Still I see no reason why each city should not have its "Poor Man's Metropole," as well as its model dwellings and suburban villages, for the working classes. I would have these, moreover, as purely oriental as possible with a careful avoidance of anything that might be European in their appearance and arrangements. There should be tanks for bathing, and washing purposes, gardens, recreation grounds for the children, proper conveniences for cooking, and quarters in which they would not be herded together like cattle, but given the decencies of life, so necessary and helpful to the encouragement of cleanliness and morality.
Another point would be the absolute absence of anything in the shape of mere "charity" about any of the buildings. Everybody would be made to feel happy and at home, and their self-respect would be cultivated by arranging for suitable charges to be made, payment being taken either in cash or labour.
However, these are only hints that are thrown out, to show that we are fully awake to the importance of this subject, and in order that friends who are interested in the question may feel free to communicate their wishes and give us their advice.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE BEGGARS BRIGADE.
I now come to a special element of both hope and difficulty in the solution of our Indian Social problem,—The Beggars. Here we have the lowest stratum of the submerged tenth, excluding from them the religious mendicants with whom we are not now concerned. I have classified them as follows:—
1. The blind and infirm.
2. Those who help them and share the proceeds of their begging.
3. Able-bodied out of works.
Now I propose to deal with them in a way which will not call for Legislation. In the first place it is most improbable that Government would interfere with beggary, even if asked to do so. Certainly no such interference would be possible without assuming the responsibility of the entire pauper population, involving an expenditure of many million pounds. In the second place any such interference would in all likelihood be extremely distasteful to the native public. In the third place I believe the question can be better dealt with in another way.