tho&e that are presented b.v the nroblems of poverty. 

 What is needed in the Cantains and Helpers of any Guild 

 that would work on Elberfeld lines is tact ^and that pre- 



supposes courtesy), judgment, firmness, the courage to say 

 "No"; but, combined with these, must be deep and wide 

 sympathies, and that love wliich " beareth all things and 

 hopeth all things." 



The Captain must be a man of some leisure. And 

 some means must be found to keep up the necessary 

 enthusiasm among the volunteers after novelty has 

 worn off. In German towns civic pride alone is 

 sufficient. Every effort is made to invest the workers ' 

 with civic dignity. And in England the Mayor 

 ought to be the president ; representatives of the 

 Citv Council and Board of Guardians should be 

 on the Central Board, and all meetings held in 

 public buildings. In Halifax the Mayor has helped 

 much by attending the inaugural meeting in robes 

 of office, by speaking to the Captains, and by giving 

 a reception in the Town Hall to Officers, Captains, 

 and Helpers. 



WHERE IS THE MONET TO COME FROM.' 



In Germany it comes from the city funds. In 

 England it must come from private charity — a 

 difficulty less serious than at first appears. Bradford 

 solves it by dispensing with any central fund for 

 charitable relief, and Mr, Byles thinks, on the whole, 

 this is the best course, A list of " stand-bys ' is 

 kept, however, piersons ready to help specially recom- 

 mended cases. Halifax is now doing like Bradford. 



A- PLEA FOE AX AMENDED POOR LAW. 



All the foregoing difficulties are not insuf)erable. 

 But until in England there are more stringent laws 

 for dealing with criminal poverty we shall ahva\s 

 be at a disadvantage. Germany can deal much 

 more sharply with the criminal poor. If a man 

 earns enough to support his family, and drinks or 

 gambles away those earnings, he is declared a minor, 

 treated as a child, and his employer is comf>elled to 

 pay his earnings to the wife. The wTiter evidently 

 longs for such a law in England. 



DOES EDUCATION ENTAIL EXTERMINATION? 



Mr. W. L. Feiter, of the Girls' High School, 

 Brooklyn, contributes to the Educational Revie'd) for 

 April a most sensational article on the Education 

 of Women. He maintains that the modern American 

 system of educating women threatens the face with 

 extinction. He says : — 



.\n examination of the question thus far inclines one to 

 the view that if hisrher education became universal, pos- 

 terity would be gradually eliminated, and the schools and 

 leachei^ would projressively exterminate the race. Only 

 23 per cent, of the graduates of twelve American colleges 

 marry at an avera^'e age of twenty-seven years. The mar- 

 riages took place six years after graduation. One investi- 

 gator found 74 per cent, single. 



.\nother investigator. Miss Abbott, showed that of S956 

 graduates of sixteen colleges, 23 per cent, were married. It 

 would appear that the rate of marriage of college women 

 is decreasing, and that the age at which marriage occurs 

 is ^ecom'ng steadily latejr. 



Not only do the college women shirk marriage, but the 

 minority which m:irrie3 shirks maternity. Comparing the 

 fortv years ending with 1893. native marriages average 2.3 

 children e.ach. whi'e those of the foreign-born average 7.4 

 each. It is evident that if our race depended upon the 

 rate of replenishment of the educated classes, it would be 

 doomed to speedy extinction 



