113
Is not this plan infinitely superior to. i^e .spasmodic
Egyptian expedient of occasional public ivn i wn<; cost the State enormous sums and only incre?:,^ »™ loeai difficul-ty as soon as they are completed ? SI*!,;: '^ not ^ here be erecting a satisfactory and pennanenf" , j]v''ir>t^ ag'amsk *he future inroads of famine ? Shall w: ..-or, * -rtker be ^creasing the public revenue for future yeu.-s !r/ ^-iUions of pounds tod that without adding a single new **\t or i^y^g upon sources so uncertain and detrimental ;fco tlie Publie welfare as those founded upon the consume^011 °f drugs and li(luor8 that destroy the health of thte "people ? Shall we not again be increasing the sta^ v alld Sloi7 °* the Em" pire in caring for its destitut,^ masses and in turning what is now a danger to the S«^ 3"nto a peaceful, prosperous and contented community* A'.nd finally will not our Poor Man's Paradise be infinitely superior from every point of view to the miserab}® regulation workhouse, that is in other countries offered W: tte Stite, or again to the system of fiitMritable doles at)^d whole-sale beggary that at present exists ? To me it sterns th^t there is indeed no comparison t>4^$<£ the two/an^.O^neral Booth's book has opened out a vl£ 'U Q'^happir^ti tr^he poor, such as we should hardly havja conceit j>ossibl^> save in connection with a Christian
Tuy."
• But it may be objected by some that in providing these outlets for, the_ destitute, we should in the end only ao-o-ra-
JL A'U t' «|y* *"^'l i «/ OO
Ya,tethe dAoa i p enormously increasing the population. Tffe remind^ of the gigantic folly of the miser with his hbards.g-gofi. /An amusing eastern anecdote is told of one T-ho haraig gfon^ two or three miles to say his prayers to a mosque suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to put out an oil lamp before leaving home. He at once retraced Ms steps and on reaching his house called out to the servant