Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell (read novel full TXT) 📖

in helping himself, but Rushton said nothing about that.)

 

Mr Didlum seconded the vote of condolence in similar terms, and it was

carried unanimously. Then the Chairman said that the next business

was to elect a successor to the departed paragon; and immediately no

fewer than nine members rose to propose a suitable person - they each

had a noble-minded friend or relative willing to sacrifice himself for

the good of the poor.

 

The nine Benevolent stood looking at each other and at the Chairman

with sickly smiles upon their hypocritical faces. It was a dramatic

moment. No one spoke. It was necessary to be careful. It would

never do to have a contest. The Secretary of the OBS was usually

regarded as a sort of philanthropist by the outside public, and it was

necessary to keep this fiction alive.

 

For one or two minutes an awkward silence reigned. Then, one after

another they all reluctantly resumed their seats with the exception

of Mr Amos Grinder, who said he wished to propose his nephew, Mr

Sawney Grinder, a young man of a most benevolent disposition who

was desirous of immolating himself upon the altar of charity for the

benefit of the poor - or words to that effect.

 

Mr Didlum seconded, and there being no other nomination - for they all

knew that it would give the game away to have a contest - the Chairman

put Mr Grinder’s proposal to the meeting and declared it carried

unanimously.

 

Another considerable item in the expenditure of the society was the

rent of the offices - a house in a back street. The landlord of this

place was another very deserving case.

 

There were numerous other expenses: stationery and stamps, printing,

and so on, and what was left of the money was used for the purpose for

which it had been given - a reasonable amount being kept in hand for

future expenses. All the details were of course duly set forth in the

Report and Balance Sheet at the annual meetings. No copy of this

document was ever handed to the reporters for publication; it was read

to the meeting by the Secretary; the representatives of the Press took

notes, and in the reports of the meeting that subsequently appeared in

the local papers the thing was so mixed up and garbled together that

the few people who read it could not make head or tail of it. The

only thing that was clear was that the society had been doing a great

deal of good to someone or other, and that more money was urgently

needed to carry on the work. It usually appeared something like this:

 

HELPING THE NEEDY

Mugsborough Organized Benevolence Society

Annual Meeting at the Town Hall

 

A Splendid record of Miscellaneous and Valuable Work.

 

The annual meeting of the above Society was held yesterday at the

Town Hall. The Mayor, Alderman Sweater, presided, and amongst

those present were Sir Graball D’Encloseland, Lady D’Encloseland,

Lady Slumrent. Rev. Mr Bosher, Mr Cheeseman, Mrs Bilder, Mrs

Grosare, Mrs Daree, Mrs Butcher, Mrs Taylor, Mrs Baker, Mrs

Starvem, Mrs Slodging, Mrs M. B. Sile, Mrs Knobrane, Mrs M. T.

Head, Mr Rushton, Mr Didlum, Mr Grinder and (here followed about a

quarter of a column of names of other charitable persons, all

subscribers to the Society).

 

The Secretary read the annual report which contained the following

amongst other interesting items:

 

During the year, 1,972 applications for assistance have been

received, and of this number 1,302 have been assisted as follows:

Bread or grocery orders, 273. Coal or coke orders, 57.

Nourishment 579. (Applause.) Pairs of boots granted, 29.

Clothing, 105. Crutch granted to poor man, 1. Nurses provided,

2. Hospital tickets, 26. Sent to Consumption Sanatorium, 1.

Twenty-nine persons, whose cases being chronic, were referred to

the Poor Law Guardians. Work found for 19 persons. (Cheers.)

Pedlar’s licences, 4. Dispensary tickets, 24. Bedding redeemed,

1. Loans granted to people to enable them to pay their rent, 8.

(Loud cheers.) Dental tickets, 2. Railway fares for men who were

going away from the town to employment elsewhere, 12. (Great

cheering.) Loans granted, 5. Advertisements for employment, 4 -

and so on.

 

There was about another quarter of a column of these details, the

reading of which was punctuated with applause and concluded with:

`Leaving 670 cases which for various reasons the Society was unable to

assist’. The report then went on to explain that the work of

inquiring into the genuineness of the applications entailed a lot of

labour on the part of the Secretary, some cases taking several days.

No fewer than 649 letters had been sent out from the office, and 97

postcards. (Applause.) Very few cash gifts were granted, as it was

most necessary to guard against the Charity being abused. (Hear,

hear.)

 

Then followed a most remarkable paragraph headed `The Balance Sheet’,

which - as it was put - `included the following’. `The following’ was

a jumbled list of items of expenditure, subscriptions, donations,

legacies, and collections, winding up with `the general summary showed

a balance in hand of �178.4.6’. (They always kept a good balance in

hand because of the Secretary’s salary and the rent of the offices.)

 

After this very explicit financial statement came the most important

part of the report: `Thanks are expressed to Sir Graball D’Encloseland

for a donation of 2 guineas. Mrs Grosare, 1 guinea. Mrs Starvem,

Hospital tickets. Lady Slumrent, letter of admission to Convalescent

Home. Mrs Knobrane, 1 guinea. Mrs M.B. Sile, 1 guinea. Mrs M.T.

Head, 1 guinea. Mrs Sledging, gifts of clothing - and so on for

another quarter of a column, the whole concluding with a vote of

thanks to the Secretary and an urgent appeal to the charitable public

for more funds to enable the Society to continue its noble work.

 

Meantime, in spite of this and kindred organizations the conditions of

the underpaid poverty stricken and unemployed workers remained the

same. Although the people who got the grocery and coal orders, the

`Nourishment’, and the castoff clothes and boots, were very glad to

have them, yet these things did far more harm than good. They

humiliated, degraded and pauperized those who received them, and the

existence of the societies prevented the problem being grappled with

in a sane and practical manner. The people lacked the necessaries of

life: the necessaries of life are produced by Work: these people were

willing to work, but were prevented from doing so by the idiotic

system of society which these `charitable’ people are determined to do

their best to perpetuate.

 

If the people who expect to be praised and glorified for being

charitable were never to give another farthing it would be far better

for the industrious poor, because then the community as a whole would

be compelled to deal with the absurd and unnecessary state of affairs

that exists today - millions of people living and dying in

wretchedness and poverty in an age when science and machinery have

made it possible to produce such an abundance of everything that

everyone might enjoy plenty and comfort. It if were not for all this

so-called charity the starving unemployed men all over the country

would demand to be allowed to work and produce the things they are

perishing for want of, instead of being - as they are now - content to

wear their masters’ castoff clothing and to eat the crumbs that fall

from his table.