an ideal state
for mind and body. Labour, we are sometimes told, is one of God's
chastisements upon a fallen race; I believe it to be one of our choicest
blessings. I can conceive only one greater tragedy than the man who
has nothing to do, and that is the man who, earnestly longing for work,
seeks it day by day, and fails to find it.

Imagine his position, and imagine also, if you possibly can, the great
qualities that are demanded if such a man is to go through a lengthened
period of unemployment without losing his dignity, his manhood and his
desire for work.

I can tell at a glance the man who has had this experience. There is
something about his face that proclaims his hopelessness, the very
poise of his body and his peculiar measured step tell that his heart is
utterly unexpectant. To-morrow morning, and every morning, thousands
of men will rise early, even before the sun, and set out on their
weary tramp and hopeless search for work. To-morrow morning, and every
morning, thousands of men will be waiting at various dock-gates for a
chance of obtaining a few hours' hard work. And while these wait, others
tramp, seeking and asking for work.

Wives may be ill at home, children may be wanting food and clothing, but
every day thousands of husbands set out on the interminable search for
work, and every day return disappointed. Small wonder that some of them
descend to a lower grade and in addition to being unemployed, become
unemployable.

Look at those thousands of men clamouring daily at our dock-gates; about
one-half of them will obtain a few hours' hard work, but the other half
will go hopeless away. They will gather some courage during the night,
for the next morning they will find their way to, and be knocking once
more at, the same dock-gates. It takes sterling qualities to endure this
life, and there can be no greater hero than the man who goes through it
and still retains manhood.

But it would be more than a miracle if tens of thousands of men could
live this life without many of them becoming wastrels, for it is certain
that a life of unemployment is dangerous to manhood, to character and
health.

As a matter of fact the ranks of the utterly submerged are being
constantly recruited from the ranks of those who have but casual
work. During winter the existence of the unemployed is more amply
demonstrated, for then we are called upon to witness the most depressing
of all London's sights, a parade of the