Darkest India | Page 2

allowed to influence our minds. True for
ourselves we still believe as fully as ever that the salvation of Jesus
Christ is the one great panacea for all the sins and miseries of mankind.
True we are still convinced that to merely improve a man's
circumstances without changing the man himself will be largely labor
spent in vain. True we believe in a hell and in a Heaven, and that it is
our ultimate object to save each individual whom we can influence out
of the one into the other. True that among the readers of the following
pages will be those whose religious creed differs from our's as widely
as does the North Pole from the South.
But about these matters let us agree for the present to differ. Let us
unite with hand and heart to launch forthwith the social life boat, and
let us commit it to the waves, which are every moment engulfing the

human wrecks with which our shores are lined. When the tempest has
ceased to rage, and when the last dripping mariner has been safely
landed we can, if we wish, with a peaceful conscience dissolve our
partnership and renew the discussion of the minor differences, which
divide, distract and weaken the human race, but _not till then._

CONTENTS.


PART I.
IN DARKEST INDIA.
I. Why "Darkest India?"
II. Who are not the Submerged Tenth?
III. The minimum standard of existence
IV. Who are the Submerged Tenth?
V. The Beggars
VI. "The Out of Works"
VII. The Homeless Poor
VIII. The Land of Debt
IX. The Land of Famine
X. The Land of Pestilence
XI. The White Ants of Indian Society
(a) The Drunkard
(b) The Opium Slave

(c) The Prostitute
XII. The Criminals
XIII. On the Border Land
XIV. Elements of Hope


PART II.
THE WAY OUT.
I. The Essentials to success
II. What is General Booth's scheme?
III. The City Colony
IV. The Labour Bureau
V. Food for all--the Food Depôts
VI. Work for all, or the Labour Yard
VII. Shelter for all, or the Housing of the Destitute
VIII. The Beggars Brigade
IX. The Prison Gate Brigade
X. The Drunkards Brigade
XI. The Rescue Homes for the Fallen
XII. "The Country Colony"--"Wasteward ho!"

XIII. The Suburban Farm
The Dairy
The Market Garden
XIV. The Industrial Village
XV. The Social Territory, or Poor Man's Paradise
XVI. The Social City of Refuge
XVII. Supplementary Branches of the Country Colony
Public Works
Off to the Tea Gardens
Land along the Railways
Improved methods of Agriculture
XVIII. The Over-sea Colony
XIX. Miscellaneous Agencies
The Intelligence Department
The Poor Man's Lawyer
The Inquiry Office for missing Friends
The Matrimonial Bureau
The Emigration Bureau
Periodical Melas
XX. How much will it Cost?

XXI. A Practical conclusion


PART I.--IN DARKEST INDIA.


CHAPTER I.
WHY "DARKEST INDIA?"
It is unnecessary for me to recapitulate the parallel drawn by General
Booth between the sombre, impenetrable and never-ending forest,
discovered by Stanley in the heart of Africa, and the more fearfully
tangled mass of human corruption to be found in England. Neither the
existence, nor the extent, of the latter have been called in question, and
in reckoning the submerged at one tenth of the entire population it is
generally admitted that their numbers have been understated rather than
otherwise.
Supposing that a similar percentage be allowed for India, we are face to
face with the awful fact that the "submerged tenth" consists of no less
than _twenty-six millions of human beings_, who are in a state of
destitution bordering upon absolute starvation! No less an authority
than Sir William Hunter has estimated their numbers at fifty millions,
and practically his testimony remains unimpeached.
Indeed I have heard it confidently stated by those who are in a good
position to form a judgement, that at least one hundred millions of the
population of India scarcely ever know from year's end to year's end
what it is to have a satisfying meal, and that it is the rule and not the
exception for them to retire to rest night after night hungry and faint for
want of sufficient and suitable food.

I am not going, however to argue in favor of so enormous a percentage
of destitution. I would rather believe, at any rate for the time being, that
such an estimate is considerably exaggerated. Yet do what we will, it is
impossible for any one who has lived in such close and constant contact
with the poor, as we have been doing for the last eight or nine years, to
blink the fact, that destitution of a most painful character exists, to a
very serious extent, even when harvests are favorable and the country is
not desolated by the scourge of famine.
Nor do I think