CHAPTER V.

THE MORAL PIONEER.

STATE action can only deal with the proletariat according to the principle that it is the duty of the weak to yield to the strong. In a deep sense any right exercise of the power of the State to improve the proletaire is ministration. But it is imperfect, because it cannot have the quickening power of incarnation through sympathy. The Social Union of Edinburgh, which has been in existence for four years, is a good instance of what men and women, entering by sympathy into vital relation with the proletariat, can do beyond the power of the State to improve the condition of the most necessitous, or of those bordering on that condition. "The aim of the Edinburgh Social Union," it is said in their Report, "is to bring together all those who feel that the misery of the poor arises in large measure from the want of sympathy and fellowship between different classes, and that all charitable effort which seeks to remedy this evil should apply those methods which

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economic science suggests as tending most permanently to the mental and moral development of the community. The members of this Society believe that the immediate question to face is how to make the best of present conditions-how to raise the standard of comfort without waiting for the operation of legislative changes. They recognise, moreover, the chief material hindrances to the well-being of the poor in the unwholesomeness and discomfort of their homes and the lack of healthy enjoyments; and they propose to begin their crusade against intemperance and other such evils by providing opportunities for higher tastes and pleasures." Just a word of criticism of this excellent manifesto to begin with. Whereas the Social Unionists find the misery of the poor to arise largely from the want of sympathy and fellowship between different classes, the existence of their own Union is a good practical refutation of this position. On glancing over the list of resident members in 1888, and the names of the General Committee for 1888–89, I find a fair representation of all influential classes in the city. On the General Committee there are six prominent clergymen. There are devoted ladies not a few. There are distinguished professors of the university, and names of note in the medical and the teaching professions.

The magistracy also is represented.* Such being the case, if it be true that in the past the misery of the poor has largely arisen from the want of sympathy and fellowship between different classes, the existence and the good work of the Social Union and other organisations encourage the hope that the misery of the poor is in fair prospect, in its darker aspects at least, of becoming a memory. The Social Unionists. have bravely started their crusade without waiting for the operation of legislative changes. It is well that they have done so; for they are doing what no legislative changes could ever effect. Our Social Unionists have almost with a glance of genius penetrated to the root of social ills, and have found it to be want of sympathy and fellowship. But no Act of Parliament can meet that want. Let Social Unionists everywhere ply their work with energy and devotion, and they will wait a long time for sensational legislative changes, for none will be needed.

The work that has been and is being done by the Social Union of Edinburgh is of the best kind, and affords proof that some genius for social reform and the spread of refinement is at the heart of its counsels. That work is classified in the Report under the headings of Housing, Decoration, Indus

*

Why are there not some representative working men ?

trial Art Classes, Recreative Evening Classes and Entertainments, and Window Gardening. In the Housing Department, the Union takes entire charge of property which is bought in the name of the owner, who has all the risk, after certain proper precautions have been used. Out of the rents received all necessary repairs and working expenses are first paid; then 5 per cent. interest is allowed on the owners' capital; and any surplus is used to improve the property. The rents are collected weekly by ladies and gentlemen, members of the Union, who do this work as a means of getting into friendly relations with the tenants. The investment is a safe one for the capitalist, as payment of rent is strictly enforced, in order that the thrifty may not be made to suffer for the thriftless. Improvements are made only out of the surplus revenue, as the tenants show that they can appreciate them; and this appreciation is tested and fostered by the tenants themselves being employed, as far as possible, in carrying out the work of improvement. All that is done in this department is with the aim of bettering the condition of the poor, not by lowering their expenditure, but by raising their standard of comfort. In each property a room is set apart for the collectors to meet, and for a library or any small classes or

entertainments for the tenants. Of course, opportunities are found for improving the tenants in ways which the surplus revenues from the properties could not meet; but it is perfectly certain that contributions passing through such channels for such objects can do nothing but good. The Decoration Department is under the competent headship of Professor Geddes, to whose great ability and remarkable zeal the Union owes much of its success. Under the auspices of the Union, two artists, each with the assistance of two pupils, are engaged upon two series of large colour panels for wards of the Royal Infirmary, and other artists are offering their services. For the decoration of the hall of the Chalmers' Institute, Fountainbridge, a most appropriate series of nine large landscapes in oil of scenes in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, at different phases of the day as they are seen by educated eyes, with other suitable details, is nearing completion. A Girls' Club and Kindergarten meeting in the High Street has been furnished with some engravings and coloured pictures. Under the stimulus of Professor Geddes's zeal, a University Hall in Mound Place, an economical home for students, has been repaired, altered, and decorated without expense to the Society. There are Industrial Art Classes for