e labour. The design was to withdraw from the
competitive labour market certain members of "the unemployed," to train
and educate them in efficient labour, and to apply this labour to
capital provided out of charitable funds: the produce of this labour was
to be consumed by the colonists themselves, who would thus become as far
as possible self-supporting; in no case was it to be thrown upon the
open market. As a matter of fact these sound, economic conditions of
social experiment have been utterly ignored. Matches, firewood,
furniture, etc. produced in the City factories have been thrown upon the
open market. The Hadleigh Farm Colony, originally designed to give a
thorough training in the arts of agriculture so as to educate its
members for the Over Sea Colony, has devoted more and more attention to
shoemaking, carpentering, and other special mechanical crafts, and less
and less to the efficient cultivation of the soil; the boots, chairs,
etc. being thrown in large quantities upon the open market. Moreover,
the fruit and vegetables raised upon the Farm have been systematically
placed upon the outside market. The result of such a line of conduct is
evident. Suppose A is a carpenter thrown out of work because there are
more carpenters than are required to turn out the current supply of
chairs and tables at a profitable price; the Salvation Army takes A in
hand, and provides him with capital upon which no interest need be paid.
A's chairs, now thrown on the market, can undersell the chairs provided
by B, C, D, his former trade competitors. Unless we suppose an increased
demand for chairs, the result is that A's chairs displace those of B in
the market, and B is thrown out of employment. Thus A, assisted by the
Salvation Army, has simply taken B's work. If the Salvation Army now
takes B in hand, it can engage him in useful work on condition that he
takes away the work of C. If match-makers are thrown out of work by
trade conditions, and the Salvation Army places them in a factory, and
sells in the open market the matches which they make, the public which
buys these matches abstains from buying the matches made by other firms,
and these firms are thus prevented from employing as much labour as they
would otherwise have done. No net increase of employment is caused by
this action of the Salvation Army, and therefore they have done nothing
towards the solution of the unemployed problem. They have provided
employment for certain