Darkest India | Page 7

much of their generosity is
misapplied, and the most pitiable cases escape notice, either because
they have not so plausible a tale, or because they have not the requisite
"_cheek_" for pushing their claims.
5. While the generous are severely taxed, the less liberal get off scot
free. They cannot give to all and therefore they will give to nobody.
Some beggars are frauds, therefore they will help none. They have been
taken in once, therefore they do not mean to be taken in again.
6. Finally the Indian army of beggars is continually increasing, and will
sooner or later have to be dealt with. Private charity will soon be unable
to cope with its demands, and humanity forbids that we should leave
them to starve.
I return therefore to the question, can we not seize this opportunity, in
the common interests of both beggars and be-begged, for dealing
vigorously with the difficulty, and for mitigating it, if we cannot at one
stroke entirely remove it?
I am very hopeful that this can be done, and that now certain classes of
beggars. But in any case I think we may fairly view the problem in a
spirit of hopefulness.
Roughly speaking the beggars may be divided into four classes:--
(a) The blind and the infirm.
(b) Those who take them about and share the proceeds of their begging.
(c) The able bodied out-of-works, and
(d) The religious mendicants.
Passing over the last of these for obvious reasons, I would confine
myself to the first three classes. But I must not anticipate. The scheme

for their deliverance is fully described in a later portion of this book,
and for the present I would only say that they constitute a very
important section of India's submerged tenth and no plan would be
perfect that did not take them fully into account.
It is true that this does not form a part of General Booth's original
scheme. But the reason for this is patent. In England vagrancy is
forbidden. There is a poor law in operation and there are work-houses
provided by the State. In India there is nothing of the kind, save a law
for the compulsory emigration of European vagrants, who are deported
by Government and not allowed to return. For Natives there is no
choice save the grim one between _beggary, starvation,_ and _the jail._
To obtain the shelter of the last of these they must leave their family,
sacrifice their liberty, and commit some offence. Therefore the honest
out-of-works are driven by tens of thousands to lives of beggary, which
too often pave the way for lives of imposture and crime.
That the problem is capable of being successfully solved, if wisely
handled, has been proved by the Bavarian experiment of Count
Rumford quoted by General Booth in an appendix to his book. True
that in that case the Government lent their authority, their influence and
the public purse to the carrying out of the Count's plan of campaign.
This we do not think that public opinion would permit of in India, even
if Government should be willing to undertake so onerous a
responsibility. Nor do I believe that there is any necessity for it. The
circumstances are a good deal different to those in Bavaria, and will be
better met by the proposals which I have elsewhere drawn up.
Anyhow it is high time that something should be done, and that on an
extensive scale and of such a drastic nature as to deal effectually with
the question.
I can easily imagine that some may fear lest in dealing with the system
we should wound the religious susceptibilities of the people. Begging
has come to be such a national institution and is so much a part and
parcel of the Indian's life and religion, that any proposal to extinguish
the fraternity may cause in some minds positive regret. To such I would

say that we do not propose to extinguish but to reform, and with this
one hint I must beg them, before making up their minds, to study
carefully the proposals detailed in

Chapter VII
of

Part II.


CHAPTER VI.
"THE OUT-OF-WORKS."
I should question whether there is a single town or country district in
India which does not present the sad spectacle of a large number of
men, willing and anxious to work, but unable to find employment.
Moreover, as is well known, they have almost without exception
families dependent upon them for their support, who are necessarily the
sharers of their misfortunes and sufferings. There is one district in
Ceylon, where deaths from starvation have been personally known to
our Officers, and yet the country appears to be a very garden of Eden
for beauty and fertility.
In the early years of our