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diff --git a/41023.txt b/41023.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 9c8f220..0000000 --- a/41023.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9713 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of From Workhouse to Westminster, by George Haw - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: From Workhouse to Westminster - The Life Story of Will Crooks, M.P. - -Author: George Haw - -Release Date: October 11, 2012 [EBook #41023] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM WORKHOUSE TO WESTMINSTER *** - - - - -Produced by sp1nd, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - -FROM WORKHOUSE TO WESTMINSTER - -[Illustration: WILL CROOKS, M.P. - -_Photo: G. Dendry._] - - - - -FROM WORKHOUSE TO WESTMINSTER - -The Life Story of WILL CROOKS, M.P. - -By -GEORGE HAW - -WITH INTRODUCTION BY G. K. CHESTERTON - -FOUR FULL-PAGE PLATES - -CASSELL AND COMPANY, LIMITED -LONDON, NEW YORK, TORONTO AND MELBOURNE -MCMIX - - -First Edition _February 1907_. -Reprinted _March, June and August 1908_. -_January and November 1909._ - -ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - - -TO - -MRS. WILL CROOKS - -THIS SLIGHT RECORD OF HER HUSBAND'S CAREER - -IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR - - - - -PREFACE - - -This record of the career of a man whom I have known intimately in his -public and private life for over a dozen years can claim at least one -distinction. It is the first biography of a working man who has -deliberately chosen to remain in the ranks of working men as well as in -their service. From the day in the early 'nineties when he was called -upon to decide between a prospective partnership in a prosperous -business and the hard, joyless life of a Labour representative, with -poverty for his lot and slander for his reward, he has adhered to the -principle he then laid down, consistently refusing ever since the many -invitations received from various quarters to come up higher. There have -been endless biographies of men who have risen from the ranks of Labour -and then deserted those ranks for wealthy circles. Will Crooks, in his -own words, has not risen from the ranks; he is still in the ranks, -standing four-square with the working classes against monopoly and -privilege. - -This book would have been an autobiography rather than a biography could -I have had my way. Nor was I alone in urging Crooks to write the story -of his life, as strenuous in its poverty as it has been in its public -service. He always argued that that was not in his way at all--that, in -fact, he did not believe in men sitting down to write about themselves -any more than he believed in men getting up to talk about themselves. - -So I have done the next best thing. Since the interpretation depends -upon the interpreter, I have tried, in writing this account of his life, -to make him the narrator as often as I could. Most of the incidents in -his career I have given in his own words, mainly from personal talks we -have had together during our years of friendship, sometimes by our own -firesides, sometimes amid the stress of public life, sometimes during -long walks in the streets of London. Nor do any of the incidents lose in -detail or in verity by reason of many of those cherished conversations -having taken place long before either of us ever dreamed they would -afterwards be pieced together in book form. - -Not to Crooks alone am I indebted for help in compiling this book. I owe -much to members of his family, to my wife, and to other friends of his. - -GEORGE HAW. - - - - -CONTENTS - - PAGE -INTRODUCTION xiii - -CHAPTER I. -EARLIEST YEARS IN A ONE-ROOMED HOME 1 - -CHAPTER II. -AS A CHILD IN THE WORKHOUSE 8 - -CHAPTER III. -SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 16 - -CHAPTER IV. -ROUND THE HAUNTS OF HIS BOYHOOD 25 - -CHAPTER V. -IN TRAINING FOR A CRAFTSMAN 33 - -CHAPTER VI. -TRAMPING THE COUNTRY FOR WORK 43 - -CHAPTER VII. -ONE OF LONDON'S UNEMPLOYED 50 - -CHAPTER VIII. -THE COLLEGE AT THE DOCK GATES 57 - -CHAPTER IX. -FROM THE CHEERING MULTITUDE TO A SORROW-LADEN HOME 67 - -CHAPTER X. -A LABOUR MEMBER'S WAGES 75 - -CHAPTER XI. -ON THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL 85 - -CHAPTER XII. -TWO OF HIS MONUMENTS 96 - -CHAPTER XIII. -THE TASK OF HIS LIFE BEGINS 105 - -CHAPTER XIV. -THE MAN WHO FED THE POOR 112 - -CHAPTER XV. -TURNING WORKHOUSE CHILDREN INTO USEFUL CITIZENS 119 - -CHAPTER XVI. -ON THE METROPOLITAN ASYLUMS BOARD 128 - -CHAPTER XVII. -A BAD BOYS' ADVOCATE 134 - -CHAPTER XVIII. -PROUD OF THE POOR 144 - -CHAPTER XIX. -THE FIRST WORKING-MAN MAYOR IN LONDON 154 - -CHAPTER XX. -THE KING'S DINNER--AND OTHERS 166 - -CHAPTER XXI. -THE MAN WHO PAID OLD-AGE PENSIONS 175 - -CHAPTER XXII. -ELECTION TO PARLIAMENT 186 - -CHAPTER XXIII. -ADVENT OF THE POLITICAL LABOUR PARTY 195 - -CHAPTER XXIV. -THE LIVING WAGE FOR MEN AND WOMEN 202 - -CHAPTER XXV. -FREE TRADE IN THE NAME OF THE POOR 210 - -CHAPTER XXVI. -PREPARING FOR THE UNEMPLOYED ACT 219 - -CHAPTER XXVII. -AGITATION IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS 227 - -CHAPTER XXVIII. -THE QUEEN INTERVENES 241 - -CHAPTER XXIX. -HOME LIFE AND SOME ENGAGEMENTS 252 - -CHAPTER XXX. -COLONISING ENGLAND 264 - -CHAPTER XXXI. -THE REVIVAL OF BUMBLEDOM 271 - -CHAPTER XXXII. -APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE 280 - -CHAPTER XXXIII. -"THE HAPPY WARRIOR" 296 - -INDEX 303 - - * * * * * - -LIST OF PLATES - - -WILL CROOKS, M.P. _Frontispiece_ - -THE CROOKS FAMILY _Facing p._ 18 - -WILL CROOKS ADDRESSING AN OPEN-AIR -MEETING AT WOOLWICH " 192 - -MR. AND MRS. WILL CROOKS " 248 - - - - -INTRODUCTION - - -Mr. Will Crooks, as I know him in his own house at Poplar and in that -other House at Westminster, always seems to me to be something far -greater than a Labour Member of Parliament. He stands out as the supreme -type of the English working classes, who have chosen him as one of their -representatives. - -Representative government, a mystical institution, is said to have -originated in some of the monastic orders. In any case, it is evident -that the character of it is symbolic, and that it is subject to all the -advantages and all the disadvantages of a symbol. Just exactly as a -religious ritual may for a time represent a real emotion, and then for a -time cease to represent anything, so representative government may for a -time represent the people, and for a time cease to represent anything. -But the peculiar difficulties attaching to the thing called -representative government have not been fully appreciated. The great -difficulty of representative governments is simply this: that the -representative is supposed to discharge two quite definite and distinct -functions. There is in his position the idea of being a picture or copy -of the thing he represents. There is also the idea of being an -instrument of the thing he represents, or a message from the thing he -represents. The first is like the shadow a man throws on the wall; the -second is like the stone that he throws over the wall. In the first -sense, it is supposed that the representative is like the thing he -represents. In the second case it is only supposed that the -representative is useful to the thing he represents. In the first case, -a parliamentary representative is used strictly as a parliamentary -representative. In the second case a parliamentary representative is -used as a weapon. He is used as a missile. He is used as something to be -merely thrown against the enemy; and those who merely throw something -against the enemy do not ask especially that the thing they throw shall -be a particular copy of themselves. To send one's challenge is not to -send one's photograph. When Ajax hurled a stone at his enemy, it was not -a stone carved in the image of Ajax. When a modern general causes a -cannon-ball to be fired, he is not understood to indicate that the -contours of the cannon-ball represent in any exact way the curves of his -own person. In short, we can in modern representative politics use a -politician as a missile without using him, in the fullest sense of the -word, as a symbol. - -In this sense most of our representatives in modern representative -government are merely used as missiles. Mr. Balfour is a missile. Mr. -Balfour is hurled at the heads of his enemies like a boomerang or a -javelin. He is flung by the great mass of mediocre Tory squires. He is -flung, not because he is at all like them, for that he obviously is not. -He is flung because he is a particularly bright and sharp missile; that -is to say, because he is so very unlike the men who fling him. Here, -then, is the primary paradox of representative government. Men elect a -representative half because he is like themselves and half because he is -not like themselves. They elect a representative half because he -represents them and half because he misrepresents them. They choose Mr. -Balfour (let us say) half because he does what they would do and half -because he does what they could never do at all. - -We are told that the Labour movement will be an exception to all -previous rules. The Labour movement has been no exception to this -previous rule. The Labour Members, as a class, are not representatives, -but missiles. Poor men elect them, not because they are like poor men, -but because they are likely to damage rich men: an excellent reason. -Labour Members are the exceptions among Labour men. As I have said, they -are weapons, missiles, things thrown. Working-men are not at all like -Mr. Keir Hardie. If it comes to likeness, working-men are rather more -like the Duke of Devonshire. But they throw Mr. Keir Hardie at the Duke -of Devonshire, knowing that he is so curiously shaped as to hurt -anything at which he is thrown. Unless this is thoroughly understood, -great injustice will necessarily be done to the Labour movement; for it -is obvious on the face of it that Labour Members do not represent the -average of labouring men. A man like Mr. J. R. Macdonald no more -suggests a Battersea workman than he suggests a Bedouin or a Russian -Grand Duke. These men are not the representatives of the democracy, but -the weapons of the democracy. They are intended only to fulfil the -second of those functions in the delegate which I have already defined. -They are the instruments of the people. They are not the images of the -people. They are fanatics for the things about which the people are -good-humouredly convinced. They are philosophers about the things which -are to the people an easy and commonplace religion. In a word, they are -not representatives; they are not even ambassadors. They are -declarations of war. - -Such being the problem, we must reconcile ourselves to finding many of -the Labour Members men of a definite and even pedantic class; men whose -austere and lucid tone, whose elaborate economic explanations smack of -something very different from the actual streets of London. This -economic knowledge may be very necessary. It may remind us of our -duties; but it does not remind us of the Walworth Road. It may enable a -man to speak for the proletarians, but it does not enable a man to speak -with them. - -Now, if a man has a good rough-and-ready knowledge of the mechanics of -Battersea and the labourers of Poplar; if the same man has a good -rough-and-ready knowledge of the men in the House of Commons (a vastly -inferior company); he will come out of both those experiences with one -quite square and solid conviction, a conviction the grounds of which, -though they may be difficult to define verbally, are as unshakable as -the ground. He will come out with the conviction that there is really -only one modern Labour Member who represents, who symbolises, or who -even remotely suggests the real labouring men of London; and that is Mr. -Will Crooks. - -Mr. Crooks alone fulfils both the functions of the representative. He is -a representative who, like Mr. Keir Hardie and the others, fights, -cleaves a way, does something that only a man of talent could do, -expresses the inexpressible, sacrifices himself. But also, unlike Mr. -Keir Hardie, and the rest, he is a representative who represents. He is -a picture as well as a projectile; he is the stone carved in the image -of Ajax. He is really like the people for whom he stands. A man can -realise this fact, merely as a fact, without implying any disrespect, -for instance, to the Scotch ideality of Mr. Keir Hardie, or the Scotch -strenuousness of Mr. John Burns. They are expressive of the English -democracy, but not typical of it. The first characteristic of Mr. -Crooks, which must strike anyone who has ever had to do with him, even -for ten minutes, is this immense fact of the absolute and isolated -genuineness of his connection with the working classes. To all the other -Labour leaders we listen with respect on Labour matters, because they -have been elected by labourers. To him alone we should listen if he had -never been elected at all. Of him alone it can be said that if we did -not accept him as a representative, we should still accept him as a -type. I need not dwell, and indeed I feel no desire to dwell, on those -qualities in Mr. Crooks which express just now the popular qualities of -the populace. I feel more interest in the unpopular qualities of the -populace. - -The greatness of Mr. Crooks lies not in the fact that he expresses the -claims of the populace, which twenty dons at Oxford would be ready to -express; it is that he expresses the populace: its strong tragedy and -its strong farce. He is not a demagogue. He is not even a democrat. He -is a demos; he is the real King. And his chief characteristic, as I have -suggested, is that he represents especially those popular good -qualities which are unpopular in modern discussion. Will Crooks is to -the ordinary London omnibus conductor or cabman exactly what Robert -Burns was to the ordinary puritanical but passionate peasant of the -Scotch Lowlands. He is the journeyman of genius. All that is good in -them is better in him; but it is the same thing. Walt Whitman has -perfectly expressed this attitude of the average towards the fine type. -"They see themselves in him. They hardly know themselves, they are so -grown." - -In numberless points Mr. Crooks thus completes and glorifies the common -character of the poor man. Take, for instance, the deep matter of -humour: humour in which the English poor are certainly pre-eminent among -all classes of the nation and all nations of the world. By all -politicians, including Labour politicians, humour is only introduced -exceptionally and elaborately; by all politicians the comic anecdote is -led up to with dextrous prefaces and deep intonations, as if it were -something altogether unique and separate. All politicians take their own -humour very seriously. Mr. Crooks recalls the real life of the streets -in nothing so much as in the fact that humour is a constant condition. -He and the poor exist in a normal atmosphere of amiable irony. If -anything, they have to make an effort to become verbally serious: -something of the same kind of earnest that it costs an ordinary member -of Parliament to become witty. Anyone who has heard Mr. Crooks talk -knows that his permanent mood is humorous. He is never without a story, -but his face and his mind are humorous before he has even thought of the -story. He lives, so to speak, in a state of expectant reminiscence. The -man who said that "brevity was the soul of wit" told a lie; nobody -minds how long wit goes on so long as it is wit. Mr. Crooks belongs to -that strong old school of English humour in which Dickens was supreme; -that school which some moderns have called dull because it could go on -for a long time being interesting. - -I have merely taken this case of popular humour as one out of a hundred. -A similar case of Mr. Crooks's popular sympathy might be found in his -pathos, which is equally uncompromising and direct. Even his political -faults, if they are faults, against which so much criticism has for a -time been raised, have still this pervading quality, that they are -essentially the popular faults. This instinct for a prompt and practical -and hand-to-mouth benevolence, this instinct for giving a very good time -to those who have had a very bad time, this is the very soul of that -immense and astonishing altruism at which all social reformers have -stood thunderstruck: the kindness of the poor to the poor. This attitude -may or may not be the great vice of the governors; there is no doubt -that it is the great virtue of the people. The charity of poor men to -poor men has always been spontaneous, irregular, individual, liable -therefore in its nature to some faults of confusion or of favouritism. - -It is the misfortune of Mr. Crooks that alone among modern -philanthropists and social reformers he has really been the typical poor -man giving to poor men. This quality which has been seen and condemned -in him is simply the quality which is the common and working morality of -the London streets. You may like it; you may dislike it. But if you -dislike it you are simply disliking the English people. You have seen -English people perhaps for a moment in omnibuses, in streets on Saturday -nights, in third-class carriages, or even in Bank Holiday waggonettes. -You have not yet seen the English people in politics. It has not yet -entered politics. Liberals do not represent it; Tories do not represent -it; Labour Members, on the whole, represent it rather less than Tories -or Liberals. When it enters politics it will bring with it a trail of -all the things that politicians detest; prejudices (as against -hospitals), superstitions (as about funerals), a thirst for -respectability passing that of the middle classes, a faith in the family -which will knock to pieces half the Socialism of Europe. If ever that -people enters politics it will sweep away most of our revolutionists as -mere pedants. It will be able to point only to one figure, powerful, -pathetic, humorous, and very humble, who bore in any way upon his face -the sign and star of its authority. - -G. K. CHESTERTON. - - - - -FROM WORKHOUSE TO WESTMINSTER - - - - -CHAPTER I - -EARLIEST YEARS IN A ONE-ROOMED HOME - - Difference between "Will" and "William"--Early Memories--Crying for - Bread--An Aspersion Resented--A Prophecy that has been - Fulfilled--Will earns his First Half-Sovereign. - - -Will Crooks! - -In the little one-roomed home where he was born at No. 2, Shirbutt -Street, down by the Docks at Poplar, it was the earnest desire of all -whom it concerned that he should be known to the world as William -Crooks. The desire found practical expression in the register of Trinity -Congregational Church in East India Dock Road close by. Thither, within -a few weeks of his birth, in the year 1852, he was carried with modest -ceremony and solemnly christened by a name which everybody ever since -has refused to give to him. - -For somehow "William Crooks" does not sound like the man at all. Looking -at it gives you no suggestion of the good-humoured, hard-headed Labour -man, known as familiarly to his colleagues in the House of Commons as -he is to the great world of wage-earners outside by the shorter and more -expressive name of Will Crooks. - -Born in poverty, the third of seven children, Will Crooks, who is -blessed with keen powers of observation and a good memory, can carry his -mind back to the days before he was put into breeches. - -"I remember before my fourth year was out," I have heard him tell, -"something of the public rejoicings on the declaration of peace after -the Crimean War. The following year was also memorable to me as the time -I witnessed troops of soldiers marching to the East India Docks on the -outbreak of the Mutiny." - -Those were days of want and sorrow, as were many days that followed, in -the little one-roomed home in East London. His father was a ship's -stoker, who lost an arm by the starting of the engines one day when he -was oiling the machinery as his vessel lay in the Thames. - -"My very earliest recollections are associated with mother dressing -father's arm day after day. I was only three years old at the time, but -I know that all our privations dated from the day of this accident to my -father, because he was forced to give up his work. - -"It must have been with the aid of some good friends that at last my -father got an old horse, hoping to earn a little by leading and carting; -but nothing came of this small venture, and in time the horse had to be -sold to pay the rent. Almost the only work of any kind that father, -being thus disabled, could get to do was an odd job as watchman. - -"Those were very lean years indeed, and I don't know what we should have -done but for mother. She used to toil with the needle far into the night -and often all night long, slaving as hard as any poor sweated woman I -have ever known, and I have known hundreds of such poor creatures. Many -a time as a lad have I helped mother to carry the clothes she had made -to Houndsditch. There were no trams running then, and the 'bus fare from -Poplar to Aldgate was fourpence, a sum we never dared think of spending -on a ride. - -"My elder brother was as clever with the needle as many a woman, and -often he would stay up all through the night with mother, helping her to -make oil-skin coats." - -One night, as the mother worked alone, young Will woke up in the little -orange-box bedstead by the wall where he slept with a younger brother. -Silently he watched her plying the needle at the table until he noticed -tears trickling down her cheeks. - -"What are you crying for, mother?" - -"Never mind, Will, my boy. You go to sleep." - -"But you must be crying about something, mother." - -And then, in a doleful tone, she said, "It's through wondering where the -next meal is coming from, my boy." - -The little chap pretended to go to sleep soon after; but now and again -he would peep cautiously over the side of the box at his mother silently -crying over her work at the table. And he puzzled his young head as to -what it all meant. - -"My mother crying because she can't get bread for us! Why can't she get -bread? I saw plenty of bread in the shops yesterday. Do all mothers have -to cry before they can get bread for their children?" - -It was the first incident that made him think. - -There was one morning, the morning after a Christmas Day of all times in -the year, when his mother refused to let him or the others get up, even -when she left the house. It was not until she returned after what seemed -a long time, bringing with her a portion of a loaf, that she allowed -them to get out of bed. - -"It was many years afterwards before I learnt the reason for her strange -conduct that Boxing Day morning. Then I found out that she had made a -vow that her children should never get up unless there was some -breakfast for them. - -"We were so poor that we children never got a drop of tea for months -together. It used to be bread and treacle for breakfast, bread and -treacle for dinner, bread and treacle for tea, washed down with a cup of -cold water. Sometimes there was a little variation in the form of -dripping. At other times the variety was secured by there being neither -treacle nor dripping. The very bread was so scarce that mother could not -afford to allow the three eldest, of whom I was one, more than three -slices apiece at a meal, while the four youngest got two and a half -slices. Whenever we could afford to buy tea or butter, it was only in -ounces. Once my brother and I were sent to buy a whole quarter of a -pound of butter--it turned out that auntie was coming to tea--and on the -way we speculated seriously whether mother was going to open a shop." - -Perhaps the first occasion upon which Crooks as a lad showed something -of that spirited resentment at aspersions on the poor which ultimately -led him into public life was one that arose in a cobbler's shop. He was -about eight years old, when his father sent him back with a pair of -boots that had been repaired to ask that a little more be done to them -for the money. - -"I don't know what he wants for his ninepence," said the cobbler, -referring to the lad's father; "but, there!"--throwing the boots to his -man--"put another patch on. He's only a poor beggar." - -There was an angry cry from the other side, of the counter. "My father's -not a poor beggar!" shouted the boy. "He's as good a man as you, and -only wants what he has paid for." - -If the boy thought much of the father the father thought much of the -boy. It had often been his boast that "Our Will will do things some -day." - -One little fancy of the old man's was brought to my notice the morning -after Crooks was first returned to Parliament for Woolwich. His elder -brother told me then of a little incident that took place over -forty-five years before. - -"We children were playing in the home together when young Will said -something which made the dad look up surprised. And I heard him say to -mother, 'That lad'll live to be either Lord Mayor of London or a Member -of Parliament.'" - -The poverty deepened and darkened in the little one-roomed home during -Will's boyhood. It soon became impossible even to spend an odd ninepence -on boot repairs. The mother met this emergency as she met nearly all the -others. She became the family cobbler, as she had all along been the -family tailor. Often would she go on her knees, hammer in hand, mending -the boots. The children could not remember the time when she did not -make all their clothes. - -"God only knows, God only will know, how my mother worked and wept," -says Crooks. "With it all she brought up seven of us to be decent and -useful men and women. She was everything to us. I owe to her what little -schooling I got, for, though she could neither read nor write herself, -she would often remark that that should never be said of any of her -children. I owe to her wise training that I have been a teetotaller all -my life. I owe it to her that I was saved from becoming a little wastrel -of the streets, for, as a Christian woman, she kept me at the Sunday -School and took me regularly to the Congregational Church where I had -been baptised. - -"I can picture her now as I used to see her when I awoke in the night -making oil-skin coats by candle-light in our single room. Youngster -though I was, I meant it from the very bottom of my heart when I used to -whisper to myself, as I peeped at her from the little box-bedstead by -the wall, 'Wait till I'm a man! Won't I work for my mother when I'm a -man!'" - -He thought he was a man at thirteen, when he could bring home to her -proudly five shillings every week, his wages in the blacksmith's shop. -There came a memorable Saturday night when, having worked overtime all -the week and earned an extra five shillings, he was paid his first -half-sovereign. He threw on his coat and cap excitedly and ran all the -way home from Limehouse Causeway, the half-sovereign clenched tightly in -his hand, until he burst breathlessly into the little room, exclaiming: - -"Mother, mother, I've earned half a sovereign, all of it myself, and -it's yours, all yours, every bit yours!" - - - - -CHAPTER II - -AS A CHILD IN THE WORKHOUSE - - With an Idiot Boy in the Workhouse--Life in the Poor Law School at - Sutton--At Home Once More--A Fashionable Knock for the Casual - Ward--A Bread Riot. - - -But we must go back a few years--to the evil day when, the father being -a cripple, the family have to enter the workhouse. - -The mother had before this been forced to ask for parish relief. For a -time the Guardians paid her two or three shillings a week and gave her a -little bread. Suddenly these scanty supplies were stopped. The mother -was told to come before the Board and bring her children. - -Six of them, clinging timidly to her skirt, were taken into the terrible -presence. The Chairman singled out Will, then eight years of age, and, -pointing his finger at him, remarked solemnly: - -"It's time that boy was getting his own living." - -"He is at work, sir," was the mother's timid apology. "He gets up at a -quarter to five every morning and goes round with the milkman for -sixpence a week." - -"Can't he earn more than that?" - -"Well, sir, the milkman says he's a very willing boy and always -punctual, but he's so little that he doesn't think he can pay him more -than sixpence yet." - -And the little boy looked furtively at the great man in the great chair, -never dreaming that the time would come when he would occupy that chair -himself, and that almost the first order he would issue from it would be -one putting an end to the bad practice of making mothers drag their -young children before the Board. - -On that unhappy afternoon the Guardians, firm in their resolve not to -renew the out-relief, offered to take the children into the workhouse. -The mother said 'No' at first, marching them all bravely home again. -Stern want forced her to yield at last. The day came when she saw the -five youngest, including Will, taken from home to the big poorhouse down -by the Millwall Docks. The crippled father was admitted into the House -at the same time. - -They were put into a bare room like a vault, the father and two sons, -while the three sisters were taken they knew not where. There the lads -and their dad spent the night and the next day until the doctor saw them -and passed them into the main workhouse building. Then Will lost sight -of his father, though he was permitted to remain with his young brother -and share with him the same bed. - -In the dormitory was an idiot boy, who used to ramble in his talk all -through the night, keeping the others awake. Sometimes Will succeeded in -coaxing his young brother off to sleep, but as for himself, he would -lie awake for hours listening to the strange talk of the idiot boy, and -thinking of his mother. Often in the night the idiot boy would cry out -for his own mother, leaving Will wondering who she was and where she -was, and whether the plaintive cry of her imbecile child ever reached -her ears in the night's stillness. - -The lad was ravenously hungry all the time he spent in the workhouse. He -often felt at times as though he could eat leather; yet every morning, -when the "skilly" was served for breakfast, he could not touch it. -Morning after morning, spurred on by hunger, he forced the spoon into -his mouth, but the stomach revolted, and he always felt as though the -first spoonful would turn him sick. - -Somehow his father, away in the men's ward, got to know that young Will, -who he knew could relish dry crusts at home with the best of them, was -not able to eat the fare provided in the workhouse. The men occasionally -got suet pudding, and one dinner-time the old man secretly smuggled his -portion into his pocket. In the afternoon he made over to the children's -quarters, hoping to hand it to Will. The pudding was produced, the lad's -hungry eyes lighted up, when, behold! it was snatched away, almost from -his very grasp. The burly figure of the labour master interposed between -father and son. This was a breach of discipline not to be tolerated in -the workhouse. - -"But the boy's hungry, and this is what I've saved from my own dinner," -argued the father (all in vain). "You don't know how that boy likes -suet pudding." - -For two or three weeks the Crooks children were kept in the workhouse, -before being taken away in an omnibus with other boys and girls to the -Poor Law School at Sutton. Then came the most agonising experience of -all to Will. They parted him from his young brother. In the great hall -of the school he would strain his eyes, hoping to get a glimpse of the -lone little fellow among the other lads, but he never set eyes on him -again until the afternoon they went home together. - -"Every day I spent in that school is burnt into my soul," he has often -declared since. - -He could not sleep at night nor play with the other boys, haunted as he -was by the strange dread that he must have committed some unknown crime -to be taken from home, torn from his young brother, and made a little -captive in what seemed a fearful prison. The nights seemed endless, and -were always awful. He whispered his fears on the fourth day to another -Poplar boy who was there. - -"Ah! you just wait until Sunday," said the other lad. "Every Sunday's -like a fortnight." - -When Sunday did come it proved to be one lasting agony. He thought time -could not be made more terrible to children anywhere. They had dinner at -twelve and tea at six, confined during the yawning interval in the dull -day-room with nothing to do but to look at the clock, and then out of -the window, and then back at the clock again. - -During the week, after school hours, he hung about in abject misery all -the time. From the day he went in to the day he left he never smiled. -One afternoon he was loitering in the playground as the matron showed -some visitors round. - -"Who is that sad-faced boy?" he heard one of them ask. - -"Oh, he's one of the new-comers," the matron answered. "He'll soon get -over it." - -The new-comer said to himself, "I wonder whether you would soon get over -it if you had been taken from your mother and parted from a young -brother?" - -How long he stayed in the workhouse school he has never been able to -tell. It could not have been very long in point of time, but to the -sensitive lad it seemed an age. An indescribable burden was lifted from -his shoulders when one day at dinner someone called him by his name. - -He sprang to his feet. - -"Go to the tailor's shop after dinner and get your own clothes." - -"What for, sir?" - -"You are going home!" - -His heart leapt up. The boys crowded round him, wishing they were in his -place. Poor miserable lads, he parted from them with feelings of the -deepest pity. - -At the gate he met his young brother and sisters again, and they were -taken back to Poplar, to be welcomed with open arms by their mother. She -had worked harder than ever to add to the family income in order to -justify her in going before the Guardians to ask that her children be -restored to her own keeping. - -Not until thirty-three years later could he command the courage to enter -that same workhouse school again. Many changes for the good had been -made, but the sight of the same hall, with the same peculiar odour, -brought back the same old feeling of utter friendlessness and despair. -And he saw in imagination a sad-faced boy sitting on the form, straining -his eyes in the vain search for his young brother. - -The mother had moved to a cheaper room when the children returned home -from the workhouse school. It was in a small house in the High Street, -next door to the entrance to the casual ward, with the main workhouse -building in the rear. This was Will's home for the rest of his boyhood. - -There, with the workhouse surrounding him as it were, he got daily -glimpses of the misery that hovers round the Poor Law. Men and women -would sit for hours huddled on the pavement in front of his home waiting -for the casual ward to open. Will came bounding out of the house in the -dull dawn to go to work as an errand boy one morning, when he kicked -violently against a bundle of rags on the pavement. - -There was a cry of pain in a woman's voice, and the lad pulled up sharp, -filled with remorse: - -"I'm _so_ sorry, missus; I am really. I didn't see you." - -"All right, kiddie. I saw you couldn't help it. I'm used to being -kicked about the streets." - -But the lad could not forget it. And when he came home at dinner-time, -"Oh, mother," he said, "I kicked a poor woman outside our door this -morning, and I wouldn't have done it for anything, had I known." - -Sometimes a poor wayfarer would knock at the door, mistaking it for the -entrance to the casual ward. In answer to a series of sharp raps one -night Will raced to the door with the mother of another family who -rented the front room. She got there first and opened it, to find a -tramp on the step. - -"Is this the casual ward?" - -"The casual ward!" cried the woman in disgust, turning away and leaving -Will to direct him. "That's a nice fashionable kind of knock to come -with asking for the casual ward!" - -It was from this house that he saw a bread riot in the winter of 1866, -when he got the first of many impressions he was to receive of what a -winter of bad trade means to a district of casual labour like Poplar. -Hundreds of men used to wait outside the workhouse gates for a 2-lb. -loaf each. The baker's waggon drove up with the bread one afternoon -while they waited. The ravenous crowd would not let it pass into the -workhouse yard. They seized the bread, frantically struggling with each -other. Almost as fiercely they tore the bread to pieces when they got it -and devoured it on the spot. - -Sights like these of his childhood, with the shuddering memories of his -own dark days in the workhouse and the workhouse school, made him -register a vow, little chap though he was at the time, that when he grew -up to be a man he would do all he could to make better and brighter the -lot of the inmates, especially that of the boys and girls. - -Some children's dreams come true, and this was one of them. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS - - The School of Life--Borrowed Magazines--Reading Dickens--Crooks's - Humour and Story-Telling Faculty--Discovering Scott--Declaiming - Shakespeare--Books that influenced him. - - -Little education of the ordinary kind came into Will's life as a lad. We -have seen that he turned out before five o'clock every morning at eight -years of age to take milk round for a wage of sixpence a week. Soon -after coming out of the workhouse he got a job as errand boy at a -grocer's at two shillings a week. At eleven he was in a blacksmith's -shop, where he stayed until at fourteen he was apprenticed to the trade -of cooper. - -"In a sense, my training for becoming a servant of the people has been -better than a University training," he tells you. "My University has -been the common people--the common people whom Christ loved, and loved -so well that He needs must make so many of us. The man trained as I have -been amid the poor streets and homes of London, who knows where the shoe -pinches and where there are no shoes at all, has more practical -knowledge of the needs and sufferings of the people than the man who has -been to the recognised Universities. - -"I am the last to despise education. I have felt the need of more -education all my life. But I do protest against the idea that only those -who have been through the Universities or public schools are fit to be -the nation's rulers and servants. Legislation by the intellectuals is -the last thing we want. See to what extremes it sometimes leads. There -was a case under the Workmen's Compensation Act when eight leading -lawyers argued for hours whether a well thirty feet deep was a building -thirty feet high. Finally they decided solemnly that it was not. That -was legislation by the intellectuals being carried out by the -intellectuals." - -He once complained in the House of Commons that Mr. Balfour--then Prime -Minister--was using a dead language in answering a Labour Member's -question. He had asked whether the Aliens Bill would take precedence -over Redistribution. Mr. Balfour replied that the two things were not at -all _in pari materia_. - -"Will the right hon. gentleman please speak in English?" pleaded the -questioner. "It is well known both inside and outside this House that I -do not know Latin." - -Mr. Balfour said that what he meant to convey was that you could not -compare resolutions with a Bill, because a Bill involved a number of -different stages, while the other dealt with the matter as one -substantive question. - -"A very loose translation," remarked a Member, amid the laughter of the -House. - -Crooks was learning life at the time other lads are usually learning -Latin. And his knowledge of life, carrying with it an unbounded -sympathy with suffering, an intense love of truth and justice, has -proved more useful to him and to the class he serves than any knowledge -of a dead language would. - -Yet it was a pleasure to him to go down to Oxford in the early part of -1906 to speak on the need for University men taking up social work. It -was a greater pleasure to receive on his return the following letter -from one in authority at Christ Church College:-- - - - I am writing a line thanking you again for your kindness in coming - and speaking here on Saturday. From all sides I hear nothing but - commendation of your speech. There was a considerable number of our - men present, and as I surveyed them I was glad to see that some who - are really thinking about things were impressed. - - -Crooks always tells you that his best "schoolmaster" was his mother, the -righteous working woman who could not read a line or write a word. - -She and one of her boys spent nearly three hours one evening preparing a -letter to a far-away sister, the mother painfully composing the -sentences, the lad painfully writing them down. The glorious epistle was -at last complete, the first great triumph of a combined intellectual -effort between mother and son. Proudly they held the letter to the -candle-light to dry the ink, when the flame caught it, and behold! the -work of three laborious hours destroyed in three seconds. It was more -than they could bear. Mother and son sat down and cried together. - -[Illustration: THE CROOKS FAMILY. - -(_Will is the second child from the right, looking over his father's -left shoulder._)] - -"I have nothing but praise for my other schoolmaster," says Crooks. "I -mean the schoolmaster at the old George Green schools in East India Dock -Road. They were elementary schools then, and we paid a penny a week, -though even that small sum for all of us meant a sacrifice for mother. -The schoolmaster there was essentially a kind man. He had me under his -teaching in the Sunday school as well as in the day school. During the -few years I was with him prior to my workhouse days I learnt much that -has been of service to me ever since." - -Neither books nor papers found their way into Shirbutt Street. The first -paper he remembers reading was _The British Workman_, brought -occasionally to the little house in High Street just after the workhouse -days. Then came a short spell of penny dreadfuls, from among which -"Alone in a Pirate's Lair" stands out in memory riotous and reeking to -this day. - -Though the mother could not read herself, she encouraged her children by -borrowing occasional magazines and inviting them to read the contents to -her and her neighbours. - -"I was about ten or eleven when _The Leisure Hour_ and _The Sunday at -Home_ were started, and mother and the neighbours used to get these and -ask us boys to read the stories to them. - -"I owe something to an old man who went round the poor people's houses -selling books. From him I got some of Dickens's novels. I suddenly found -myself in a new and delightful world. Having been in the workhouse -myself, how I revelled in Oliver Twist! How I laughed at Bumble and the -gentleman in the white waistcoat! I have seen that white waistcoat, -pompous and truculent, administering the Poor Law many times since. - -"After the unceasing hunger I experienced in the workhouse, you can -guess how I sympathised with Oliver in his demand for more. I thought -that a delightful touch in one of our L.C.C. day schools the other day. -The teacher asked a class what books they liked best. - -"'Oliver Twist,' came one little chap's answer. - -"'Why?' - -"'Because he asked for more.'" - -This early reading of Dickens may have helped to develop his own quaint, -rich humour. Will Crooks often reminds one of Charles Dickens. He knows -the Londoner of to-day, his oddities, whimsicalities, his trials, -humours, and sorrows, as thoroughly as Dickens knew the Londoner of -fifty years ago. Many a time I have journeyed with him down to his home -in East London, after he had finished a hard day's work in Parliament or -on the London County Council, possibly having been defeated on some -public question in a way that would make many men despair; and yet how -easily he has put aside all the worries and work, and made the journey -delightful by his unfailing fund of Cockney anecdotes. He is one of the -rare story-tellers you meet with in a lifetime. The charm, too, of all -his stories is that they never relate to what he has read, but always -to what he has heard or observed himself. - -Some unknown friend at Yarmouth, who doubtless had heard him speak, -seems to have been impressed by this ready way he has of taking his -illustrations from the common things around him. Under the initials -A. H. S. he sent the following "Limerick" to _London Opinion_:-- - - - We smile when he's funny, or witty, - We yawn when he's wise: more's the pity, - For this best of the "Crooks" - Draws from life, not from books, - When he pleads for the people or city. - - -After Dickens the lad discovered Scott. "It was an event in my life -when, in an old Scotch magazine, I read a fascinating criticism of -'Ivanhoe.' Nothing would satisfy me until I had got the book; and then -Scott took a front place among my favourite authors. - -"I was in my teens then, reading everything I could lay hands on. I used -to follow closely public events in the newspapers. Not long ago I met a -man in a car with whom I remonstrated for some rude behaviour to the -passengers. He looked at me in amazement when I called him by his name. - -"'Why,' he said, 'you must be that boy Will Crooks I knew long ago. Do -you know what I remember about you? I can see you now tossing your apron -off in the dinner-hour and squatting down in the workshop with a paper -in your hand.'" - -Crooks was still an apprentice when, as he describes it, the great -literary event of his life occurred. - -"On my way home from work one Saturday afternoon I was lucky enough to -pick up Homer's 'Iliad' for twopence at an old bookstall. After dinner I -took it upstairs--we were able to afford an upstairs room by that -time--and read it lying on the bed. What a revelation it was to me! -Pictures of romance and beauty I had never dreamed of suddenly opened up -before my eyes. I was transported from the East End to an enchanted -land. It was a rare luxury to a working lad like me just home from work -to find myself suddenly among the heroes and nymphs and gods of ancient -Greece." - -The lad's imagination was also fired by "The Pilgrim's Progress." - -"I often think of that splendid passage describing the passing over the -river and the entry into Heaven of Christian and Faithful. I can -sympathise with Arnold of Rugby when he said, 'I never dare trust myself -to read that passage aloud.'" - -While in the blacksmith's shop he learnt many portions of Shakespeare, -with a decided preference for Hamlet. Often in the little forge the men -would say, "Give us a bit of Shakespeare, Will." The lad, nothing loath, -would declaim before them, more often than not in a mock heroic strain -that greatly delighted his grimy workmates. - -Like many other members of the Labour Party, he was greatly influenced -in his youth by the principles of "Unto this Last" and "Alton Locke." -Later in life he was set thinking seriously by a course of University -Lectures on Political Economy delivered in Poplar by Mr. G. Armitage -Smith. - -Quietly he began building up a little library of his own, supplemented -in later years by an occasional autograph copy from authors whose -friendship he had made. Father Dolling, for instance, sent him a copy of -his "Ten Years in a Portsmouth Slum," inscribed:-- - - - WILL CROOKS.--The story of a kind of trying to do in a different - way what he is doing.--With the author's best Christmas wishes, - 1898. - - -In the flyleaf of this book Crooks keeps the following letter, received -after his election to Parliament from the author's sister:-- - - - DEAR MR. CROOKS,--I have just seen the papers, and must send you a - word of congratulation on your success. If, as I believe, the - blessed dead are allowed to watch over and help us, I am sure my - dear brother is thinking of you and praying that in your new sphere - of usefulness you may be helped to do God's will.--Truly yours, - - GERALDINE DOLLING. - - -The book that he values most to-day is a pleasant little story for boys -called "Joe the Giant Killer." It was given to him by the author, Dr. -Chandler, Bishop of Bloemfontein, when rector of Poplar. The reason he -values it so is because the printed dedication reads:-- - - - "_To_ WILL CROOKS, L.C.C. - _In memory of many years - Of delightful comradeship in Poplar._" - - -When, after the big victory in Woolwich, Crooks was able to add M.P. as -well as L.C.C. after his name, there came among hundreds of other -congratulations a cabled cheer from South Africa. It was signed -"Chandler." - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -ROUND THE HAUNTS OF HIS BOYHOOD - - Proud of his Birthplace--Famous Residents at Blackwall--Memories of - Nelson's Flagship--Stealing a Body from a Gibbet--A Waterman who - Remembered Dickens. - - -Of many interesting days spent with Crooks in Poplar, one stands out as -the day on which he showed me some of the haunts of his boyhood. - -Poplar is always picturesque with the glimpses it gives of ships' masts -rising out of the Docks above the roofs of houses. With Crooks as guide, -this rambling district of Dockland, foolishly imagined by many people to -be wholly a centre of squalor, becomes as romantic as a mediaeval town. - -It was not always grey and poor, as so many parts of it are to-day, -though even these are not without their quaint and pleasant places. - -We wended through several of its grey streets, making for the river at -Blackwall. Everywhere women and children, as well as men, whom we passed -greeted Crooks cheerily. - -"Can you wonder so many of our people take to drink?" And he pointed to -the shabby little houses, all let out in tenements, in the street where -he was born. "Look at the homes they are forced to live in! The men -can't invite their mates round, so they meet at 'The Spotted Dog' of an -evening. During the day the women often drift to the same place. The -boys and girls cannot do their courting in these overcrowded homes. They -make love in the streets, and soon they too begin to haunt the -public-houses." - -He changed his tone when we entered the famous old High Street that runs -between the West India Docks and Blackwall. He pointed out the house -where he spent many years of his boyhood after his parents moved from -Shirbutt Street. The old home is associated with his errand-boy -experiences. In those days he finished work at midnight on Saturdays, -and knowing that his parents would be in bed, he often lingered in the -High Street into the early hours of Sunday, playing with other lads who, -like himself, had just finished work. - -As we continued our way down the High Street together, he surprised me -by his wonderful knowledge of the neighbourhood. Here was a Poplar man -proud of Poplar. He told me that the now silent High Street was at one -time a sort of sailors' fair-ground, like the old Ratcliff Highway. It -was there, he said, that Poplar had its beginning, according to the -historian Stow. There shipwrights and other marine men built large -houses for themselves, with small ones around for seamen. - -Not for these people alone were the houses built. Worthy citizens of -London lived down there. Sir John de Poultney, four times Lord Mayor, -lived in a quaint old house in Coldharbour, at Blackwall, that stood -until recently. This same house once formed the home of the discoverer, -Sebastian Cabot. It was there that Cabot made friends with Sir Thomas -Spert, Vice-Admiral of England, who also had a house at Poplar, and -promised Cabot a good ship of the Government's for a voyage of -discovery. And, later still, Sir Walter Raleigh is said to have been the -tenant, and of course legend credits him with having smoked one of his -earliest pipes there. - -Gone are the old houses now, with the old traditions, the old gaiety, -the old mad enthusiasm for the sea. In his day the Blackwall seaman was -a dare-devil, efficient man, eagerly coveted by shipowners and captains -alike. Never did a ship sail from Blackwall during Crooks's schooldays -without most of the boys staying away from school, regardless of results -to their skins the next morning, in order to join in the farewell -cheering from the foreshore. The welcome home to the Blackwall ships was -something to remember. It was always a bitter disappointment to the -boys, since it robbed them of an opportunity of playing truant, if a -ship came home and docked during the night, having come up, as the old -tide-master used to say, and brought her own news. - -Little remains to suggest the sea in Poplar High Street to-day. The old -highway has lost its old glory. The old folks have forsaken the old -homesteads. Of the few old buildings that remain, nearly every one has -been cut up into small shops and tenements. One or two general dealers -still pose as ships' outfitters, and an occasional shop remains as a -marine store, as though in a final feeble struggle to preserve the old -traditions. - -Crooks recollected well the period that costermongers thronged this -riverside highway. They came about the time seamen were deserting it, so -that the street for some time lost nothing of its noise or bustle. The -day came when they, too, departed, seeking a more profitable field in -Chrisp Street, on the northern side of East India Dock Road, where to -this day they still hold carnival. That they carried away something of -the seafaring character of their former highway is borne out by the -nautical turn they give to some of their remarks. - -"Here," cried a fish-dealer of their number the other day, holding aloft -a haddock, "wot price this 'ere 'addick?" - -"Tuppence," suggested a woman bystander. - -"Wot! tuppence! 'Ow would you like to get a ship, an' go out to sea an' -fish for 'addicks to sell for tuppence in foggy weather like this?" - -As we passed down that portion of the High Street that skirts the -Recreation Ground, Crooks pointed out the quaint old church of St. -Matthias. He told me it was the oldest church in Poplar, built as a -chapel-of-ease to the mother church of East London, St. Dunstan's. Then -it was that all the parishes that now go to make up the teeming Tower -Hamlets were comprised in Stepney. As the Port of London in those days -was confined to the Pool and lower reaches and to the riverside hamlets -of the East End, that was why people born at sea were often entered as -having been born in the parish of Stepney. - -St. Matthias' Church afterwards became the chapel of the old East India -Company. Poplar people sometimes call it that to this day. The Company's -almshouses were near, and the chapel ministered to the aged almoners -alone. According to tradition, the teak pillars in the church served as -masts in vessels of the Spanish Armada. Upon the ceiling is the -coat-of-arms of the original East India Company. Adjoining the church is -the picturesque vicarage, where Crooks pointed out the coat-of-arms -adopted by the United Company a hundred years later on the amalgamation -with the New East India Company. - -This chapel contains a monument to the memory of George Green, who -stands out as Poplar's worthiest philanthropist. Schools, churches, and -charities in Poplar to-day testify to his generosity. He was one of the -owners of the famous Blackwall Shipbuilding Yard, that turned out some -of the sturdiest of the wooden walls of England. They were proud in the -shipyard of the _Venerable_ and the _Theseus_, the former Lord Duncan's -flagship at the battle of Camperdown, the latter at one time Nelson's -flagship, in the cockpit of which his arm was amputated. - -The people of old Poplar had at times unpleasant things to tolerate. -Sometimes the pirates hung at Execution Dock, higher up the river, would -be brought down, still on their gibbets, and suspended for a long -period at a place near Blackwall Point, as a warning to all seafarers -entering the Port of London. - -One of the old East India Company pensioners used to tell Crooks's -father how one of the bodies hanging on a gibbet was stolen during the -night, under romantic circumstances. An old waterman at the stairs was -startled at a late hour by a young and ladylike girl coming ashore in a -boat and asking him to lend a hand with her father, who, she said, was -dead drunk in the bottom of the skiff. A youth was with her, and the -waterman assisted them to carry the supposed drunken man to a carriage -which was waiting. Not until the pirate's body was missing in the -morning did the old waterman know the truth. - -We reached the river ourselves from the Blackwall end of the High -Street, while Crooks was giving me these entertaining glimpses into the -past of his native Poplar. The sight of Blackwall Causeway and the river -crowded with craft instantly reminded him of the last mutiny in the -Thames, of which he has gruesome recollections, associated with bad -dreams as a lad, caused by the knowledge that dead seamen lay in the -building adjoining his home. It was here at Blackwall Point that the -crew of the Peruvian frigate mutinied in 1861. He relates graphically -how the eleven men who were shot dead on the ship were brought ashore -and laid in the mortuary next his mother's house by the casual ward. - -The old watermen at the head of the Causeway, waiting to row people -across to the Greenwich side, welcomed Crooks with a cheerful word as we -approached. They were soon full of talk. The eldest told how he went to -sea as a boy in the famous wooden ships turned out of Blackwall Yard. -His aged companion remembered the stage coaches coming down from London -to Blackwall. He was proud also of a memory of Queen Victoria's visit to -the neighbourhood to see a Chinese junk. - -The two ancient watermen soon overflowed with reminiscences. One -remembered his grandfather telling how King George the Fourth would come -down to see the ships built at Blackwall, and how on one occasion a -sailor who had come ashore and got drunk took a pint of ale to his -Majesty in a pewter and asked him to drink to the Army and Navy. - -"Ah!" exclaimed the other, fetching a sigh; "but don't you remember that -old Yarmouth fisherman who used to bring his smack round here from the -Roads and sell herrings out of it on this very Causeway?" - -"Remember! What do _you_ think? That was the old man who would never -keep farthings. In the evening, when he'd got a handful in the course of -the day's trade, he would pitch them in the river for the boys to find." - -"Likely enough," interposed Crooks. "I mudlarked about here myself as a -lad." - -The eldest of the ancient watermen would have it that this old boy from -Yarmouth was the original of Mr. Peggotty, and that it was at Blackwall -Dickens first made his acquaintance. He said he had often seen Dickens -himself about those parts. - -We ventured a doubt. - -"Why, bless my life!" he cried; "ain't I talked to him at the Causeway -here many a time?" - -This, of course, was unanswerable, so we asked what Dickens did when -there. - -The ancient waterman thought a moment. - -"What did Dickens do?" he ruminated. "Now, let me see. What _did_ -Dickens do? I know: Dickens used to go afloat!" - -The other declared that Dickens did more than that: he would often go -into the fishing-smack. - -We immediately assumed that it was the fishing-smack of the old Yarmouth -salt that was meant. We were wrong. It was another "Fishing Smack," one -of the quaint old taverns by the river still standing in Coldharbour. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -IN TRAINING FOR A CRAFTSMAN - - Three years in a Smithy--Provoking a - Carman--Apprenticeship--Winning a Nickname--Activity of an Idle - Apprentice--"Not Dead, but Drunk"--A Boisterous Celebration--The - Workman's Pride in His Work. - - -The three years in the blacksmith's shop in Limehouse Causeway, that -commenced at the age of eleven after the errand-boy period, were years -of hard work and long hours. The lad's working day began at six in the -morning and often did not close until eight at night. Working overtime -meant ten and twelve midnight before the day's work was done. He was -paid for the overtime at the rate of a penny an hour. - -He was kept hard at it all the time. Once, in the excitement of a -General Election, in the days of the old hustings, he stole away from -the forge for an hour. The smith had returned in his absence, and -inquired angrily where he had been. - -"Only to see the state of the poll." - -"_You'll_ know the state of the poll on Saturday, young fellow." - -He did. A shilling was taken from his week's wages. - -It was a heavy blow. It delayed a promised pair of new trousers. The -need for a new pair was constantly being brought to his notice in a -more or less personal way. The biggest affront came from a tall boy at a -shop he passed on the way home. - -"Hi!" this youth would call after him. "Look at the kid wot's put his -legs too far frew his trowsis!" - -Nevertheless, the little chap in the short trousers was immensely proud -to be at work. He would blacken his face before leaving for home so as -to look like a working man. - -Many a long day's search had he before getting that job. He spent hours -one morning in calling at nearly all the shops in the two miles' length -of Commercial Road between Poplar and the City. But nobody wanted so -small a boy. On his way back, not yet wholly disheartened, he turned -down Limehouse Causeway and peeped in at the smithy. - -"Can you blow the bellows, little 'un?" he was asked. - -Couldn't he; you just try him! - -They tried him for an hour, then told him he was just the boy they -wanted. - -They got a lot of smiths' work in connection with the fitting out of -small vessels in Limehouse Basin and the West India Docks. The first job -at which Will assisted was on board the barque _Violet_. - -The Causeway where the smithy stood was so narrow that carts could not -pass each other. Two carmen driving in opposite directions met just -outside the smithy door one afternoon. Neither would give way, and they -filled the air with lurid fancies. Young Will came out of the smithy and -took the part of the one whom he believed to have the right on his side. - -Seizing the bridle of the other driver's horse, he commenced to back the -cart down the lane. The man's flow of language increased as he tried to -get at the lad with his whip. Will dodged first to one side and then to -the other, then under the horse's nose, eluding the lash every time. At -last he got the cart backed right out of the lane, allowing the other -driver to pass in triumph. - -The enraged carman sprang down and chased the lad back into the smithy. -Will had just time to spring behind the big bellows out of sight before -the other appeared foaming at the door. With many oaths the man swore he -would have vengeance on the boy some day, come what would. - -Some years afterwards Crooks found himself at work in the same yard as -his burly enemy, but time, which had made little difference to the man, -had transformed the boy out of all recognition. Crooks asked him if he -remembered the event. - -"Yes; and if I came across that youngster to-day I'd break every bone in -his body." - -"I don't think you would, Jack," Crooks replied, preparing to take off -his coat. - -Then the carman understood. - -In his third year at the smithy Will was getting six shillings a week, -with something more than a penny an hour for overtime. Small though the -wages were, they were very welcome at home; and it meant a great deal -to his mother when she sacrificed more than half this amount in the -lad's best interest. - -She was as determined that her boys should learn a trade as that they -should learn to read and write. She took Will away from the smithy and -his six shillings a week, when she found he was not to be taught the -business but to be merely a smiths' labourer, and she apprenticed him to -the trade of cooper at a weekly wage of half a crown. - -"The sacrifice of a few shillings a week," says Crooks, "which mother -made in order that I should learn a trade was only one of the many -things she did for me as a boy for which I have blessed her memory in -manhood many times. I really don't know now how she managed to feed us -all, after losing my three-and-six a week. I know that she always put up -a good dinner in a handkerchief for me to take to work. It may have got -smaller towards the end of the week, like many of the men's. I remember -one Monday dinner-time flopping down on a saw-tub and opening my -handkerchief as the foreman passed. - -"'That looks a good meal to begin the week on,' he said. 'I see how it -is;-- - - - It's Monday plenty, - Tuesday some, - Wednesday a little, - Thursday none, - Don't worry about Friday, - You get your money on Saturday.'" - - -Among the workmen was a thinker and reformer far ahead of his times. It -was dangerous in those days for workmen to give expression to advanced -views, and as he was a married man he made no display of his opinions. -He seems to have seen promise in young Will, for he talked to him freely -on social and political matters, encouraging him to read by lending him -books and papers, and inspiring him with an enthusiasm for the teaching -of John Bright. - -So much so, that at home Will was nicknamed Young John Bright. An uncle, -looking in on the eve of the General Election of 1868, said jokingly, -"Now, young John Bright, tell us all about what is going to happen." -Nothing loath, Will delivered a long speech on the political situation, -and foretold, among other things, that the Liberals would sweep the -country, and that one of their first acts would be to disestablish the -Church of Ireland. The prophecy, needless to say, was fulfilled. - -Will was one of half-a-dozen apprentices in the coopering establishment. -While still the youngest among them he made his mark by acting as -spokesman in a sudden emergency. The lads thought they had a grievance -under the piece-rate system. They went in a body to the head of the -firm, the eldest primed with a well-rehearsed speech stating their case. - -If Will saved the situation, he began by nearly bringing disaster upon -it. It happened that the spokesman's father was an undertaker in -Stepney, and that on Sundays the lad, with becoming gravity, frequently -walked as a mute at funerals. - -Just as the solemn procession of aggrieved apprentices was about to -enter the office, the employer's wondering eye upon them through the -window, Will called out in a stage whisper: - -"Now, Joe, put on your best Sunday face!" - -The fearful tension was broken. All the boys burst into laughter. The -lads tumbled over each other in their eagerness to get outside the -passage. When the head of the firm opened his door Will alone remained. - -"What's all this about, Crooks?" - -The youngest apprentice thereupon briefly ran over the lads' grievances, -and on being asked why the deputation fled in laughter, he explained the -meaning of the Sunday face. - -The employer laughed as boisterously as his boys. He told Crooks to go -back to work, promising that the lads should have fair play. That very -day he issued orders placing the apprentices under better conditions. - -One of the lads, with an unconquerable liking for lying in bed, had not -turned up by nine o'clock on a certain morning. The other apprentices -stole out with a barrow and went to his house with the object of -wheeling him to work. - -Half an hour later the lad rushed into the cooperage panting and -dishevelled, his clothes torn, his hat missing. - -"Done 'em!" he gasped, after the manner of Alfred Jingle. "I rushed out -o' the back door, got over the wall, over the next wall, fell on a -flower-bed, man came out (such langwidge!), climbed his wall afore he -could ketch me, landed clean on a dog kennel, dog tore me clothes, got -over another wall--into the street at last--boys caught sight o' me, -howling chase with barrow, woman let me run through her house, over -another wall. Done 'em!" - -Something more than laziness explained the occasional absence of others -from work. Certain of the men would be missing for two or three days. -During an unusually long absence of one of the older coopers, the men -and lads rigged up a dummy figure, dressing it in whatever clothes of -their own they could spare. They placed the dummy in an improvised -coffin by the side of their missing comrade's bench, with an imitation -tombstone at the head, bearing the inscription, "Not dead, but drunk." - -The morning came when the delinquent turned up. A deep silence fell over -the workshop as he entered. Men and apprentices alike suddenly appeared -to be absorbed in work. The late-comer pretended not to see the effigy -by his bench. With quiet deliberation he took off his coat, rolled up -his sleeves, and lighted the furnace-fire. No one spoke. The old man -brought two handfuls of shavings and piled them on the fire until it -roared again. Then suddenly he seized the dummy figure and hurled it on -the flames. - -Everybody sprang forward to snatch his garments from the fire. One -rescued his coat, another his vest, another his cap, another his -muffler, another his pair of boots, the old man belabouring each in -turn. - -"Ah!" he cried with a chuckle, as the singed garments were dragged away. -"I knew that would find you all out." - -Quaint and boisterous customs were observed when an apprentice was out -of his time. The greater part of the day was given up by men and boys -alike to revelry and horse-play. - -The ceremonies began at about eleven o'clock in the morning, to be kept -up for the rest of the day. First, the apprentice was seized and put -into a hot barrel. Round him stood some fifty men and boys checking -every attempt he made to get out, tapping him with hammers on the head -and fingers and shoulders every time he made an effort to escape. When -his clothes--the last he was to wear as an apprentice--had been singed -in the barrel out of all further use, he would be dragged out and tossed -in the air by about a dozen of the strongest men. - -Only once did the employer try to stop these boisterous interludes. He -never tried again. The men laid hold of him, and for about five minutes -treated him to a vigorous tossing. - -It then became the bruised and singed apprentice's privilege to pay for -bread and cheese and drink. In the afternoon the men turned the yard -into an imitation fair. Flags and bunting were put up and side shows -were improvised. One feature was to persuade the fattest men to walk the -tight-rope. - -On the whole, Will had a happy time as an apprentice, working hard and -laughing hard, more than once threatened with dismissal because his -spirit of fun led him into mischief. He became a good craftsman, and to -this day boasts of being as skilful at his own trade as any man. He -attributes this to the old spirit of craftsmanship that held good in his -day. One incident during his apprenticeship helped to make him take a -pride in what he made with his own hands. An old workman in the shop, -after finishing a piece of work, set it in the middle of the floor and -walked round it admiringly several times. - -"'Pon my honour, one would think you'd made a thousand-horse-power -engine," said the apprentice. - -"Never you mind, sonny," replied the old workman. "Whether it's a -thousand-horse-power engine or not, _I made it myself_!" - -"That is the spirit I want to see revived among workmen to-day," Crooks -told the Labour Co-partnership Association in 1905, relating the -incident at their annual exhibition at the Crystal Palace. He went on to -say: - - - I want to see workmen proud of what they make with their own hands. - That is impossible in many workshops to-day because of the soulless - way in which they are conducted. Many workmen have got the idea - they only exist for what other people can get out of them. I blame - employers as much as workmen for this state of things. There are in - the country some excellent employers. Unfortunately, they are - becoming fewer. The individual employer is going out, and the - limited liability company coming in, having as its one object the - making of profit, utterly regardless of the bodies or souls of the - men or women from whom the profit is wrung. The result of running - works and factories for company dividends only has destroyed the - old school of masters and men, both of whom had a pride in their - work, both of whom stamped their work with the mark of their own - individuality. - - To get back to a better state of things workmen must become their - own masters, and the Co-Partnership Association is showing men the - way. It is teaching them to live and work with and for each other. - I want men who groan under the injustice of so much in our - industrial system to understand that they can do much for - themselves. By combination and co-operation they can run businesses - of their own. But they must first take to the water before they can - swim. It means discipline, but trade unionism has meant discipline. - The administrative capacity of workmen can be developed to an - enormous extent yet. - - How are we going to train our men and women workers to take on the - responsibilities of regulating their own lot in a better manner? - Trade unionists are now learning that instead of spending money on - strikes it is better to spend it in starting workshops of their - own. The time has come when Labour leaders and others might well - cease talking to the workers about their power and begin talking to - them about their responsibilities. - - -The day after this speech he received the following letter from George -Jacob Holyoake, a few months before that veteran co-operator passed -away:-- - - - "Against my will I was prevented from being present at the Crystal - Palace, but that does not disqualify me from expressing my thanks - for the wise and practical speech you made--in every way - admirable." - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -TRAMPING THE COUNTRY FOR WORK - - Marriage--Dismissed as an Agitator--Home broken up--"On the - Road"--Timely Help at Burton--Finding Work at - Liverpool--Bereavement--Back in London--A Second Tramp to - Liverpool--Feelings of an "Out-of-Work." - - -On a grey morning in the December of 1871 two young people came out of -St. Thomas's Church, Bethnal Green, man and wife. Both were only -nineteen years of age. The husband was Will Crooks; his wife the -daughter of an East London shipwright named South. - -They set up their home in Poplar, near the coopering yard where Will was -employed. At first they had to be content with apartments; then came a -small tenement; soon after a little house of their own. - -It was fair and pleasant sailing for the first two or three years. He -got a journeyman's full wages the first week he was out of his -apprenticeship. It seemed as though he were to have an unbroken run of -good fortune. The bright hopes soon collapsed. - -Good craftsmanship and trade unionism, blended as they were in Crooks, -made him rebel against certain conditions of his work. Finally he -refused to use inferior timber on a job, and objected to excessive -overtime. Although the youngest among them, he addressed the workmen on -the subject. A few days afterwards he was dismissed. - -He took his notice lightly enough, confident that as master of his trade -he could soon secure work again. - -It was not to be. Every shop and yard in London was closed to him. Word -had gone round that he was an agitator. - -Try as he did, he could not break through the barrier that had been -raised against him. Wherever he applied, whether in Rotherhithe, -Battersea, Hackney, or Clerkenwell, he was known as the young fellow who -would not work with shoddy material and talked other men into the same -view. - -The experience was the same at every place of call. - -"What's your name?" - -"Crooks." - -"Of Poplar?" - -"That's me." - -"We don't want anyone." - -From several of these places he heard afterwards that the instant he was -gone other men were taken on. - -Since London was a closed door to him, he turned his back upon it, and -set out tramping the country in search of work. With a fully-paid-up -trade union card, he knew he could count on an occasional half-crown to -help him on the way at those towns where his society had branches. - -His home had to be broken up. His wife with their child went to her -mother's, there to await for weary weeks the result of her husband's -first quest into the country. - -The only piece of good news came from Liverpool. Not until he reached -that city did he get a job. He tramped into Liverpool from -Burton-on-Trent. Never in his life, either before or since, did a silver -coin mean so much to him as the half-crown given by a member of his own -trade to help him on the road as he set out from Burton for Liverpool. - -Twenty-nine years later Crooks was speaking at a meeting of co-operators -in Burton when he recognised his former benefactor on the platform. He -told the audience of his last visit to their town, remarking how on that -occasion no one but this man offered him hospitality, whereas now, if he -lived to be a hundred and fifty years of age, he would not be able to -accept all the invitations he had received from friends and would-be -friends to spend week-ends with them. His regret was, he told the -meeting, that those good people did not begin to ask him earlier and -that they did not think of asking other poor men in a similar plight to -his when he first entered Burton. - -By the time he dragged himself into Liverpool he was without a sole to -his boots. The journey was completed on the uppers of his boots, with -the aid of string, a device he had learnt from friendly tramps on the -road. Having got what looked like a promising job, he invited his wife -to join him with their child, enclosing the fare from his first week's -wages. - -This work in Liverpool had not been obtained without much weary -searching. A good friend to the young fellow in his distress was the -Y.M.C.A. in that city. Nearly thirty years later he addressed a crowded -public meeting in the large hall of the Liverpool Y.M.C.A. He had an -enthusiastic welcome when he rose to speak. - - - I am very grateful to you for your kind welcome of me to-night. - This hall has carried my memory back to 1876 when I first visited - Liverpool. I was then looking for work, knowing what it was to want - a meal many a day. I don't know what I should have done without the - many kindnesses I met with from Liverpool people, and from none - more hearty and truly helpful than I received here in this - building. - - -But Liverpool is associated with one of the saddest memories in his -life. This is how he refers to it:-- - -"My wife joined me, bringing our little girl, a bonny child of whom we -were immensely proud. The little one pined from the day it reached -Liverpool and died within a month. I thought my wife would have followed -the child to the grave within a day or two. I never saw her so much -affected in all my life. She pleaded to be taken away from that place. -'Anywhere,' she said, 'only let's get away.' So we buried our little -girl in Liverpool one rainy Saturday afternoon, and came back to London -to seek work the same night." - -It was the most miserable railway journey of his life. If anything, the -misery was increased when as the dull dawn crept over London he and his -wife stepped out of the train and walked the seven miles of silent -streets between Euston and Poplar. - -No better fortune awaited them in London. The young husband sought work -with no success. News reached him that his trade was thriving again in -Liverpool, so he set out to tramp there a second time. - -"It is a weird experience, this, of wandering through England in search -of a job," he says. "You keep your heart up so long as you have -something in your stomach, but when hunger steals upon you, then you -despair. Footsore and listless at the same time, you simply lose all -interest in the future. - -"I have always been drawn towards Canon Liddon since reading an address -of his in which he said that the roughest tramp upon the road was, in -his eyes, one who might come to be numbered among those favoured by -Christ, and that the most brilliant and distinguished guest he had ever -met had no higher possibility than that. - -"Nothing wearies one more than walking about hunting for employment -which is not to be had. It is far harder than real work. The -uncertainty, the despair, when you reach a place only to discover that -your journey is fruitless, are frightful. I've known a man say, 'Which -way shall I go to-day?' Having no earthly idea which way to take, he -tosses up a button. If the button comes down on one side he treks east; -if on the other, he treks west. - -"You can imagine the feeling when, after walking your boots off, a man -says to you, as he jingles sovereigns in his pocket, 'Why don't you -work?' That is what happened to me as I scoured the country between -London and Liverpool, asking all the way for any kind of work to help me -along." - -I remember Crooks recalling his experience at a dinner-party given by -the Hon. Maud Stanley at her Westminster house. Crooks was then a -fellow-member with Miss Stanley of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, and -she invited us on that occasion to meet her friend Professor Wyckoff, -the American author, who wrote "The Workers." In "The Workers" the -author tells the story of how for a time he turned his back upon his -usual well-to-do haunts in order to find out what earning one's own -living by tramping from place to place doing manual work was actually -like. - -Crooks, who, perhaps unconsciously to himself, had become the chief -entertainer at table, showed Mr. Wyckoff in a moment that, realistic -though his experiences had been, he could not possibly enter into the -feelings of the real out-of-work who had nothing but sixpence between -him and starvation. However hard up Mr. Wyckoff might have been at -times, he always had the consolation that if the worst came to the -worst, funds awaited him at home. The ordinary workman tramping the -country, said Crooks, had no such feeling of a sure foundation -somewhere, and it was only when you felt--as he had often felt when -tramping for work--the utter hopelessness and loneliness of things, -made doubly worse by the knowledge that wife and children were suffering -too, that you could enter fully into the feelings of an out-of-work. - -Evidently Mr. Wyckoff had not thought of this view before, but it seemed -to me to mark the all-important difference between the amateur and the -real sufferer. There are some things no man can play at, and the game -Mr. Wyckoff, with the best intentions in the world, and with a good deal -of self-imposed suffering, tried to play was one of them. There are some -experiences of life which no one can ever have for the seeking only. -They come; they can never be commanded. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -ONE OF LONDON'S UNEMPLOYED - - A Casual Labourer at the Docks--A Typical Day's Tramping for Work - in London--Demoralising Effects of being Out of a Job--Emptying the - Cupboard for a Starving Family--Work found at last--Doing the - "Railway Tavern" a Bad Turn. - - -In Liverpool again the prospect was not what he had been led to believe. -An odd job here and an odd job there still left him in want. At last, in -response to the earnest entreaties of his wife, whom nothing could -persuade to revisit Liverpool, he returned to take his chance again in -London. - -This time Crooks determined to try to find work outside his own trade. -He went down to the Docks, where, by the aid of a friendly foreman, he -got occasional jobs as a casual labourer. - -The sight of so many other poor fellows struggling at the Dock Gates -proved more than he could bear. He turned away from the eager mass of -men one morning, resolved never to join in the demoralising scrimmage -again. With a trade of his own he felt he had no right to take a job for -which so many men, more helpless than himself, were daily striving. - -The morning he turned away finally from the Docks was the very one on -which his friend the foreman had promised him a job if he turned up at -the gates by noon. The piteous appeals of the hundreds of other men for -the half-dozen places offered so affected him that he hung back and sat -down out of sight. He saw the foreman scan the crowd, looking for him, -and then engage the number of men he wanted and go inside. Crooks went -off to seek work in other quarters. - -One typical day of tramping for work in London he described to me -thus:-- - -"I first went down to the river-side at Shadwell. No work was to be had -there. Then I called at another place in Limehouse. No hands wanted. So -I looked in at home and got two slices of bread in paper and walked -eight miles to a cooper's yard in Tottenham. All in vain. I dragged -myself back to Clerkenwell. Still no luck. Then I turned towards home in -despair. By the time I reached Stepney I was dead beat, so I called at a -friend's in Commercial Road for a little rest. They gave me some Irish -stew and twopence to ride home. I managed to walk home and gave the -twopence to my wife. She needed it badly. - -"That year I know I walked London until my limbs ached again. I remember -returning home once by way of Tidal Basin, and turning into the Victoria -Docks so utterly exhausted that I sank down on a coil of rope and slept -for hours. - -"Another day I tramped as far as Beckton, again to no purpose. I must -have expressed keen disappointment in my face, for the good fellows in -the cooperage there made a collection for me, and I came home that night -with one and sevenpence. - -"There are few things more demoralising to a man than to have a long -spell of unemployment with day after day of fruitless searching for -work. It turns scores of decent men into loafers. Many a confirmed -loafer to-day is simply what he is because our present social system -takes no account of a man being out of work. No one cares whether he -gets a job or goes to the dogs. If he goes to the dogs the nation is the -loser in a double sense. It has lost a worker, and therefore a -wealth-maker. Secondly, it has to spend public money in maintaining him -or his family in some kind of way, whether in workhouse, infirmary, -prison or asylum. - -"A man who is out of work for long nearly always degenerates. For -example, if a decent fellow falls out in October and fails to get a job -say by March, he loses his anxiety to work. The exposure, the -insufficient food, his half-starved condition, have such a deteriorating -effect upon him that he becomes indifferent whether he gets work or not. -He thus passes from the unemployed state to the unemployable state. It -ought to be a duty of the nation to see that a man does not become -degenerate." - -In his own unemployed days, he awoke every morning with the -half-suppressed prayer: "God help me to-day. Where shall I look for work -to-day? Where can I earn a bob?" - -Actual starvation was only kept away by occasional help from his own -and his wife's people and by the few shillings out-of-work pay which his -Trade Union allowed him every week. Even in those days he was never so -hard up as not to be ready to help others in greater privation. He was -out one morning when he met a man whom he knew slightly near his own -house. He could see that he looked ill and that he wanted to speak. So -he went up to him and said: - -"Well, mate, what's amiss?" - -With tears in his eyes the man told his tale--his tale of starvation. He -was afraid or ashamed to ask for relief, and there had been no food in -his house for over twenty-four hours. - -Crooks told the man to go home, promising to come to him presently. He -himself went back to his own home and told his wife. - -"Let's see what we've got," she said. - -All she found was a portion of a packet of cocoa and a loaf of bread. -She made a large jug of cocoa and gave her out-of-work husband that and -the loaf to take round to the other man's family. - -"It's all we have in the house," she said; "but we've had our breakfast, -and they haven't." - -Work came at last in an unexpected way. He was returning home after -another empty day when he hailed a carman and asked for a lift. - -"All right, mate, jump up," was the response. - -As they sat chatting side by side, the carman learnt that his companion -was seeking work. - -"What's yer trade?" he inquired. - -"A cooper." - -"Why, the guv'nor wants a cooper." - -So instead of dropping off at Poplar, Crooks accompanied the carman to -the works, and he who had tramped the country and London so long in -search of a job was at last driven triumphantly to work in a conveyance, -"like a Lord Mayor or a judge," as he afterwards described it. - -On the first pay day, glad at heart, he was about to start for home. The -men stopped him. - -"We always go to 'The Railway Tavern' on Saturdays. A decent chap keeps -the 'Railway.' Come and join us." - -"Not me." - -"Won't the missus let you?" - -"No, she won't." - -Throughout the next week he was mercilessly "chipped" in the workshop -and referred to as the man whose missus was waiting for him at the other -end. At the close of the next week he was asked after pay-time-- - -"Did the missus meet you last week?" - -"Yes, and she'll meet me this week too." - -"Come along, old chap, no kid, have a parting glass." - -"No, I can part without the glass." - -At the end of the third week a fellow-workman whispered: "What time are -you going home, Will?" - -"Same time." - -"Let me leave with you, will you?" - -"Certainly. Your missus been at you?" - -"Yes; the fact is, Will, I stayed drinking down here until I'd blown -eight bob last week. It meant my two little girls had to go without -their promised pairs of new boots." - -"All right, Jim; I'll give you a whistle when it's time to go." - -At the end of six weeks the "Railway" was without a customer from that -shop. - -That work was a stepping-stone to another and a better job at -Wandsworth. His new employer urged him to leave Poplar and take a house -near the works. - -"But suppose you pay me off when the busy time passes?" said Crooks. - -"I shan't do that," was the answer. "I like your work too well." - -The day came when Crooks was offered work nearer Poplar. When he handed -in his notice the Wandsworth employer became wrathful. - -"Never mind, I'll come back here when I'm out of work again," said -Crooks good-naturedly. - -"Will you? I can promise you there'll be no more work for you here. -Leaving me like this!" - -"Oh, yes, there will. You haven't kept me on for love, you know. I like -you, and I'll come here for another job directly I'm out of work again." - -It was not to be. Crooks was never out of work again in his life. - -Years later he found himself sitting next to his old Wandsworth employer -at a public dinner. - -"You never came back to claim that job," said the good-natured old man. - -"I will when I'm out of work--as I promised." - -"Ah! you don't know how often I wished you would come back. You may -have talked to the men a good deal about the rights of Labour, but I -never knew the rights of employers to be observed so honourably. You -seemed to keep the men more sober and the work up to a higher level of -efficiency than I had ever known before. That's why I wanted you to come -and live near, thinking to make sure of you. That's why I was so angry -when you handed in your notice." - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE COLLEGE AT THE DOCK GATES - - Commending himself to his Employers--"Crooks's College"--His Style - of Teaching--Specimens of his Humour--Admonitions against Drink and - Betting. - - -With regular work well assured, Crooks was able to give more time and -study to public affairs and to the Labour Movement. For an unbroken -period of ten years he held a good position in a large coopering -establishment in East London, where he was held in high esteem by men -and masters alike, the latter more than once intimating to him they -would make it worth his while to remain in their service all his life. - -Crooks was always proud of the good standing he held in his employers' -eyes. He knew it was due solely to his skill as a workman, for it -certainly did not tell in his favour that he was beginning to be known -more widely than ever as a Labour agitator. This, as a term of derision, -used to be applied to all Labour leaders in the 'eighties and long -afterwards. Certain writers and speakers who wished to be particularly -derisive would refer to them as paid agitators. Even to this day an -occasional echo of the cry reaches the ears. The offenders belong to the -same school as the lady who withdrew her money from the bank after the -General Election of 1906 because so many Labour members had been -returned. - -It was during these years of regular work that Crooks founded his famous -College. He began a series of Sunday morning Labour meetings outside the -East India Dock Gates, which have been continued ever since. The place -in association with these Sunday meetings came to be known among Poplar -workmen as Crooks's College. - -Many a useful lesson has he driven home to his working class audiences -at his College at the Dock Gates. He generally leads off with some -little humorous fancy. - -"If you fellows only have a quid a week, don't despise your share in the -country's government. You needn't go the length of the Cockney taxpayer -who rowed out to a man-o'-war at Portsmouth. - -"'Ship ahoy!' he shouts. 'Ship ahoy!' - -"At last he makes someone hear. - -"'Is the captain aboard?' says he. - -"'What d'yer want with the captain?' asks a bluejacket. - -"'Feller,' says the taxpayer, big-like, 'just tell your captain that one -of the owners of this 'ere ship wants to come aboard, and look slippy -about it.' - -"The captain invites him on the deck, and he goes round the ship -sniffing at this and complaining about that until the ship's carpenter -gets riled. - -"'Don't you know that I have a share in this ship, feller?' says the -taxpayer. - -"'Oh, have yer?' says the carpenter, handing him a chip. 'You just take -your share then, and get over the side double quick, or I shall be under -the necessity of showing you the way.'" - -When the East End was suffering from one of the water famines that used -to be fairly common before the supply was taken over by a public -authority, he never tired of calling the attention of his Dock Gate -meetings to the fact that the company went on charging the same rates, -whether there was water or not. - -"When I got home last night, my wife said, 'Will, the water's come on at -last; but just look at it--it's not fit to drink!' So I went to the tap -and saw a lot of little things swimming about in the water. The wife was -alarmed, and asked what we should do. 'My dear,' I replied, 'for -goodness sake don't say anything about it to anybody. If this gets to -the ears of the company they might charge us for the fish as well as for -the water.'" - -Never was instruction at college imparted with so many human touches and -humorous sallies. He noticed that many of the men slunk away when the -public-houses opened. He made it a practice to commence his own address -a few minutes before the public-houses threw open their doors. In this -way he kept most of the men about him. The waverers among them were -shamed into staying by little thrusts like these:-- - -"Some of you chaps imagine you can only be men by taking the gargle. If -you could see yourselves sometimes after you've been indulging you -would jolly soon change your opinion. Perhaps you've heard of the man -who asked for a ticket at the railway junction. - -"'What station?' asked the booking clerk. - -"'What stations have you got?' he stammered, clinging to the ledge for -support. - -"But even that chap was not so bad as the railway guard who went home a -bit elevated. He saw the cat lying on the hearthrug, and chucked it in -the oven, slamming the door and yelling, 'Take yer seats for -Nottingham.' - -"I've heard men say they only take it because the doctor orders it. One -of these chaps was caught having secret nips of whiskey. 'Bless yer -heart!' he says. 'Don't yer know I has ter take it for me health? I -suffers wiv tape worms.' - -"One of the chief reasons some of you chaps booze is because you are too -sociable-like in standing treat. A rattling boozer was once screwed up -to the point of signing the pledge. He writes his name, puts his hand in -his pocket, and asks how much? - -"'Nothing to pay,' says the young lady, smiling. - -"'What? Nothing to pay?' he repeats in amazement. 'Do I get it for -nothing? Do you mean to say that I, a working man, am offered something -for nothing?' - -"'Nothing to pay,' repeats the young lady. - -"'Well, 'pon my honour, this is the first time I've ever got anything -for nothing. Come and have a drink.'" - -"Some of you fellows who live on the Isle of Dogs have seen the -allotment system started there. I asked one of the publicans of the -neighbourhood why he complained about the allotments. 'Why,' said he, -'the men used to come in and have a gargle on Saturday afternoons, but -now they go and dig clay.' - -"But ask the men's wives what they say about the allotments, and you -will hear a different story. The men now have time not only to cultivate -their plots, but to look after their families. - -"How many of our poor women who give way to drink can trace their -descent to the neglect of the men who married them. It may be hard to be -burdened with a drunken wife, but often enough a good deal of the fault -is on the side of the husband because of his early neglect. He should -have strengthened her. He should have shared her sorrows as well as her -joys. We ought not to leave a woman to bear all her own burdens. Many a -young wife breaks down because of early neglect at a time when she ought -to be built up, when it would be real manliness on the husband's part to -put up with a little trouble for her sake. - -"Some of you giggle when you see a man nursing a baby in long clothes. -What is there to giggle at? I carried a baby in long clothes up the -stairs of Shadwell Station the other day, because I saw it was too much -for the poor mother who was struggling along. - -"'Here,' I said, 'hand it over; I'm used to that sort of job.' - -"My wife heard of it before I got home, and she said to those who told -her, 'Well, if the woman didn't thank him, I shall when he comes home.' - -"Perhaps you thought I looked a fool clambering up the stairs with a -baby in long clothes. I don't think so. I satisfied myself by doing what -evidently wanted doing." - -He hurried away from his college by the Dock Gates one Sunday morning to -keep an appointment to address the Isle of Dogs Progressive Club. He -found less than a dozen men in the lecture hall, while the bar and the -billiard room were crowded. He walked out without a word and sat down in -the club garden. - -"This is all right. I'm enjoying myself perfectly here," he told the -bewildered secretary. "If they prefer to play at billiards and to drink -beer, let them. I am quite content to enjoy this garden." - -In ten minutes time not a man remained in the bar or billiard room. The -lecture hall was filled. - -"We deserve your reproach, Will," shouted someone from the audience when -at last he stepped on to the platform. - -If he was severe on drink he was more severe on betting. - -"Many a man here," he told one of his Sunday morning audiences at the -Dock Gates, "can tell me the pedigree of half-a-dozen race-horses. It -shows you can think if you like. But that kind of thinking is what I -call thinking off-side." - -Crooks had a hundred happy illustrations for urging upon his -working-class hearers the duty of citizenship and co-operation. - -"We chaps are like the old lady's cow that gave a good pail of milk -regular, but often kicked it over. We have built up trade unions and -friendly societies and co-operative societies that stand for the best -working class organisations in the world. But we have a weakness for -kicking the pail over. How? Because we are constantly spoiling our own -good work by allowing other classes to do all the governing of the -country. - -"It reminds me of a group of boys I saw coming home from a football -match. - -"'How did yer get on?' they were asked by other lads in the street. - -"'Won.' - -"'How many?' - -"'Seven to nothing.' - -"'Been playing a blind school?'" - -And then Crooks would go on: "Well, we workers have been the blind -school, and we have been allowing other classes to score goals against -us all the time. If we haven't been blind we've certainly been -blindfold. Tear the bandage off your eyes. Be men." - -Behind all his banter there was a serious message in all his Sunday -morning addresses. - -"Labour may be the new force by which God is going to help forward the -regeneration of the world," he told his hearers. "Heaven knows we need a -little more earnestness in our national life to-day, and if the -best-born cannot give it, the so-called base-born may. We common people -have done it before. Who knows but what it is God's will that we should -do it again? We can all afford to laugh at that dear lady, bless her, -who could not bear the idea that some of the Apostles were fishermen, -and who solemnly asked her minister whether there was not some authority -for believing that they were owners of smacks. - -"We working men are gaining power. Let us see that we also gain -knowledge to use the power, not to abuse it. Parliament is supposed to -protect the weak against the strong. It doesn't pan out like that. After -all these years of popular education, isn't it about time we taught the -dialectical champions in the House of Commons that the people are the -creators of Parliament, and that we demand as its creators that -Parliament should be at the service of the people and all the people, -instead of at the service of the powerful and the wealthy? - -"But don't think that Parliament and municipality can do everything. -They are not going to make the world perfect. What they can do and what -we should insist on their doing is to make it easier to do right and -more difficult to do wrong. They can deal with those 'who turn aside the -needy from judgment and take away the right of the poor of My people,' -but they cannot make good men and good women. That must depend upon -ourselves." - -That College at the Dock Gates can point to some notable achievements. -The Blackwall Tunnel, which has its entrance at the very spot where the -meetings take place, was one of the earliest things the College agitated -for. Between the dock wall and the tunnel is a large municipal gymnasium -and recreation ground, the scheme for which was first unfolded by Crooks -at the College, when the ground was a waste and the children were -without play-places. - -Crooks's College began the campaign for a free library. The -well-equipped public library that now stands in the High Street was its -first achievement. The College founded the Poplar Labour League, which -first introduced Crooks to public life. Crooks's College first created -the demand for a technical institute for Poplar. The institute is now an -accomplished fact, comprising the best municipal school of marine -engineering in the country. Crooks's College started the campaign for -the footway tunnel under the Thames between the Isle of Dogs and -Greenwich, which now serves the daily convenience of thousands of -work-people. Crooks's College began that policy of humane treatment of -workhouse inmates which had a great deal to do with improved -administration of the Poor Law all over the country. Crooks's College -was the originator of the farm colony system in this country. Crooks's -College stood out for the welfare of Poor Law children. Crooks's College -broke down the corrupt practices on three of the old municipal -authorities in Poplar. - -And perhaps the greatest occasion in the history of the College at the -Dock Gates was that Sunday morning in June, 1906, that followed the -opening of the Local Government Board Inquiry into the administration of -the guardians. For the week previously the Press and the local Municipal -Alliance had done their best to poison the mind of Poplar against its -long-trusted Labour man. - -How would the College fare now? The attendance at the Dock Gates that -morning was one of the largest on record. Thousands of ratepayers were -there, and when Crooks walked through their ranks to the little portable -rostrum he had one of the great receptions of his life. He urged them -not to be discouraged because their cause seemed to be under a cloud, -but to strengthen his hands in maintaining the integrity of public life -and to possess themselves in quietness, confident that before long the -accused would become the accusers. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -FROM THE CHEERING MULTITUDE TO A SORROW-LADEN HOME - - The Dock Strike of 1889--"Our Dock Strike Baby"--At the Point of - Death--Discouraging a Missioner--Before a House of Lords - Committee--Entrance upon Public Life--A Widower with Six - Children--Second Marriage. - - -The great Dock Strike of 1889 nearly brought Crooks to his grave. Much -of the brunt and burden of that famous struggle fell upon his shoulders. -Months before, he had prepared the way by his Dock Gate meetings. When -at last the disorganised bands of dock and river-side labourers startled -the industrial world by standing together as one man for better -conditions of work and a minimum wage of sixpence an hour, Will Crooks -was one of the half-dozen Labour Leaders who directed the campaign to -its historic triumph. - -Seldom, while the strike lasted, did he take his clothes off. He worked -at his own trade during the day and gave nearly the whole of the night -to the strikers. The outdoor meetings he addressed kept him going up to -midnight. The early morning hours saw him lending a hand at the -organising offices and relief stations until the dawn called him to his -ordinary daily work again. - -There were times when he gave both day and night to the dockers, -preferring to lose time at his own work rather than miss an opportunity -of lending a hand to his less fortunate fellows. Sometimes he would -accompany the men in their demonstrations through the City and the -West-End. - -Those daily marches of the dock labourers opened London's eyes. The -orderliness of the ragged battalions, headed by "the man in the straw -hat," who was afterwards to take a seat in the Cabinet--John Burns--was -as impressive as their numbers. They were forbidden to use bands of -music in the City streets, so the men conceived the ingenious device of -whistling. It had a curious effect, some fifty thousand men whistling -the "Marseillaise" all the way from Aldgate to Temple Bar. - -When Crooks did get home for an hour or two in the evening it was not to -rest, but to sit by the bedside of his ailing wife and tend the youngest -of his children. Ill though his wife was, little though she saw of him -during the strike, she urged him from her sick bed to keep on helping -the dockers. - -"Don't mind me, Will," she told him, when he would peep in anxiously -after many hours' absence. "I shall be all right if you can only pull -those poor dockers through." - -He came in one night after nearly two days' absence, having arranged to -spend the whole of that evening by her bedside. She had just given birth -to a son--"our Dock Strike baby," as he came to be called for long -afterwards, now a promising apprentice in a Thames shipbuilding yard. -She was very happy at the good news he brought of the progress of the -strike. She was happier still at the prospect of his being spared for -his first evening at home. Presently the sound of hurrying footsteps was -heard in the street. Something important had happened. The men wanted -Will Crooks. Would he come again? - -He looked at his wife. She must decide. - -"Go, Will," she said. "Never let it be said your wife kept you from -helping those in need." - -The reaction came after the victory. When the dockers in their thousands -were back at work rejoicing at having won their sixpence an hour, Crooks -lay at the point of death in the London Hospital in Whitechapel Road. It -was the first time he had been ill in his life. Friends feared this -first illness was to be his last. Not until after a struggle of thirteen -weeks could he be pronounced out of danger. - -He is fond of telling this incident that occurred in the hospital:-- - -"When I was approaching convalescence, and naturally fairly happy at the -thought of soon being able to get out and return home, a missioner, as I -think he was called, came to see me as I lay in bed in the hospital. He -said to me quite bluntly, 'Are you not a miserable sinner?' - -"I said: 'No; I may be a sinner, but I am not a miserable one just now.' - -"The missioner left my side in disgust, and then returned and asked to -be allowed to send me a Testament. I consented, and received in a day -or two one marked in several places with red ink, apparently intended to -impress upon me what a depraved and miserable creature I was. - -"The missioner called again, and questioned me as to whether I had read -the marked passages and what I thought of them. - -"I told him that, as applied to me, they were not true. - -"I shall never forget the look I received, and I expect I was given up -as a lost man. - -"A few minutes after he had left my ward a patient from another ward -came to see me, and said:-- - -"'I say, Twenty-five, that's the way to get rid of them.' - -"I said, 'What have _you_ done to get rid of him?' - -"'Oh,' he answered. 'The missioner said, "Are you not a miserable -sinner?" and I said "Yes"; and then he said, "Thank God for that," and -went away.'" - -Soon after Crooks came out of the hospital he made his first appearance -in a public capacity in Parliament. He was invited on July 11th, 1890, -to give evidence before the Committee of the House of Lords on the -Infant Life Insurance Bill. It was seriously argued at the time that -working class parents deliberately neglected their children for the sake -of the insurance money. The Bill actually proposed that the insurance -money be kept out of the hands of the parents altogether and paid to -the undertaker. The offending clause disappeared after Crooks's -evidence. - -The _Evening News_, which headed its report of the day's proceedings "A -Working Man shows the Weak Points in the New Bill," summarised what -Crooks told the Committee thus:-- - - - A journeyman cooper from Poplar, evidently a thoroughly - straightforward and independent working-man of more than average - intelligence and facility of expression, gave evidence yesterday - before the Committee of the House of Lords, presided over by the - Bishop of Peterborough. - - He said he objected to the provision in the Bill for the payment of - insurance money to the undertaker. It was not merely to cover the - actual expenses of burial that the working man insured his child, - but to provide "black" and to meet other unavoidable expenses. If - insurance were abolished workmen would be obliged to fall back on - the old practice of "Friendly Leads," which generally led to - drinking at public-houses. - - He knew thousands of families of working people, and was perfectly - certain that there was not among them one mother lacking maternal - affection. There was no sacrifice the poor would not make for their - children, and it would be felt as a great reproach to say that a - child had not been properly cared for. In other cases bad mothers - would be bad mothers under any circumstances, and it was for the - criminal law to find them out; but if there was one bad in a - thousand he did not see why nine hundred and ninety-nine - respectable persons should be punished. - - To stop child insurance, witness said in reply to Lord Norton, - would punish honest parents and do no good whatever. - - -It was about this time that the working people of Poplar began to urge -him to go into public life. They elected him a member of the Poplar -Board of Trustees, in regard to which he had recently unearthed a -notorious scandal. Then he was made a Library Commissioner in -recognition of the prominent part he had taken in persuading Poplar to -adopt the Act. Soon afterwards he was returned as one of the two Poplar -representatives to the London County Council. - -The cloud that had hung over his home all through the Dock Strike was to -grow yet darker. He had not been on the County Council many weeks when -his wife died. She had barely recovered from the illness that kept her -bedfast during the exciting days of the strike. Then there came the -three anxious worrying months as her husband lay between life and death -in the hospital. The worry wore her out, and a brave God-fearing woman -of the people went down to her grave commanding her husband to work on. - -Thus, at the commencement of his public career and while still in his -thirties, Crooks found himself a widower with six children on his hands, -the youngest a baby. - -Among the many letters of sympathy that poured in upon him, that which -got nearest to his heart came from one whose acquaintance he had but -recently made, who described himself as "a fellow sufferer under a like -bereavement." The writer was Lord Rosebery, then Chairman of the London -County Council. - -All that first year of Crooks's public life was gone through while he -was bearing heavy burdens at home. His new duties as London County -Councillor, the many urgent calls to help the Labour movement in other -quarters, now that he was beginning to be known far beyond the bounds of -Poplar, kept him away from home often until a late hour. All this added -greatly to his domestic cares, since he had to be both mother and father -to his children. The eldest daughter, fourteen years of age, managed -bravely; but many a night he turned away from addressing the cheering -multitude of a crowded, glittering hall and went to a cheerless home to -find the youngest children crying. He would help to wash them, to mend -their clothes, and to cook for them. - -A year's experience convinced him that neither he nor the children could -go on in that way. His aged mother rendered all the help her growing -infirmities would allow. The old lady, with her married children's aid, -now lived in modest comfort in a little house off the High Street. There -lodged with her a young nurse engaged at a neighbouring institution, -whose maiden name was Elizabeth Lake, a native of Gloucestershire. -Crooks laid his case before her. She consented to become his wife and -bring up his children. They were married in Poplar Parish Church in -1893. - -The union has been a singularly happy one. Mrs. Crooks has done more -than bring up the children. She has guided and inspired her husband in -all his public life. So much so, that when some eight years later he -laid down his robes of office after a successful year as Mayor of -Poplar, he stated publicly in acknowledging a presentation to himself -and the Mayoress:-- - -"Without my wife's aid I would have been of little use in my public -work. Whenever I return home troubled or anxious, or defeated on some -pet scheme, I never have from my wife anything but cheering and -encouraging words. She it is who has made my public life possible. She -it is who deserves your thanks far more than I." - - - - -CHAPTER X - -A LABOUR MEMBER'S WAGES - - The Will Crooks Wages Fund formed--The Poplar Labour - League--Crooks's Election to the London County Council--Friends - outside the Labour Movement--Money no Substitute for Personal - Service--Refusing highly-paid Posts--Offer of a House rent-free for - Life declined--Not Risen from the Ranks. - - -How came it that a working man like Crooks was able to give his whole -time to public work? - -It was simply because his fellow workmen wished it. They went to him in -deputation in the early 'nineties, and said to him in effect:-- - -"Look here, Crooks. You can be more useful to us in public life than at -the workman's bench. We want you to stand for the London County Council -and some of the local bodies. Give up your work and we'll raise for you -from among ourselves an amount equal to your present wages." - -To which Crooks replied:-- - -"All right, mates, since you wish it. But understand! as soon as you -tire of me, no grumbling behind my back. Come forward and say so -plainly, and I'll go back to the bench at once." - -So the Will Crooks Wages Fund was formed by the Poplar Labour League. -The first treasurer was the Rev. H. A. Kennedy, of All Hallows', -Blackwall. Afterwards the then Rector of Poplar (Dr. Chandler) was -invited by the working men to become treasurer of the fund, and he held -the office until called away to a Colonial bishopric. - -We have seen how the Poplar Labour League came into being. It was one of -the first achievements of Crooks's College by the Dock Gates. Originally -it was named the Poplar Labour Election Committee. Its first executive -consisted of the Rev. H. A. Kennedy and local representatives of the -London Trades Council, the Engine Drivers' and Firemen's Union, the -Watermen's Society, the Dockers' Union, the Philanthropic Coopers' -Society, the East London Plumbers' Union, the Federated Trade and Labour -Unions, and the Gasworkers' Union. - -The League was one of the pioneers of Labour Representation in this -country. Long before the British Labour Party organised the present -system of paying its Members of Parliament, this little League in Poplar -for an unbroken period of a dozen years had shown how men from the ranks -of Labour could be maintained in public life. The League had a motto: -"The aim of every workman, whatever his task, whether he labours with -axe, chisel, or lathe, loom or last, hammer or pen, hands or head, -should be the ideal, the best, the perfect." - -The League was successful from the start. Its earliest effort was put -forth at the London County Council election of 1892. The result of that -effort can be judged from the following remarks in the League's first -annual report:-- - - - The return of Will Crooks to the London County Council marks an - epoch in the life of industrial Poplar. - - From time immemorial this hive of industry has been represented by - employers of labour and wealthy capitalists. Their record is now - broken. Labour has awakened to a sense of its duty. We hope the - awakening will be permanent, and that worthy representatives may be - found to fill the vacancies on the various administrative and - legislative bodies. - - We suggest to all working men's societies that wherever and - whenever it is possible they should subscribe to the Labour - Member's Wages Fund, for be it remembered that our Member is a - representative of all classes and not of one particular individual - class; and so long as he retains our confidence it is our duty to - support him to our utmost ability. - - -The response of the trade societies and workmen and friends generally -was such that within a few months the League by a unanimous vote decided -to raise the Labour Member's wages from L3 to L3 10s. a week to meet his -travelling expenses. For the first seven or eight years of his public -life that was absolutely the only source of Crooks's income. - -The League remained faithful to its early pledge all the time. Through -good and ill report, through all the changes and dissensions which such -an organisation was bound to cause, the League never once faltered in -its support of Crooks. Regularly at its annual meetings the League -passed a vote of thanks to "our representative on the L.C.C. for his -untiring devotion to Labour's cause and his perseverance in initiating -social reform so beneficial to the working classes. They further desire -to record their perfect confidence in him and congratulate him on the -success of his work." - -Many trade societies other than those on the original list became -subscribers to the Wages Fund through their local branches. Among them -were the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, the Stevedores' Labour -Protection League, the London Saddle and Harness Makers' Society, the -Postmen's Federation, the London Carmen's Trade Union, the Friendly -Society of Ironfounders, the Municipal Employees' Association, and the -Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. - -Certain admirers of Crooks outside the Labour Movement also sent -subscriptions to the League for the Wages Fund. Canon and Mrs. Barnett -and Dr. Clifford were occasional subscribers; so were Mrs. Bernard Shaw, -Mr. Cyril Jackson, Mrs. Ruth Homan, Mr. G. W. E. Russell, Mr. Sidney -Webb, Sir Melville Beachcroft, Canon Scott Holland, Mr. Fred Butler, the -editors of two or three London newspapers, and both Conservative and -Liberal Members of Parliament. - -Occasionally working men in distant parts of the country who had heard -Crooks speak or watched his public work would send in their mite, -generally anonymously. One such contribution, sent during the Woolwich -by-election, consisted of four penny stamps, stuck on a torn piece of -dirty paper, on which were written the words:-- - - - Will you please except four stamps toward the expens of will - Crooks election and may god bless him in being successful in - winning the seat for Labour - - from a working man. - - -That was all. Crooks keeps the stamps and the note to this day. - -This may be the proper place to make public another fact bearing on his -financial position. Many people have sent cheques to him direct, some of -these marked for his own personal use, some for helping the poor as he -thought best, others containing nothing beyond a brief note without name -or address like the following:-- - - - This is sent by a well-wisher, who believes that you are an honest, - straightforward fellow with a large heart for those less fortunate - than yourself. - - -Every sum received in this way Crooks has given to the poor. He has -neither taken a penny for his own personal use nor allowed a penny to -pass into the coffers of the Labour League. In one distressful winter -over L300 was thus sent to him and his wife. With the co-operation of a -local committee, the whole of this sum was spent in employing -out-of-work women and girls in making garments for their needy -neighbours. By these means dozens of families were saved from the -workhouse. - -Crooks discourages those who give money only. "Give part of yourself -rather than part of your wealth," he tells them. - -He has little sympathy with people who give money and then run away. A -person once called at his house during a bad winter and offered him -L500. - -"I am anxious about the poor people, Mr. Crooks," said the visitor, "so -I've brought down this money for you to help them." - -"Have you?" was the response. "But what are _you_ going to do?" - -"Oh, I'm going to the south of France. I cannot bear England in the -winter." - -"Then I advise you to take the five hundred pounds with you." - -"Do you refuse it?" - -"Absolutely. It is cowardly for a man like you to offer five hundred -pounds and then run away. You ought to do more than give it; you ought -to spend it. Come down and see that the proper people get it. It is not -so hard to raise five hundred pounds for the poor as it is to distribute -it properly among the poor." - -The Labour League did more than send Crooks to the London County -Council. It secured representation on the local Poor Law and municipal -bodies. It promoted social life as well as public life among the working -classes of Poplar. By entertainments, lectures, and excursions it -carried brightness and pleasure into the lives of the workmen, their -wives, and children. At Christmas time it acted as a kind of Santa Claus -to the poorest children of the district. It established a Loan and -Thrift Society, which soon had an annual turnover of L2,000. Throughout -it all the League never for a moment deserted its Labour Member. - -Crooks in his turn remained faithful to the League in face of several -alluring offers. The one that tempted him most came from his own trade. -Before he quitted the workshop for public life a future managership had -been hinted at. He had not been on the County Council more than a few -months when a vacancy in his former workshop occurred. At once he was -approached and urged to give up the L.C.C. - -The post offered him carried with it a salary of L500. He had six -children to bring up. There was the uncertainty as to the Labour League -being able to keep up the Wages Fund. He pondered over the matter -carefully. His decision changed the current of his life. A manager, no -matter how sympathetic, could not have remained long in the Labour -Movement. Besides, in this case there were hints of a future -partnership. Then it was that he decided calmly and deliberately to give -his life not to money-making, but to the service of the people. He -deliberately chose to remain a poor man in the service of poor men. -Having been made to bear so much of the care of this world, he -determined that he would know nothing of the deceitfulness of riches. - -Nothing has ever shaken him from that decision. From various quarters -since then other good offers have come his way. One of them, a -Government post, must be regarded as a singular tribute to his worth, -since the offer came from a Conservative Cabinet Minister. - -The manager of a large firm engaged in carrying out public works to the -value of over a million sterling, gave me at the time a frank opinion of -Crooks from the employers' standpoint. - -"I can't help liking that chap Crooks. But it's a pity he's on what I -call the wrong side. He's been negotiating with our firm until he has -compelled us to pay our men several thousand pounds a year extra in -wages. And a lot of thanks they give him for it! I overhear them -sometimes talking at work. They say he wouldn't have got them more money -if he hadn't been getting something out of it himself. Now if Crooks -would only place his ability on the employers' side he could earn a -thousand a year easily." - -For ten years after he entered public life Crooks was content with the -same five-roomed house in Northumberland Street where the deputation of -working men found him when they came to invite him to stand for the -County Council. When he did move it was into a neighbouring street, -Gough Street, where the upgrown family had the advantage of an -additional room. That remains his home to this day. - -One of his ardent admirers in Poplar, a well-to-do man, on learning he -was moving from Northumberland Street, offered him a house of his own -rent free. It was a large and pleasant house in East India Dock Road, -boasting a garden front and back. The owner implored him to take it for -the rest of his life, "as a small tribute from one who appreciates the -splendid public services you have rendered to Poplar." - -"It would never do for me to live in such a house," was Crooks's reply -in thanking the well-wisher. "My friends among the working people would -fear I was deserting their class, and would not come to me as freely as -they come now. My enemies would say, 'Look at that fellow Crooks; he's -making his pile out of us.' A Labour man like me must leave no opening -for his enemies." - -We have seen, then, that the only source of Crooks's income during the -first years of his public life was the L3 10s. a week paid by the Poplar -Labour League. After six or seven years this salary was increased to L4 -in view of his greatly widened sphere of public service. This payment -was stopped in 1903, when Crooks joined the official Labour Party in the -House of Commons. Then he received the usual payment of L200 a year, -given to each member of that party by the Trade Unionists of the -country. A small additional sum has since been voted to him annually by -the Poplar League and the Woolwich Labour Representation Association to -meet the out-of-pocket expenses inseparable from a Member of -Parliament's life. In addition he has received an occasional fee for a -public address. - -Let these simple facts, then, be the answer to those people who, -surprised at the amount of public work he carries out, keep asking -suspiciously how he does it. Crooks himself never hesitates to speak -out, either in public or private, as to his financial position. - -"How do I do it?" Crooks repeats to his working class audiences. "As a -pioneer of paid Labour representation I have been confronted with this -question through the whole of my public career. All well and good; but -why is the question not put to other politicians and public men? You -working men have been the worst offenders. You never think of asking the -question of such men seeking public positions as monopolists, food -adulterators, scamping contractors, property sweaters, bogus company -promoters, and others who fleece you at every turn. You never dream of -asking it of young untried men fresh from the Universities, who in many -cases are only after the spoils of office. You are inclined to regard -all these people as gentlemen. But let a man from your own ranks offer -to serve you in public life, and always there are a crowd of objectors, -generally thickest at public-house bars, who want to know where the -Labour man gets his money from? Talk about the fierce light that beats -upon a throne, what is it to the fierce light turned upon a Labour -representative? - -"How often, as I go about, do I hear of people saying sneeringly: 'Look -at that fellow Crooks. Who is he? He's only one of us, who has risen -from the ranks.' You just tell these people that Will Crooks has not -risen from the ranks; he is still in the ranks, standing four-square -with the working classes against monopoly and privilege." - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -ON THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL - - The Labour Bench at the L.C.C.--Its First Party Meeting--The - Programme--Crooks's First Speech in the County Hall--The Trade - Union Wages Principle Adopted--One of the Master-builders of the - New London--Retrospect--Chairman of the Public Control - Committee--Keeping an Eye on the Coal Sack--The End of Baby-farming - in London. - - -When Crooks entered the London County Council in 1892 he was a stranger -to almost all outside the little circle of Labour men sent up from other -divisions. - -As a pioneer in Labour representation in London he had more than the -usual amount of suspicion and opposition to surmount. In those days a -Labour representative was often subjected to fierce personal attacks -both from the class he represented and from the better-off classes whose -domains for the first time working-men were entering. His every word and -act were under a double microscope. He had to be a Spartan in endurance -and a saint in character. - -"Imagine," he once said to me during his early days on the Council, at -the time when one of its members, a peer, was associated with a -notorious case in the High Court, "imagine what an outcry there would -have been up and down the land if that Councillor, instead of belonging -to the House of Lords, had been a Labour representative." - -The Labour bench at the County Council set the standard for sound and -steady municipal administration to the Labour Party of the entire -country. John Burns sat at one end of the bench, Will Crooks at the -other. Between them sat, at different times, men like Will Steadman, -secretary of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress -and M.P. for Stepney and later for Central Finsbury; J. Ramsay -Macdonald, secretary of the Labour Party and M.P. for Leicester; Isaac -Mitchell, then secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions; H. -R. Taylor, of the Bricklayers' Society, at one time Mayor of Camberwell; -C. W. Bowerman, of the London Society of Compositors and M.P. for -Deptford; George Dew, of the Carpenters' and Joiners' Society and -secretary of the Workmen's Cheap Trains Association; Harry Gosling, of -the Watermen's and Lightermen's Society; and W. Sanders, of the Fabian -Society and Independent Labour Party. - -Crooks took the minutes of the first party meeting of the Labour Bench, -and he holds the document to this day. The meeting was held at the -offices of the Dockers' Union in the Mile End Road on April 26th, 1892, -a few weeks after the election which first made a L.C.C. Labour Party -possible. A line of policy was laid down that looks quite modest to-day, -now that it has become an integral part of ordinary L.C.C. -administration. At the time it was regarded by people outside the Labour -Movement as rank revolution. - -In the dull and dingy room in Mile End this little band of Labour men -declared for direct employment of labour and municipal workshops. The -L.C.C. Works Department, the first of its kind in the country, was the -result. They agreed on a minimum wage of sixpence an hour for labourers -and ninepence for artisans, with a maximum working week of fifty-four -hours. In many L.C.C. departments higher wages were afterwards secured, -and in others an eight-hour day was introduced. They demanded a system -of retiring pensions for workmen as for officials. This, too, in certain -departments soon became practical politics on the County Council. - -A few days later Crooks was making his first speech at the County Hall. -He took part in the debate on the Fair Wages Clause, the final form of -which was settled on the principle he laid down. Up to the birth of the -London County Council, which was only three years old when Crooks joined -it, municipal bodies knew nothing of Fair Wages Clauses in contracts. -The London County Council set an example which has since been followed -by public authorities all over the kingdom. - -This triumph for Labour was not won without a keen struggle. All kinds -of proposals were discussed with a view to defining a fair wage. It -looked as though the Labour Bench were in danger of losing the day, when -the situation was saved by what John Burns afterwards told Crooks was a -happy inspiration. - -The County Council was about to adopt what the Labour Bench regarded as -an unsatisfactory resolution. Crooks hastily wrote out an amendment -which ultimately formed the basis of a settlement. He showed it to -Burns, as leader of the Labour Party, and the latter immediately got up -and moved it. The words are worth repeating, since they supplied the -foundation for a Fair Wages Clause destined to become famous:-- - - - That all contractors be compelled to sign a declaration that they - pay the trade union rate of wages and observe the hours of labour - and conditions recognised by the London Trade Unions, and that the - hours of labour be inserted in and form part of the contract by way - of schedule, and that penalties be enforced for any breach of - agreement. - - -Before long this was the only proposal before the Council. The original -motion was withdrawn, while amendment after amendment directed against -the proposal Crooks had prepared was thrown out. Moderate and -Progressive members got up to say that to enforce trade union wages was -to fly in the face of political economy. It was this remark that drew -from Crooks his maiden speech. How little he was known then may be -judged from the fact that the _Daily Chronicle's_ report the next day -referred to him as Mr. Brooks. Thus:-- - - - Mr. Brooks said that political economy never took humanity into - account, but unless humanity was considered there could be no - justice to the worker. No contractor had ever been ruined by paying - trade union rates of wages. The best wages had always meant the - best workmen. Trade unions were anxious that the surplus labour of - the country should be employed, and they only asked the Council to - fix a minimum rate of wages. The sooner the Council employed men - direct the better. In the name of humanity and Christianity he - appealed to the Council to adopt trade union rates of wages. - - -The day this report appeared Crooks received the following letter from -"Marxian," of the _Labour Leader_, his friend George Samuel:-- - - - MY DEAR CROOKS,--Are you the Mr. Brooks of to-day's _Chronicle_ - report? If so, permit me to congratulate you on your speech. It - struck the one true note in all the weary debate. The awakened - consciousness of man has already interfered pretty considerably - with the economic "law of population" and must interfere even more - drastically with the economic "law of supply and demand." Both laws - are for semi-brutes and not for men. To say that supply and demand - shall settle wages is brutal. You may not be a very learned man, - friend Crooks, but at any rate you are not weighted with that false - learning which slays the heart to feed the head. - - -The fair wages debate went on from week to week at the County Hall, not -wearily, as Crooks's correspondent suggests, but with much spirit and -party feeling. Finally Lord Rosebery, as chairman, advised the Council -to hold a special meeting to settle the question. Before that meeting -took place the chairman invited Crooks to discuss the matter with him -with a view to arriving at a compromise likely to commend itself to the -majority. Crooks refused to withdraw his claim for trade union wages, -and after the two had had a long informal talk on the question, Lord -Rosebery accepted the Labour member's view. - -When the special meeting assembled the late Lord Farrer (then Sir -Thomas Farrer) carried an amendment to the trade union motion. By this -amendment the word "London" was deleted from the motion, and it was made -to read that contractors should "pay the trade union rate of wages and -observe the hours of labour and conditions recognised by the trade -unions _in the place or places where the contract is executed_." - -It will be seen, then, that the principle of trade union wages as laid -down by Crooks remained intact. On this principle the L.C.C. Fair Wages -Clause was established. It stipulates that the "rates of pay are to be -not less nor the hours of labour more than those recognised by -associations of employers and trade unions and in practice obtained." It -provides further that "where in any trade there is no trade union, the -Council shall fix the rates of wages and the hours of labour." - -The Labour Councillor for Poplar was soon on the warpath again. He -called the Council's attention to the low wages paid to some of the park -attendants. He instanced the man in charge of Red Lion Square, who was -receiving no more than thirteen shillings a week. - -"The man's not worth more," shouted a member. "He's got a wooden leg." - -"Yes, but he hasn't got a wooden stomach," came the retort from the -Labour Bench. - -And the man with the wooden leg, as well as other park attendants, had -their wages brought up to the living standard. - -Crooks soon became a good all-round municipal administrator, as well as -a Labour representative. He had stated in his first election address:-- - - - As a workman I should seek especially to represent the interests of - the working classes who form three-fourths of the ratepayers of - Poplar, while giving every attention to the general work of the - London County Council and to the general interests of Poplar. - - I am heartily in favour of what is known as the London - programme--of Home Rule for London, as enjoyed by other - municipalities; of the relief of the present ratepayers by taxing - the owner as well as the occupier; and of the equalisation of rates - throughout London for the relief of the poorer districts. - - I am in favour of municipal ownership or control of water, - tramways, markets, docks, lighting, parks, and the police. - - I would support all measures which would help to raise the standard - of life for the poor, especially in the way of better housing and a - strict enforcement of the Public Health Acts. - - -Crooks, in fact, became one of the master-builders of the New London -which the L.C.C. created. In face of heavy opposition he was one of that -strenuous band of stalwarts who in the 'nineties raised London out of -the chaos and darkness that reigned before the County Council was called -into being, and gave the capital for the first time a sense of civic -unity. - -In later years the claims of Parliament turned much of his energy into -other useful channels. But to this day he still remains a member of the -London County Council, and though now so much engrossed in national -politics, he is none the less proud of his record in the service of -London. He never looks back to the strenuous 'nineties on the County -Council without being thankful. - -"I believe we put new life into the municipal politics of the whole -country in those days," he tells you. "The London County Council showed -the people of England what great powers for good lay in the hands of -municipalities. We became a terror to all the monopolists who had -fattened on London for generations. We struck at slum-owners, ground -landlords, the music-hall offenders, food adulterators, and those who -robbed the poor by unjust weights. We swept the tramway and water -companies out of London, and by substituting public control gave the -people better and cheaper services. We broke down the contractors' ring -and started our own Works Department, the worst abused but the most -successful and the most daring municipal undertaking of the last quarter -of a century. - -"They were glorious days. That ten years' struggle between the people -and the monopolists was a strife of giants. The victory we gained in -London was a victory for progressive municipal government all over the -country. - -"We on the Labour Bench were in the front of the battle all the time. -While the big campaigns were going on we were not neglecting the smaller -duties. We carried the County Council right into the working-man's home. -We not only protected poor tenants from house-spoilers and extortionate -water companies, we gave a helping hand to the housewife. We saw that -the coal sacks were of proper size, that the lamp oil was good, the -dustbin emptied regularly, that the bakers' bread was of proper weight, -that the milk came from wholesome dairies and healthy cows, that the -coster in the street and the tradesman in the shop gave good weight in -everything they sold." - -For several years Crooks was a member and at one time chairman of the -Public Control Committee of the London County Council. It was this -committee that looked after these numerous small duties bearing so -important a relation to the working-man's home. Crooks kept a keen eye -on the coal sack. It was found that all over London coal was being -delivered in sacks too small to hold the prescribed weight. There was -consternation among the offending dealers when the County Council began -to pounce down upon them. - -In reference to this matter Crooks tells a quaint story. During one of -the L.C.C. elections he heard a couple of lads in heated altercation. - -"The County Council! Don't you talk to me about them people," one of -them cried. "They oughter be all at the bottom of the sea. They nearly -ruined my pore ole dad." - -"That's bad. How was it?" - -"Afore the County Council was heard of a two-hundredweight sack didn't -have to be no bigger 'n that"--holding his hand on a level with his -chest--"but now they have to be this size"--and his hand went above his -head. "Nearly ruined the pore ole man," he added. "He ain't got over it -yet." - -The Public Control Committee did more than ensure proper weight; it saw -to it that dealers did not deliver coal inferior in quality to that -described on the ticket. It recovered damages from a merchant who -misrepresented the quality of his coals. When the case was reported to -the L.C.C. one of the older members, to whom this kind of thing was -wholly a new exercise of public duty, declared that he supposed the -Council would next be insisting that the workman's Sunday joint -consisted of nothing but good meat. - -"And why not?" asked Crooks, who followed him in the debate. "If the man -pays for fresh meat and receives bad meat, and is too poor to take -action himself, it is the duty of the public authority to see that he -gets justice." - -There is no more ardent believer than Crooks in Ruskin's dictum that -when a people apologises for its pitiful criminalities and endures its -false weights and its adulterated food, the end is not far off. - -One at least of the pitiful criminalities of our modern -civilisation--baby-farming--was dealt a blow during his chairmanship of -the Public Control Committee from which it is not likely ever to -recover. He represented the L.C.C. before the Committee of the House of -Commons which considered the Infant Life Protection Bill promoted by the -Council. That was before his own Parliamentary career began. Day after -day the Labour man strove with barristers and Members of Parliament in -the Commons Committee Room to safeguard infants of misfortune from -cruelty and neglect. His advocacy prevailed. The Bill was passed. -Baby-farming as then existing in London came to an end. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -TWO OF HIS MONUMENTS - - Testimony from Sir John McDougall and Lord Welby--Declining the - Vice-chairmanship of the L.C.C.--How Crooks Lost His Overcoat--Work - on the Technical Education Board--The Blackwall Tunnel--Chairman of - the Bridges Committee. - - -From the first, Crooks has shared the representation of Poplar on the -London County Council with Sir John McDougall. The retired merchant was -at the top of the poll in 1892, while the Labour man found himself -elected as the second member with a thousand majority over the two -Moderate candidates. At every L.C.C. election since Crooks has headed -the poll. - -Two such men, of course, differ in their public policy widely. This -notwithstanding, Sir John paid his Labour colleague a striking tribute -during the parliamentary by-election in Woolwich. Sir John was Chairman -of the London County Council at the time. This is what he wrote to the -Woolwich electors a few days before the poll:-- - - - Mr. Crooks has been my colleague on the London County Council for - the last twelve years, and during the whole of that time he has - worked with great zeal and ability for the good of London.... His - zeal is great, and his wisdom is as great as his zeal. I doubt - whether anyone in London has done so much as he in all the - measures which tend to the uplifting and the good of the people. - - -Lord Welby, another of his colleagues on the County Council, seized the -same opportunity to tell the electors what he thought of their Labour -candidate. The two opinions, coming from men who had often opposed his -policy, and whose walks of life lay so widely apart from his own, form -no small tribute to the worth of his municipal work. Said Lord Welby:-- - - - Mr. Crooks's knowledge, his experience, his courage, his readiness - of humour, his good temper, and, above all, his devotion to the - work he has undertaken have made him one of the most useful, as - well as one of the most popular, members of the London County - Council. - - -His devotion was shown by his attendance. For thirteen years in -succession he never missed a single Council meeting. Until Parliament -began to claim his time his record of attendance every year, both at -Council and Committee meetings, stood among the half-dozen highest. - -After such a long unbroken service, it was bitter to be kept at home by -an illness one Tuesday, the day the L.C.C. meets. Only one other -councillor--Sir William Collins--had kept pace with him during those -thirteen years. Crooks wrote to his friendly rival from a sick bed:-- - -"To-day you go ahead in this long and pleasant competition between us. I -cannot help thinking that after all it is a case of the survival of the -fittest, for I cannot leave my room." - -"I hate to win under such conditions," said Sir William in his cheering -reply. - -At one time the Progressive party proposed to nominate him as -vice-chairman, a position entitling the holder to the L.C.C. -chairmanship in the year following. The honour was declined. He believed -he could be more useful as an independent member. - -So the sequel proved. As a member of the Parks Committee he never -wearied in working for more open spaces and children's play-places in -the poorer parts of London. It had long been a grievance to the working -classes of London that nearly all the parks lay in the West End and the -suburbs. Since the poor districts were now too thickly covered with -houses ever to permit of spacious parks being provided in their midst, -Crooks was one of the most earnest in pleading that the Council should -make amends by rescuing every vacant plot of land that remained and -converting it into a recreation ground, no matter how small. - -His strenuous plea secured for the East-End alone three splendid open -spaces. These are the Bromley Recreation Ground, the Tunnel Gardens at -Poplar, and the Island Gardens that take their name from the Isle of -Dogs. To visit any one of these, and see therein children playing and -tired people finding rest, is to feel deeply what a benign influence has -fallen over these poor neighbourhoods. - -Crooks obtained this recreation ground for Bromley at the cost of his -overcoat. The open space was formed out of something like a morass by -the banks of the Lea. It lay hidden away in that labyrinth of sterile -streets stretching southwards from Bow Bridge to the spot where the -lesser river loses itself in the Thames. - -He had persuaded a party of his County Council colleagues to go with him -to the neighbourhood. They all left their overcoats in the private -omnibus that took them down from the County Hall, while he showed them -over the unwholesome little waste, as it then was, and pointed out its -possibilities as a recreation ground. When they returned they learnt -that one of the overcoats had been stolen. - -"I see it's not mine," said Lord Monkswell, pointing to his astrachan. - -"Nor mine," added the Hon. Lionel Holland, then M.P. for the division, -as he picked up one lined with fur. - -"No," said Crooks; "people about here daren't wear overcoats like those. -If there's one missing, it's bound to be mine worse luck." - -He laughed at the loss then and many times afterwards, though he had a -private reason for lamenting it; it was a recent gift from half a dozen -working-men admirers. He laughed because he found he was able to make -use of the incident in his long agitation on the L.C.C. to get the waste -reclaimed. - -Whenever his colleagues inquired where was this mysterious outlandish -place he was so anxious to convert into a recreation ground, he would -make reply:-- - -"It's the place where they preferred my coat to Lord Monkswell's." - -It came to be so well known on the County Council as the place where -Crooks lost his overcoat, that when finally he got a definite proposal -to buy the ground brought forward there was nothing but a good-natured -acquiescence from every member. - -On the formation of the L.C.C. Technical Education Board, he pleaded the -cause of good craftsmanship with some effect. He carried a resolution -conferring special facilities for technical instruction upon -working-class districts. - -Long after he retired from the Board he received from a working-man's -son a little proof of the practical results of his efforts. It came in -the following letter:-- - - - You will probably remember how some years ago you pleaded my case - on the L.C.C., and how, through your influence, I was enabled to - complete my studies in naval architecture at Greenwich College. - - I am sure you will be glad to know that I have now passed my final - examination and have just been admitted a member of the Royal Corps - of Naval Constructors. My official appointment is that of Assistant - Constructor in one of the principal Government Dockyards, where I - have been on probation for the last twelve months or more. The - final examinations were held last July in London and occupied more - than three weeks, with an exam, almost daily. - - I feel that I owe you a debt of gratitude for pleading my cause at - the time. My father had spent his all on me while I was at the - college, and he being a toolsmith with seven children, you can well - understand that what he had by him he could ill afford on me. - - My father and the others of the family desire to join with me in - this letter of thanks and gratitude to you. - - -Mention has already been made of how Crooks and the Poplar Labour League -originated at the Dock Gate meetings the scheme for a technical -institute for his native borough. So many times was this project delayed -that he often told his Poplar audiences he feared he would go down to -posterity as the man who talked of an institute that never came. It was -not until the early part of 1906 that the institute was opened. There is -a reference to it in the annual report of the Poplar Labour League for -that year:-- - - - Some years ago the League mooted the idea of a technical institute - for Poplar. Mr. Crooks took it up and carried it to official - quarters, never letting the subject drop, until it stands at last - an accomplished fact. A School of Marine Engineering and Nautical - Academy has recently been opened in Poplar. - - A handsome building has been erected in High Street, and in it will - be taught seamanship and navigation, marine engineering and naval - architecture and propulsion, general mechanical engineering, - electrical engineering, pattern making, carpentry and woodwork, and - theoretical and practical chemistry, physics, and mechanics. - Nothing more appropriate could have been built in Poplar. It is - mainly due to the tireless efforts of Mr. Crooks that it exists, - and it will stand as a monument to him. - - -But Poplar boasts a greater monument to its Labour Councillor. He was on -the L.C.C. Bridges Committee during the making of Blackwall Tunnel. In -its day the largest subaqueous tunnel in the world, its construction -involved years of anxious labour. - -The tunnel carries vehicular and passenger traffic under the Thames -between Poplar and Greenwich, five miles below the nearest bridge, that -at the Tower. Before it was made the two million Londoners living east -of the bridges were without any public means of crossing the river. To -build an ordinary bridge was impossible with so many ships passing night -and day to and from the London Pool. It was decided to take the traffic -under the Thames by descending roadways leading to a tunnel some seventy -feet below high-water mark. - -From the time he joined the Council to that day in May, 1897, when the -King as Prince of Wales went down to Poplar to open the tunnel, on -behalf of Queen Victoria, Crooks was among the keenest of the public men -engaged in carrying that great engineering feat through. He made himself -so thoroughly master of the details that he was in great demand all over -London as a lecturer on the tunnel. The chief engineers on the works who -heard the lecture congratulated him on the way he made intelligible and -interesting the complicated system by which the tunnel was bored through -the clay within a foot or two of the river bed. - -So satisfied were his fellow County Councillors with the practical work -he did at Blackwall that on its completion they elected him Chairman of -the Bridges Committee. In that capacity he steered through the Council -and through a Committee of the House of Commons two other schemes for -tunnels under the Thames, one for foot passengers only between Greenwich -and the Isle of Dogs, and the other for general traffic between Shadwell -and Rotherhithe, designed on a larger scale than the tunnel at -Blackwall. Interest in these schemes, however, can never be so great as -it was in the Blackwall experiment, the first of its kind attempted. - -In the special Blackwall Tunnel number issued by the _Municipal -Journal_, Crooks figures among those described as "the men who made the -tunnel." Following sketches and portraits of Sir Alexander Binnie (then -the L.C.C. engineer, who designed the tunnel), of Sir Weetman Pearson, -M.P. (the contractor who executed the work), of Sir William Bull, M.P. -(who was then chairman of the Bridges Committee), is a reference to -other members of the Committee who took a prominent part in the work. -The first place after the chairman is given to Crooks. The _Municipal -Journal_ says:-- - - - Mr. Will Crooks, more than any other man, has made Londoners - acquainted with the tunnel. His popular lecture on Blackwall Tunnel - has been given in all parts of London to all kinds of audiences, - and everywhere the clear, picturesque description Mr. Crooks has - given, aided by the lantern and his own genial wit, has made - intelligible to Londoners, old, young, rich, and poor, what is, - after all, a somewhat dry and difficult subject. - - This only goes to show how closely Mr. Crooks himself has been - identified with the construction of the tunnel. As one of the - representatives of the Poplar district, he has turned his - membership of the Bridges Committee to good account by giving to - the tunnel his special attention. No Councillor has been so - frequent a visitor to the various works, and it is doubtful - whether any outsider went so many times into the compressed air. - - The workmen had just cause to bless the Poplar County Councillor. - It was owing to Mr. Crooks's efforts that a revised schedule of - wages was adopted. The result of this was that the contractors paid - an additional L26,000 in wages. With all his zeal for the workmen, - Mr. Crooks never once came in conflict with either the contractors - or the engineers. Men and masters at Blackwall have all held the - worthy Labour Councillor in the highest regard, and both are sorry - that their long and cheerful connection must now be severed. - - -The same number of the _Municipal Journal_ contained an article by -Crooks himself, entitled, "A Labour View of the Blackwall Tunnel." The -article displayed with what tact and modesty the Labour member had -safeguarded the interests of his own class without neglecting the -interests of the people of London. It bore out the statement made in his -first speech to the Council, that no contractor ever lost by paying the -trade union rate of wages. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -THE TASK OF HIS LIFE BEGINS - - Elected to the Poplar Board of Guardians--Bumbledom in - Power--Prison preferred to Workhouse--Poverty treated like Crime. - - -Six months after his return to the London County Council, Poplar elected -Crooks to the Board of Guardians. When he took his seat as a member in -the very Board-room where thirty years before he clung timorously to his -mother's skirt he knew that the task of his life had begun. - -He and his friend George Lansbury were elected together--the only Labour -men on a Board of twenty-four. They were the firstfruits of the reduced -qualification for Guardians introduced by Mr. (afterwards Lord) Ritchie, -at that time President of the Local Government Board. - -To Crooks belongs much of the credit for this welcome change. He felt -keenly that working-men and women could never become Guardians of the -Poor so long as the L40 property qualification remained. He persuaded -the Poplar Trustees, of whom he was one, to ask the Local Government -Board to make it possible for workpeople to become Guardians. Mr. -Ritchie, ever sympathetic towards the East-End, a division of which he -was then representing in Parliament, met this request from Poplar by -lowering the qualification to L10. His successor at the Local Government -Board, Sir Henry Fowler, abolished the property qualification -altogether. - -At the time of Crooks's election the dissatisfaction felt by ratepayers -with the old Guardians was deep and bitter. The Local Government Board -has evidence in its possession that poor people of the district were -saying at the time that if you wanted out-relief you must move into such -and such a street, where rents were collected by someone who had -influence with the Board. - -Inside the workhouse Crooks found a state of things that seems -incredible to-day. Bumbledom held sway over paupers and Guardians alike. - -There were Guardians who had never been inside the workhouse once. When -Crooks attempted to enter as a Guardian he found that the Master had -power to shut the gate upon him. Without the Master's permission, except -on the regular House Committee days, Guardians had no legal right inside -the workhouse at all. - -The two Labour men raised such a hubbub over this anomaly that Sir Henry -Fowler issued an order giving a Guardian the right to enter the -workhouse at any reasonable hour. As a result there began, not only in -Poplar but all over the country, a marked improvement in the treatment -of old people in workhouses. - -Here was a distinct score at the first venture. With the right of -admission established, Crooks made full use of it. He found most of the -officers hostile. So much so, that during a fire that broke out in the -workhouse bakery, bringing the brigade engines round, one of the -officers exclaimed, in the presence of the others when the fire was at -its height:-- - -"The only thing wanting now is that Crooks and Lansbury should be put on -the top of it." - -The cheers with which this remark was received were soon to give way to -grave concern. It was clear the two Labour men meant to put an end to -many things. Several of the officers were summarily suspended by Crooks -one morning when he appeared on the scene unexpectedly. - -A woman inmate had contrived to escape from the workhouse. She came -round to his house and knocked him up. In consequence of an alarming -story she told him respecting the conditions under which a fellow inmate -had died in her arms that very night, Crooks hurried round to the -institution and suspended certain of the officers on the spot. - -The officers whom Crooks had suspended were dismissed by the Board. Nor -were they by any means the last to be dismissed or to take their -departure, for other scandals were brought to light. - -"We found the condition of things in the House almost revolting," Crooks -stated in evidence before the Local Government Board Inquiry of 1906. -"The place was dirty. The stores were empty. The inmates had not -sufficient clothes, and many were without boots to their feet. The food -was so bad that the wash-tubs overflowed with what the poor people -could not eat. It was almost heart-breaking to go round the place and -hear the complaints and see the tears of the aged men and women. - -"'Poverty's no crime, but here it's treated like crime,' they used to -say. - -"Many of them defied the regulations on purpose to be charged before a -magistrate, declaring that prison was better than the workhouse. - -"One day I went into the dining-room and found women sitting on the long -forms, some sullen, some crying. In front of each was a basin of what -was alleged to be broth. They called it greasy water, and that was -exactly what it looked and tasted like. They said they had to go out and -wash blankets on that. I appealed to the master to give them something -to eat, as they said they would sooner go to prison than commence work -on that. Those women, like the men, were continually contriving to get -sent to prison in order to escape the workhouse. After a few heated -words between the master and me he gave them some food, and none of them -went to prison that day. - -"A few weeks later I was in the workhouse when these same women were -creating a fearful uproar. - -"'Ah, there you are,' said the master, meeting me. 'Go and look at your -angels now! A nice lot they are to stick up for!' - -"I went to the dining-room. There was a dead silence the moment I -entered. - -"'I am right down ashamed of you,' I said. 'When you were treated like -animals, no wonder you behaved like animals. Now that Mr. Lansbury and I -have got you treated like human beings, we expect you to behave like -human beings.' - -"They said not a word, and later in the day the ringleaders, without any -prompting, came to me and expressed their regret. From that day to this -no such scene among the workhouse women has ever been repeated. - -"The staple diet when I joined the Board was skilly. I have seen the old -people, when this stuff was put before them, picking out black specks -from the oatmeal. These were caused by rats, which had the undisturbed -run of the oatmeal bin. No attempt was made to cleanse the oatmeal -before it was prepared for the old people. - -"Whenever one went into the men's dining-room there were quarrels about -the food. I have had to protect old and weak men against stronger men, -who would steal what was eatable of their dinners. There was no -discipline. The able-bodied men's dining-room on Sundays gave one as -near an approach to hell as anything on this earth. It was everybody for -himself and the devil take the hindmost. If a fellow could fight he got -as much as he wanted. If he could not, he got nothing. Fights, followed -by prosecutions at the police courts, were common. The men boasted that -prison had no worse terrors than that place. They were absolutely beyond -control. They wandered about all over the place, creating all kinds of -discord, and even threatening to murder the officers. Two labour masters -nearly lost their lives in trying to control them. - -"The inmates were badly clothed as well as badly fed. Not one of them -had a change of clothing. Their under-clothes were worn to rags. If they -washed them they had to borrow from each other in the interval. - -"The inmates' clothes were not only scanty, they were filthy. On one -occasion the whole of the workhouse linen was returned by the laundry -people because it was so over-run with vermin that they would not wash -it. - -"One of the inmates--a woman--who was doing hard work at scrubbing every -day, asked me whether she couldn't have a pair of boots. - -"'Surely,' I said, putting her off for the time, 'nobody here goes -without boots?' - -"A second and a third time when I came across her scrubbing the floors -she pleaded for boots. She raised her skirt from the wet stone floor, -and showed two sloppy pieces of canvas on her feet, and that was all she -had in the way of boots." - -Crooks went on to relate that he walked along the corridor and saw a -female officer. "There's a woman over there who has asked me three times -to get her a pair of boots," he said. - -She drew her skirt round her and said, "Oh, why do you worry about -these people; they are not our class." - -"Worry about them!" Crooks rejoined. "What do you mean by our class? We -are here to see these people properly clothed. I do not want to quarrel, -but that woman must have a pair of boots to-day." - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -THE MAN WHO FED THE POOR - - Chairman of the Poplar Board of Guardians--Bumbledom - Dethroned--Paupers' Garb Abolished--Two Presidents of the Local - Government Board Approve Crooks's Policy. - - -This, then, was the state of the workhouse when Crooks went on the -Board. It was soon evident that a strong man had arrived. He whom some -of the Guardians at first described as "a ranter from the Labour mob" -soon proved himself the best administrator among them. - -Within five years of his election he was made Chairman. The Board -insisted on his retaining the chair for ten consecutive years. During -that time he wrought out of the shame and degradation he found in the -workhouse a system of order and decency and humane administration that -for a long time made the Poplar Union a model among Poor Law -authorities, and one frequently recommended by the Local Government -Board. - -Of course he made enemies. Some of the old Guardians whom he had turned -out of public life nursed their resentment in secret. Others joined -them, including contractors who had fared lavishly under the old -_regime_. Presently a Municipal Alliance was formed, and though it could -do nothing against Crooks at the poll, since the ratepayers would -persist in placing him at the top, it found other methods of attacking -him, of which more hereafter. - -One of the first things he aimed at was a change in the character both -of officers and of Guardians. He saw no hope for the poor under the old -rulers. At each succeeding election his opposition brought about the -defeat of the worst of them. - -The officers could not be dealt with so publicly. Some of the officers -in the infirmary, addicted to drunkenness, were able to defy the -Guardians for an obvious reason. It was one of their duties to take -whisky and champagne into the infirmary for the delectation of some of -the Guardians, whom a billiard table often detained into the early -hours. Crooks and Lansbury raised such indignation in the district as to -make it impossible for this state of things to continue. - -In 1894 the Master and Matron resigned. Gradually the old school of -workhouse officials who had run the place as they liked were weeded out. -A more intelligent, more sympathetic, better disciplined staff grew up -in their place. Bumbledom was dethroned. The sick were nursed better. -The inmates were clothed better. All, both old and young, were fed -better. - -The tell-tale pauper's garb disappeared altogether. When the old people -walked out they were no longer branded by their dress. They wore simple, -homely garments. They all rejoiced in the change save a few like the old -woman Crooks came across one afternoon on her day out. She was looking -clean and comfortable, and he asked how she liked the new clothes. - -"Not at all, Mr. Crooks. Nobody thinks you come from the workhouse now, -so they don't give you anything." - -His greatest reform had reference to the food. "Skilly" went the way of -"greasy water." Good plain wholesome meals appeared on the tables. - -"And became more expensive," say the critics. - -"Yes," Crooks retorts; "but to economise on the stomachs of the poor is -false economy. If it's only cheapness you want, why don't you set up the -lethal chamber for the old people? That would be the cheapest thing of -all." - -Let us see what he actually gave these people to eat, since for feeding -the poor he was afterwards called to the bar of public opinion. - -First he developed the system of bread-baking in the workhouse, in order -to get better and cheaper bread than was being supplied under contract -from outside. Under the direction of one or two skilled bakers, the work -provided many of the inmates with pleasant and useful occupation. They -made all the bread required in the workhouse for both officers and -inmates, all the bread required in the children's schools, all the -loaves given away as out-relief. - -Instead of being likened to india-rubber, as it used to be in the old -days, the bread now came to be described by the _Daily Mail_ as equal to -what could be obtained in the best restaurants in the West-End. Yet -they were making this bread in the workhouse cheaper than it was -possible to buy ordinary bread outside. - -And then, for the benefit of the infirm old folk, Crooks persuaded the -Guardians to substitute butter for margarine, and fresh meat for the -cheap stale stuff so often supplied. He held out for milk that had not -been skimmed, and for tea and coffee that had not been adulterated. He -even risked his reputation by allowing the aged women to put sugar in -their tea themselves, and the old men to smoke an occasional pipe of -tobacco. - -Rumours of this new way of feeding the workhouse poor reached the -austere Local Government Board. First it sent down its inspectors, and -then the President himself appeared in person. And Mr. Chaplin saw that -it was good, and told other Boards to do likewise. He issued a circular -to the Guardians of the country recommending all that Poplar had -introduced. More, he proposed that for deserving old people over -sixty-four years of age "the supply of tobacco, dry tea, and sugar be -made compulsory." - -This humane order of things, you may be sure, did not commend itself to -all Guardian Boards; and when later there came further instructions from -headquarters that ailing inmates might be allowed "medical comforts," -the revolt materialised. A deputation of Guardians went to Whitehall to -try to argue the President into a harder heart. Crooks and Lansbury were -there to uphold the new system. Mr. Walter Long had succeeded Mr. -Chaplin then. He listened patiently to ingenious speeches in which -honourable gentlemen tried to show that it was from no lack of love for -the poor they had not carried out the new dietary scale, but---- - -"Gentlemen," Mr. Long interrupted at last, "am I to understand you do -not desire to feed your poor people properly?" - -Then all with one accord began to make excuse. It was the difficulty of -book-keeping, they said. It appeared they were prepared to stint the -poor rather than add to the book-keeping. - -From that day an improved dietary scale was introduced into our -workhouses. The man who fed the poor in Poplar saw the workhouse poor of -the kingdom better fed in consequence. - -What kind of food was it that Poplar dared to give to the poor? Those -"luxuries for paupers" down at Poplar, about which the world was to hear -so much, what were they? A working-man had appeared, and after years of -unwearied well-doing had got rid of "skilly" and "greasy water," -substituting, with the approval of two Presidents of the Local -Government Board, the following simple articles of food. - -Observe the list carefully, for the kinds and quantities of food here -set out were precisely those supplied to the able-bodied inmates during -the outcry that arose over "paupers' luxuries" at the time of the Local -Government Board Inquiry in 1906. The list is the official return of the -food supplied in one week to each inmate. - - - A MAN'S DIET FOR A WEEK. - - (COST, 4s. 2d.) - - Breakfasts Bread 31/2 lbs. - Butter 31/2 ozs. - Coffee 7 pints. - Dinners Mutton 131/2 ozs. - Beef 41/2 ozs. - Bacon 3 ozs. - Irish stew 1 pint. - Boiled pork 41/2 ozs. - Bread 14 ozs. - Potatoes and greens 41/2 lbs. - Suppers Bread 31/2 lbs. - Butter 31/2 ozs. - Tea 7 pints. - - - A WOMAN'S DIET FOR A WEEK. - - (COST, 4s.) - - Breakfasts Bread 2-5/8 lbs. - Butter 31/2 ozs. - Coffee 7 pints. - Dinners Mutton 12 ozs. - Beef 4 ozs. - Bacon 3 ozs. - Irish stew 1 pint. - Boiled pork 4 ozs. - Bread 13/4 lbs. - Potatoes and greens 3 lbs. - Suppers Bread 2-5/8 lbs. - Butter 31/2 ozs. - Tea 7 pints. - - -When you read down that list and think of the scare headlines that -appeared in London daily papers during the Inquiry--"Splendid Paupers," -"Luxuries for Paupers," "A Pauper's Paradise"--you may well ask, Are we -living in bountiful England? Or have we fallen upon an England of meagre -diet and mean men, an England that whines like a miser when called upon -to feed on homely fare its broken-down veterans of industry? - -Dickens is dead, else would he have shown us Bumble reincarnated in the -editors of certain London newspapers. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -TURNING WORKHOUSE CHILDREN INTO USEFUL CITIZENS - - A Home for Little "Ins-and-Outs"--Technical Education for Workhouse - Children--A Good Report for the Forest Gate Schools--Trophies won - by Scholars--The Children's Pat-a-Cakes. - - -After he had fed the old people and clothed the old people, and in other -ways brought into their darkened lives a little good cheer, Crooks -turned his care upon the workhouse children. - -The Guardians' school at Forest Gate lay four miles from the Union -buildings at Poplar. With five or six hundred children always under -training in the school there still remained varying batches of neglected -little people in the workhouse. The greater number of these belonged to -parents who came into the House for short periods only. - -These little "ins-and-outs" were getting no schooling and no training -save the training that fitted them for pauperism. What to do with them -had long been a perplexing problem. If they were sent to Forest Gate one -day their parents in the workhouse could demand them back the next day -and take their discharge, even though they and their children turned up -at the gates for re-admission within the next twenty-four hours. - -When Crooks proposed the simple expedient of sending these children to -the surrounding day-schools everybody seemed amazed. - -The idea had never been heard of before. The London School Board of the -day did not take kindly to it at all. It poured cold water on the -project at first. The neighbouring schools were nearly all full, and the -Board thought it would hear no more of the matter by suggesting that if -the Guardians could find vacant places they were at liberty of course to -send the children. - -Crooks framed an answering letter that it was the School Board's duty to -find the places, and that, come what would, the Guardians were -determined to send the children to the day schools. - -Soon places were found for all. The little people who, through neglect -and idleness in the workhouse, had been getting steeped in pauperism, -were now dressed in non-institution clothes, and they went to and from -the neighbouring schools, playing on the way like any other children. - -That was the beginning of a system destined to have a far-reaching -effect on Poor Law children all over the country. Other Unions, faced -with the same problem, seeing how well it had been dealt with at Poplar, -went and did likewise. - -The Labour Guardian did not rest there. The children were a great deal -better for coming in daily contact with the outside world, but much of -the good work was undone by their having to spend every night in the -workhouse. He wanted to keep them away altogether from its -contaminating influence. He persuaded the Guardians to purchase a large -dwelling house about a quarter of a mile away from the workhouse. This -became a real home for the children. There they are brought up and -regularly sent to the public day schools outside, entirely free from -workhouse surroundings. - -So long as the mark of the workhouse clings to children, so long, says -Crooks, will children cling to the workhouse. That is what makes him so -keen in getting rid of the institution dress and of everything else -likely to brand a child. - -He helped to banish all that suggested pauperism from the Forest Gate -School. The children were educated and grew up, not like workhouse -children, as before, but like the children of working parents. With what -result? Marked out in their childhood as being "from the workhouse," -they often bore the stamp all their life and ended up as workhouse -inmates in their manhood and womanhood. Under the new system, they were -made to feel like ordinary working-class children. They grew up like -them, becoming ordinary working-men and working-women themselves; so -that the Poor Law knew them no longer. - -"If I can't appeal to your moral sense, let me appeal to your pocket," -Crooks once remarked at a Guildhall Poor Law Conference. "Surely it is -far cheaper to be generous in training Poor Law children to take their -place in life as useful citizens than it is to give the children a -niggardly training and a branded career. This latter way soon lands -them in the workhouse again, to be kept out of the rates for the rest of -their lives." - -How far the principle was carried out at Forest Gate may be judged from -the report made by Mr. Dugard, H.M. Inspector of Schools, after one of -his visits. Thus:-- - - - There is very little (if any) of the institution mark among the - children.... Both boys' and girls' schools are in a highly - satisfactory state, showing increased efficiency, with increased - intelligence on the part of the children.... They compare very - favourably with the best elementary schools. - - -In all that related to games and healthful recreation Crooks agreed in -giving the scholars the fullest facilities. The lads were encouraged to -send their football and cricket teams to play other schools. The girls -developed under drill and gymnastic training, and became proficient -swimmers. - -In fact, the scholars at Forest Gate began to count for something. They -learnt to trust each other and to rely upon themselves. They grew in -hope and courage. They learnt to walk honourably before all men. In -consequence, thousands of them have become merged in the great working -world outside, self-respecting men and women. - -I met Crooks looking elated one evening, and he told me he had just come -from the Poor Law schools' swimming competition at Westminster baths. - -"There were three trophies," he said. "The first, the London Shield, was -for boys. Poplar won that with 85 marks, five more than the next best. -The second, the Portsmouth Shield, was for girls, with a Portsmouth -school competing. Our Poplar girls won that with 65 marks, the two next -schools getting only 35 each. The third trophy, the Whitehall Shield, -for the school as a whole with the highest number of marks, was also won -by Poplar. I feel as pleased as though I'd done it myself." - -The best administration in an out-of-date building is always hampered. -Forest Gate belonged to the old order of Poor Law schools known as -barrack buildings. Although the Guardians made the very best of the -school, there were structural defects that hindered the work seriously. -It was therefore decided to build cottage homes at Shenfield in Essex, -where a special effort is being made to train the girls as well as the -boys in rural pursuits in order to keep them out of the overcrowded -cities. - -The Parliamentary Committee on Poor Law Schools that sat in 1896 invited -Crooks to give evidence. Many of the things he urged were included in -the Committee's recommendations. Among them was the extension of the -full benefit of the Education Act and the Technical Education Acts to -all Poor Law children. - -"The wine and spirit dues that provide the technical education grants," -he told the committee, "might be said to belong to Poor Law children by -right, because it is always being urged that it is owing to drunken -parents that these children get into the workhouse. I don't believe it, -but there is the claim." - -At that time the Poor Law schools received no benefits in the way of -scholarships or technical education grants. It was largely due to his -advocacy that the scholars were at last given the same opportunities as -other children. One of the great moments of his life was when he opened -a letter from the headmaster at the Hunslet Poor Law school, telling him -that "in consequence of what you have done, one of our boys has just -taken a County Scholarship--the first Poor Law child to benefit under -the Technical Education Acts." - -Crooks would like to go much further. Until Poor Law children are taken -entirely away from the control of Guardians he will never be satisfied. -Why should the authority that looks after workhouses for the old and -infirm be entrusted with the task of training the young? The two duties -lie as far apart as East from West. He would place these children wholly -under the education authority. - -No matter where, he is always ready to put in a word for Poor Law -children on the least opportunity. It was news to his colleagues on the -London County Council when, in the course of a debate in the summer of -1894, he told of his own experience in a Poor Law school. He seems to -have made a deep impression by his speech on that occasion, judging by -the following comment made shortly afterwards by the _Municipal -Journal_;-- - - - Those who heard Mr. Crooks's speech in the Council Chamber, when - the subject of the training of Poor Law children came up on a side - issue, will not readily forget it. One of the daily papers, in its - admiration the next day, declared it to be the best speech heard at - the Council. Be that as it may, the speech, coming spontaneously - with the pent-up indignation of a soul that had suffered sorely - from a pernicious system, was a marvellous one, producing a - marvellous effect. Councillors in the front benches turned round - and visitors in the gallery stretched forward to catch a glimpse of - the short dark figure on the Labour bench pleading so powerfully - for the children of the poor. - - -Nor had he been in the House of Commons long before his voice was heard -there on behalf of workhouse children. Speaking in a debate in 1903 on -the various methods of dealing with these children, he said:-- - - - At one time there was no stronger advocate of boarding-out than - myself. It is an ideal system in theory, but its success by - practical application has yet to be proved. Many requests are made - by country people to be allowed to adopt children on charitable - grounds, but when inquiries come to be made into the incomes of - these people the Guardians generally find it is hoped to make a - profit out of the children. I have visited a village where a widow - boarded four children--two more than the law allows. For these - children she was paid sixteen shillings a week. She lived in a - district where the labourer's wages were only eleven shillings. - - In regard to another case I personally investigated, I asked how - the boy was getting on. - - "Oh, all right; but he is growing so big and eats such a lot that I - wish you would take him away and send me a smaller boy." - - The boarded-out children, so far from losing the pauper taint, are - more frequently known by the name of the Union from which they - come than by their own names. In fact, in some villages, I found - "boarding-out" a staple industry. Boarding-out is all right in good - homes; the difficulty is to find good homes. - - -Not long after he made this speech, there was an outcry in a section of -the Press over "an amazing example of extravagance" at Poplar. It -appeared in the form of a letter from a correspondent. The -correspondent--who turned out to be a member of a firm of -contractors--waxed virtuously indignant over the Guardians' tenders -because they included, he alleged, supplies of luxuries for paupers. The -so-called luxuries for the most part proved to be medical comforts -ordered by the doctor for the ailing. Among the other items was 1 cwt. -of pat-a-cake biscuits, and these were singled out specially as a -specimen of how the workhouse inmates were pampered. - -I met Crooks in the Lobby of the House of Commons at the time of the -outcry, and asked what he thought of it all. - -"Perfectly true," he said. "We in Poplar are guilty of the great crime -of inviting tenders for the supply of a few pat-a-cakes; but our -horrified critics are in error in assuming that the pat-a-cakes are for -the workhouse inmates. They are for the children. We order 1 cwt. for -the half-year, which I believe works out at the rate of a cake for each -child about once a week. There's extravagance for you! Isn't it -scandalous? Just imagine our kiddies in the workhouse school getting a -whole pat-a-cake to eat! - -"That's not the worst of it. Those youngsters of ours, not content with -getting an occasional pat-a-cake, have actually been overheard to sing -the nursery rhyme on the subject. We shall be having a Local Government -Board inspector sent down to stop it if it leaks out. You should hear -the little ones holding forth! - - - Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man, - Bake me a cake as fast as you can! - Prick it, and pat it, and mark it with T, - And put it in the oven for Tommy and me. - - -"The youngsters lie awake at nights, wondering when their turn will come -again to have a farthing pat-a-cake. One of the little girls came -running up to me in the playground the other day, exclaiming: 'Oh, Mr. -Crooks, what do you think? I had a pat-a-cake for tea last Sunday. They -promised it to us the day before, and I was so pleased when I went to -bed that night that I nearly forgot to go to sleep.'" - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -ON THE METROPOLITAN ASYLUMS BOARD - - Mr. Chaplin's Humane Circular to Poor Law Guardians--Crooks - Appointed a Member of the Metropolitan Asylums Board--Chairman of - the Children's Committee--His Knack of Getting His Own - Way--Reorganising the Labour Conditions of the Board's Workmen. - - -We have seen that the policy of Poor Law reform which Crooks was -carrying out at Poplar won the good-will of the Local Government Board. -Soon after Mr. Henry Chaplin took his seat in Lord Salisbury's Cabinet -of 1895 he sent for Crooks, and the two spent a whole morning discussing -the weak points in our Poor Law system. Mr. Chaplin made many notes -during the conversation, and at parting good-naturedly remarked that -Crooks had given him enough work to occupy the next two or three years. - -Shortly afterwards, the Minister and the Labour man made a personal -investigation of Poplar and other East-End workhouses and infirmaries. -The visit to each institution was a surprise one. When the two men -entered the children's ward of the Mile End workhouse, they found the -nurses absent and the children screaming. In about half a minute Crooks -had all the children laughing. - -"What's the secret of your magic?" asked the President of the Local -Government Board. - -"It comes natural when you are used to them," said Crooks. - -As already shown, Mr. Chaplin declared emphatically for the Poplar -policy. His notable circular to Poor Law Guardians, for which as -President of the Local Government Board he will perhaps be best -remembered, gave the support of the Government of the day to that policy -of humane administration of the Poor Law which Crooks had established at -Poplar. It laid down three principles which the Labour man had urged -upon the President at their first meeting:-- - - - 1. Children to be entirely removed from association with the - workhouse and workhouse surroundings. - - 2. Old people of good character who have relatives or friends - outside not to be forced into the workhouse, but to be given - adequate out-relief. - - 3. Old people in the workhouse of good behaviour to be provided - with additional comforts. - - -Mr. Chaplin further showed his confidence in the Labour Chairman of the -Poplar Guardians by inviting him to become one of the Local Government -Board's representatives on the Metropolitan Asylums Board. The work -meant a heavy addition to Crooks's public duties, with the London County -Council and the Poplar Guardians demanding so much of his time. There -was no hesitation, however, in accepting the new office when he found it -afforded further opportunities to serve the afflicted poor and help -neglected children. Mr. Chaplin's successor at the Local Government -Board, Mr. Walter Long, twice re-nominated Crooks to the same position. - -Although the Asylums Board comes but little before public notice, except -in times of epidemic, it has far-reaching powers. It is the largest -hospital authority that any country can show. It has fourteen infectious -disease hospitals with accommodation for nearly seven thousand people. -It maintains six thousand imbecile patients in four asylums. It looks -after the welfare of several hundred boys on a Thames training-ship, and -of some two thousand children in various homes. - -The members, or "managers," as they are called, are all nominated either -by London Boards of Guardians or by the Local Government Board. An -indirectly elected body is the last that expects to see a representative -of Labour. Imagine, therefore, the amazement of this somewhat select -company when, in May, 1898, a Labour man walked into their midst as the -nominee of a Conservative Cabinet Minister. - -He was eyed at first with suspicion. The suspicion soon changed to -curiosity. The Labour man never spoke. The managers expected a torrent -of loud criticism, and here was immovable silence. For the first five -months Crooks never opened his mouth at the Board meetings. - -"What's your game?" asked a friendly member in an aside one afternoon. - -"I'm learning the business," was the quiet reply. "This is an old -established Board with notions of its own, and it's not going to be -dictated to by new-comers. But you wait, my friend, and you'll find -before long I'll be getting my own way in everything here." - -So it proved. During the two or three years that he was Chairman of the -Children's Committee and of a special committee that reorganised the -hours and wages of the Board's large staff, he never lost a single -recommendation he brought before the Board. - -"How is it, Mr. Crooks, that whatever you ask this Board for you always -get?" he was once asked by Sir Edwin Galsworthy, for many years the -Board's Chairman. - -Crooks returned the sally that it was because he was always right. His -real secret was--convert the whole of your committee. A majority vote in -committee never satisfied him. Nothing short of the support of every -single member would suffice. Many times in committee has he adjourned -the discussion rather than snatch a bare majority. - -"Let's take it home with us," he would say jocularly from the chair. -"Perhaps after a week's thought you'll all come back converted to my -view. If not, then you must come better prepared to convince me that I -am wrong than you are now." - -The difficult and delicate work of reorganising the Labour conditions of -the Board's workmen and attendants was at last brought to a triumph. He -came out of the chair with the goodwill of the whole staff and of the -entire Board of Managers. His colleagues included large employers of -labour, eminent medical men, and retired army and navy officers. All -agreed that he had settled for them Labour difficulties which had -created nothing but confusion and perplexity before. - -Working on his invariable rule that it pays best in every department of -work to observe fair conditions, he scored a signal success on the very -body where before his coming Labour members were regarded as -revolutionaries. As at Blackwall Tunnel, he gained his points without -losing the trust or friendship of the employers of labour. - -The task put his administrative ability to a test which only able -statesmen can stand. The rare faculty he has of obtaining the maximum of -reform out of existing agencies carried him safely over every shoal. - -Crooks is every inch an Englishman as well as every inch a Labour -member. He applies his Labour principles on typical English lines; hence -his success among all bodies of Englishmen, no matter what their party -or class. - -Few men have higher ideals or feel more deeply the injustice of much in -our present-day social system, but Crooks recognises that the only way -to get reform is to put your hand to the plough with things as they are, -and not wait for the millennium before getting to work. - -He sees the crooked things of this life as keenly as anyone, but because -the things cannot be put wholly straight in his own day he does not -hold aloof. He does what he can in the living present to put them as -nearly straight as existing machinery makes possible, trusting that the -next or some succeeding generation will continue the work until the -things are put perfectly straight at last. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -A BAD BOYS' ADVOCATE - - Efforts on behalf of Diseased and Mentally-deficient - Children--Altering the Law in Six Weeks--Establishing Remand Homes - for First Offenders--London's Vagrant Child-Life--Reformatory and - Industrial Schools--The Boy who Sat on the Fence--Theft of a Donkey - and Barrow--Lads who want Mothering. - - -Soon the call of the children reached his ears again. - -He had barely finished reorganising the labour conditions on the Asylums -Board when he undertook a great task in the interests of the two -thousand children who had just been placed under the Board's care. These -children were all sufferers from some physical or mental trouble, and it -was because they required special treatment that a Parliamentary -Committee had recommended that they be transferred from the London -Guardians to the Asylums Board. - -A comprehensive scheme had to be framed by the Board for looking after -its new charges. Crooks gave three hard years to these children's -well-being. During that time, as Chairman of the Children's Committee, -he wrought some remarkable changes in the lot of the diseased and -mentally-deficient little people handed over to the Board's keeping. - -New homes were set up in the country and at the seaside for the -afflicted and convalescent children. The little people's meals were made -pleasant, their clothes deprived of the institutional taint. They were -free to be merry, and their laughter was better medicine than the -doctor's. - -The sad lot of the mentally-deficient children, some of them little -better than imbeciles, appealed greatly to the strong, clear-brained -Labour man from Poplar. There were three or four hundred of these, all -from London workhouses, the sight of whom so often reminded Crooks of -the idiot boy who slept in his dormitory when he, as a child, was an -inmate at Poplar. - -The Asylums Board was not allowed to keep these mentally-deficient boys -and girls after sixteen years of age. The children had thus to be sent -away only half trained, often direct to the workhouse again, from which -they never emerged unless to be taken to an institution more hopeless -still. - -Crooks conceived the idea that if the Board kept these luckless little -people until they completed their twenty-first year it might be possible -to give them such a training as would enable them to look after -themselves outside, and live useful lives, instead of being a -life-burden to the State and of no use to anyone. The Local Government -Board agreed, and the managers now train these youthful charges till -they reach manhood and womanhood. - -The experiment has already justified itself. Many a youth and maid who -would have been left in mental darkness all their lives have by this -longer period of training gained a glimmering of light. Their limited -intelligence has been sufficiently developed to enable them to assist at -earning their own living and to look after themselves. - -Other children under the Board's care might be said to suffer from an -excess rather than from a lack of intelligence. On the Asylums Board -they are known as remand children. In the police courts they are known -as first offenders. They consist of boys and girls who, having been -charged before a magistrate with offences which render them liable to be -sent to an industrial or a reformatory school, get remanded for -inquiries. - -At one time, pending the inquiries, these youthful offenders used to be -detained in prison. When Crooks joined the Asylums Board they had been -transferred to the workhouse. The influence for evil was little better -in the one place than in the other. The one introduced them to -criminality, the other to pauperism. - -"These children want keeping as far as possible from both prison and -workhouse," argued Crooks with his colleagues. "We ought to put them in -small homes and give them school-time and playtime, like other children, -until their cases come before the magistrate again." - -So two or three dwelling-houses were taken in different quarters of -London and adapted as Remand Homes. Crooks headed a deputation from the -Asylums Board to the London magistrates at Bow Street to urge them in -future to commit all remand children to the Homes. The magistrates were -sympathetic enough, but showed it was their duty to carry out the law, -and that the law clearly laid it down that youthful offenders under -remand must be sent to the workhouse. - -"We'll alter the law, then," was Crooks's reply. "For I'm determined -these youngsters shall no longer be sent to the workhouse." - -In the record time of six weeks the law was altered. It sounds -miraculous to those who know the ways of Whitehall. Crooks's resource -proved more than equal to red-tapeism. - -First the Asylums Board wrote to the Home Office. Then the Home Office -sent the usual evasive reply. The correspondence would have gone on -indefinitely had not Crooks waited on the Home Secretary in person. - -As the Labour man expected, Mr. Ritchie knew nothing about the matter, -the Home Office officials having settled it without consulting the -Secretary of State. Always willing to co-operate in anything that -promised to keep children away from the workhouse, Mr. Ritchie asked -Crooks what he had to suggest. The visitor pointed out that the Juvenile -Offenders' Bill was at that very moment before Parliament, and that the -insertion in that measure of an additional clause of half a dozen lines -only would keep remand children away from the workhouse for all time. -The Home Secretary seized the idea at once, and Crooks's suggestion -became law the following month. - -The first of the Remand Homes was opened at Pentonville Road for the -convenience of children charged at the police courts of North London and -the East-End. Sometimes as many as fifty young offenders, boys and -girls, can be seen there at the same time. - -Instead of loafing about the workhouse, as before, and becoming inured -to pauper surroundings, they are now taught as in a day school. They -have play in the open air and recreation indoors in the way of games and -books. Moreover, the girls are taught to sew and knit, the boys -instructed in manual work. Though seldom there more than a fortnight -before being taken back to the police court, they go away cleaner, -better informed, not without hope. And the magistrates now feel -justified in sending about 80 per cent. of them back to their parents. - -A visit to this Remand Home at Pentonville will teach you disquieting -truths about the vagrant child-life of London. These wayward youngsters -tell their tales with startling frankness. - -That bright-faced lad of twelve--why is he here? - -"Stealing," he answers us. - -"What did you steal?" - -"Some stockings outside a shop." - -"Why?" - -"To get money for sweets." - -"Where did you sell the stockings?" - -"In a pub." - -"Have you ever stolen before?" - -"Yes." - -"How often?" - -"A good many times, but never been caught before." - -Two of the oldest lads approached, and we questioned them. - -"I was took up for begging," said No. 1. "But I weren't begging--on'y -looking for work." - -"Where?" - -"At King's Cross--me and him," pointing to his neighbour. "We was -offering to carry people's bags when the copper come and took us up." - -The teacher explained that boys soliciting passengers around the big -railway stations were becoming such a nuisance that the police sometimes -had to take them into custody. - -"We didn't get hold of a man's arm and say, 'Give us threepence,' as the -copper said," the youthful informant went on. "We was on'y looking for -work." - -"How long have you been looking for this kind of work?" - -"We goes an' looks for it every day," said No. 2 (in shirt sleeves, like -his pal). "And sometimes we makes half a crown, and sometimes three -shillings a day, carrying gentlemen's bags. I've been a-doing of it five -months. It pays better than reg'lar work, where I used to make ten -shillings a week." - -No. 1 could not forget his grievance against the police. - -"Puts us in the cell all night," he interposed, "and gives us coffee and -two thick slices of bread for supper. And takes us in a bumpy ole van -to the police court in the morning along of a lot of others. Then we was -sent here, where we has to write and read--just like going back to -school again." - -Another lad was there for "stopping out all night," according to his own -rendering. When we asked "Why?" the answer came prompt enough, "'Cos I -likes it." - -"How many nights did you stay out?" - -"Me and them," indicating others higher up the room, "we slept behind -the fire station four nights and then went home." - -"What happened then?" - -"Mother said nofink, but she got a stick----" - -He paused sufficiently long for us to take the sequel for granted, then -added quietly:-- - -"So I stopped out the next night." - -"And then?" - -"Then the copper came." - -Yes, they need "homes," indeed, these wayward youngsters, ensnared by -the temptations of London's streets. Some are here for gambling in the -gutter, many for playing truant, some for sleeping out, and others for -felony. Generally they are sent home if it be a first offence, or to a -reformatory if the case be a bad one. - -There are girls here, too. What of them? - -"Me and my sister was taken up by the police for sleeping on a -doorstep," said one sad-eyed little maid in a blue frock. - -"Why on a doorstep?" - -"Father left us, and when mother died the landlord turned us out." - -True enough, and the sisters will be sent to a girls' home shortly. - -That is the best that can be done for the girls, especially the large -number that are brought away from houses of ill-repute. - -The boys who get committed to reformatories still find themselves under -Crooks's eye. While the Asylums Board looks after them when under -remand, the London County Council becomes responsible once the lads are -committed. This dual control Crooks is trying to get rid of, in the hope -that the duty will be given wholly into the hands of one authority. - -For several years he was a member and at one time Chairman of the L.C.C. -Committee that looks after the industrial and reformatory schools. The -committee meets at Feltham, where is the largest of the institutions -under its charge. It was rare for Crooks to be absent during his -membership of the committee. - -He and Colonel Rotton, who was also Chairman for a period, could -generally make the lads on arrival understand them without much -parleying. Every lad, on being committed to the school by a magistrate, -had to appear before the committee. Here are some characteristic -dialogues:-- - -"Well, my boy, what are you here for?" - -"Burglary." The burglar was nine years of age. - -"Well, you can't be a burglar here, but you can be a good lad. Everyone -can be a good lad here if he likes. If he doesn't like we make him. What -will you do?" - -"I fink I'll like, sir." - -Generally the lads do not admit their offence so readily. They are not -always so frank as you find them in the Remand Homes. Most of them, when -before the Committee, find excuses, like the boy who was caught with -others stealing in a railway goods yard. - -"Please, sir, it weren't me at all." - -"We always get the wrong boy. What are you supposed to be here for?" - -"Fieving, sir. But I didn't do it. I were on'y sitting on the fence." - -"Then let this be a lesson to you. Never sit on the fence. Do you know -the Ten Commandments?" - -"No, sir." - -"Can you say the Lord's Prayer?" - -"No; we wasn't taught it at the school wot I used to go to." - -"But you didn't go to school." - -"The boy wot did go told me." - -"Well, we'll see to it that you do go to school now." - -Another new-comer excused himself more ingeniously:--"Me and my mate we -found a donkey and barrer at Covent Garden. We saw a man's name on the -barrer, and fought if we went off wif the donkey we would git a shilling -the next day for taking it back to him. But a copper stopped us as we -was leading the donkey over Waterloo Bridge. So we hadn't a chance to -take it back, as we was going to." - -"Very well, you must stay with us until you learn that donkeys in -barrows are not necessarily lost." - -Crooks believed in giving the boys plenty of play and plenty of work. -Nearly all their offences he believed to be due to excess of vitality. -They had never had a chance of working it off in a proper way before. -Besides, many of the lads needed mothering. It was always his regret -that he could not persuade his colleagues on the Committee to adopt a -system he found in vogue in the Moss Hill industrial school in Glasgow. -When visiting that institution he was agreeably surprised to find about -a dozen "mothers" on the staff. If a lad tore his coat or pulled off a -button, he knew which particular "mother" to run to in order to be -patched up. - -"I have always said, and shall always continue to say," he states, "that -reformatory schools ought to be made a State charge entirely. If there -is any part of the community that can be called a national debt, it is -this class of poor, misguided lads who, if they were properly cared for, -would soon become a valuable national asset." - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -PROUD OF THE POOR - - The Handy Man of Poplar--Peacemaker among his Neighbours--Piloting - the Author of "In His Steps" through the Slums--Difference between - a Street Arab and a Prince--Object Lesson for a Professor of - Political Economy--How the Poor help the Poor. - - -During these years the saying grew up among his neighbours that nothing -happens in Poplar without someone running to Will Crooks about it. His -little house at 28, Northumberland Street, to the north of East India -Dock Road, was the gathering ground of all kinds of deputations and of -troubled individuals seeking advice on every subject under the sun. He -was a court of appeal in family troubles as well as on public questions. - -A small girl came to the door one night with the announcement: - -"If you please, father's took to drink again, and mother says will Mr. -Crooks come round and give him a good hiding?" - -Appeals like that of an old labourer who could neither read nor write -became common. The old man stood sobbing on the step without a word when -Crooks's youngest daughter opened the door. Instinct told her it was her -father that was wanted, and she called him. - -"Well, old Charley, what's the matter now?" when Crooks recognised his -caller. - -"She's turned me out again," came the words between sobs. "If you would -on'y go and speak to her, Mr. Crooks, and put in a word for me! She -ain't half a bad wife, you know. It's on'y her temper and me as don't -agree." - -He invited the aggrieved husband inside, going off himself alone, to -return in half an hour with the news that the road was now clear. - -About a month later in the main road he was hailed from over the way. -The old labourer came hobbling towards him. - -"Ah, Mr. Crooks, I don't know what yer said to my ole woman that night, -but she's bin a perfect angel since." - -What Crooks had said was simple enough. On reaching the court he found -the good wife gossiping. - -"Here's Mr. Crooks!" cried the little company of women as he approached. - -He spoke no word, but with a mysterious air beckoned the aggressive wife -aside. - -"Heard the news about your old man?" he asked with a long face. - -Assuming the worst, she immediately began to weep into her apron. - -"It's my fault, Mr. Crooks," she whimpered. "He often threatened to -drown hisself, but I never thought he'd go and do it!" - -And then again, amid broken sobs:--"I've al'ays bin a good wife to him, -Mr. Crooks." - -"Yes, I know you have; and he knows it, too. He's often told me what a -splendid wife you are. But you shouldn't cheek him so. You take my -advice and coax him a little; coax him, and then you'll find you can do -what you like with him afterwards. Why, bless you, if it hadn't been for -some of us he might have drowned himself to-night. Now you just give him -a good supper, like a sensible woman, when we send him home, and begin -coaxing him from this very night. And, mind, not a word about this to -anyone, for fear you excite him again." - -When again he met the old labourer it was evident the good relations -were growing. - -"Give her a treat last Saturday afternoon, Mr. Crooks--a fair knock-out. -Took her for a 'bus ride to Ludgit Circis, and showed her the Thames -Embankmint. Never seen anyfink so fine in all her life. Nearly made her -faint. When she got home she dropped into a chair and said, 'I feel I -could die now, Charlie, after that.'" - -"And you?" - -"I said, 'If you talk like that I'll go for Mr. Crooks again.' That -fetched her round, 'pon me honour." - -The good people of Poplar expect Crooks to meet all their needs. It was -not very inspiring to be knocked up in the middle of the night and find -a carman groaning at the door. - -"Oh, Will, I'm that bad with the spasms!" - -"Why don't you go to the doctor?" - -"I've bin to him and he ain't done me no good. I thought as how if -you'd come along with me he'd be sure to give me the right stuff." - -Later in the same week the man's wife arrived breathless in the early -morning. "Would Mr. Crooks come at once?" - -"What's happened now?" - -"Dick took a drop too much at the 'Ship' last night, and when he come -in, me having gone to bed, he mistook the paraffin oil bottle for his -medicine. Two whole spoonfuls he took, Mr. Crooks, and we've only found -it out this morning. He says he must see you now afore he dies." - -Curious ideas are held as to what Crooks's duties are. One irate citizen -declared to his mates that he was done with Will Crooks for ever. He was -appealed to for the reason. - -"Why," said he, "there's our sink bin stopped up nigh on three weeks, -and he ain't bin round yet!" - -All who labour and are poor in Poplar look upon Crooks as the unfailing -friend. The coal-man crying coals in the street all in vain, one morning -hails him in passing:-- - -"Wot's wrong with people this morning, Mr. Crooks? One would think I was -selling tombstones!" - -Another day it is the chimney-sweep who stops him. - -"Talk about the County Council's schools in Poplar, Mr. Crooks; I calls -it a scandal, I does." - -"What's the matter?" - -"Sending their chimbleys up to Bethnal Green to be swept instead of -employing local labour!" - -The callers at his house were in no sense confined to his neighbours. -One day it would be C. B. Fry, the cricketer, another day G. K. -Chesterton the critic--neither of them for the first time; and again -George R. Sims, Beerbohm Tree, Lord and Lady Denbigh, Miss Gertrude -Tuckwell, Father Adderley, Bernard Shaw, Earl Carrington, and the Rev. -Charles Sheldon from the United States--to mention but a few of the men -and women of widely different walks of life who are pleased to number -him among their friends. - -Mr. Sheldon called soon after the great boom of "In His Steps." On -several occasions Crooks piloted him through the slums of the East End. -While looking round a typical court the American minister asked one of -the women when they had seen a parson there. - -The answer came, "We ain't seen no parson down here since we lived here, -fifteen years." - -"I don't wonder that people are bad," remarked Mr. Sheldon to Crooks. -"The wonder is that people are so good as they are." - -Before returning to America Mr. Sheldon sent Crooks a parting note, -ending, "I shall always remember you as you stand, 'in the thick of it,' -for the rights of little children and brother men." - -Outsiders who visit Crooks find him precisely the same man as his -neighbours find him. He has personal friends in the Peers' House as well -as in the Poor's House, but his manner changes not in the company of -either. - -This characteristic trait in Crooks led Mr. Chesterton, in his book on -"Charles Dickens," into an instructive comparison:-- - - - The English democracy is the most humorous democracy in the world. - The Scotch democracy is the most dignified, while the whole - _abandon_ and satiric genius of the English populace come from its - being quite undignified in every way. A comparison of the two types - might be found, for instance, by putting a Scotch Labour leader - like Mr. Keir Hardie alongside an English Labour leader like Mr. - Will Crooks. Both are good men, honest and responsible and - compassionate, but we can feel that the Scotchman carries himself - seriously and universally, the Englishman personally and with an - obstinate humour. Mr. Keir Hardie wishes to hold up his head as - Man, Mr. Crooks wishes to follow his nose as Crooks. Mr. Keir - Hardie is very like a poor man in Walter Scott. Mr. Crooks is very - like a poor man in Dickens. - - -A little incident bears out Mr. Chesterton to the letter. While Crooks -was showing a party of titled people at their request round some of the -dark corners of Poplar he was greeted as usual by all the children -playing in the streets. Seizing the blackest of them he presented the -youngster to one of the ladies of the party, a well-known peeress. - -"If this little chap," said he, "was as clean as I could wash him and as -well dressed as you could dress him, what difference would there be -between him and a little prince?" - -After the party had finished their round of inspection somebody -suggested tea. - -"It's no use looking for swell tea shops in Poplar," said Crooks. "But -if you care to come with me, my wife will just be getting tea ready for -the children coming home from school, and no doubt we can find a corner -for you at the same table." - -And straightway he led them to Northumberland Street and into his own -house without warning, where they shared with the children at the deal -table in the kitchen. - -Sometimes for whole weeks together in the black days of distress he -could never finish his breakfast without being called to the door to -advise an out-of-work man or some sorrow-laden woman, or to deal with -some case of starvation that brooked no delay. - -Of course he often defied the laws of political economy. That is -sometimes the only way to prevent people dying from want. A learned -professor of political economy, whose name I am not at liberty to -mention, was converted to some part at least of Crooks's view in a -single morning. The Professor called on him during a winter of hard -times, and Crooks showed him how some of his neighbours were living. - -"Hunger we can sometimes stand, 'cos we gets used to it," they heard -from one woman, surrounded in her bare tenement by lean and shivering -babies; "but to be frozen with cold on the top of the hunger--that's the -thing that makes yer squirm, guv'nor--ain't it, Mr. Crooks?" - -Then the Labour man led the Professor to a slum court. On the muddy -ground in the far corner a woman sat weeping. - -"She ain't been living here long, Mr. Crooks," volunteered another woman -from her doorstep. "Her husband's no work, and this morning she were -a-sending her four children to school without a bite, so I calls 'em in -here, and shared out wot we was having for breakfast." - -"And what was that?" asked the Professor. - -The woman seemed to resent the question from a well-dressed stranger. - -"It weren't ham and eggs," she said, curtly. - -"Tell my friend here what you gave them, Mrs. B----" Crooks requested. - -"Well, it's just like this here, Mr. Crooks," she said apologetically. -"My man's out of work hisself, and we on'y had one loaf, so I cuts it up -between her children and mine." - -"Why is she crying now?" - -"She ain't been used to it like some of us, and it's all along of her -wondering where the children's next meal is a-coming from." - -As the two men came away, "I'm proud of the poor," said Crooks. "And I -declare it's a dirty insult for outsiders to say that these people are -degraded by the feeble efforts I make as a Guardian to give bread to the -hungry. It's nothing to what they do for each other. That woman sharing -her last loaf with another woman's children is typical of what you'll -find in every street and corner of Poplar where the pinch of hunger is -felt." - -The Professor walked on silently. - -"What are we to do for them?" resumed the Labour man. "Sometimes people -as badly off as these we have just seen come to my house in the early -morning, begging me as a Guardian to give their children bread before -they send them to school. Sometimes they bring their children with them -as though to prove by their hungry eyes the truth of what they tell me. - -"And I say to them, 'You shouldn't come to me; you should go to the -relieving officer.'" - -"And they reply, 'But what are you Guardians for? We've been to the -Mayor, and he refers us to the Guardians. We go to the Guardians, and -they refer us to the relieving officer. We go to the relieving officer, -and he tells us to attend the relief committee. We inquire about the -relief committee, and find it doesn't meet for two or three days. -Meanwhile, what are our children to do for bread?' - -"Do you think," Crooks went on to ask the Professor, "that I can finish -my own breakfast, or that any other man could with a spark of feeling in -him, after being called to the door to listen to these pleadings morning -after morning? Do you think, after these daily experiences, that I care -how the outside public and the Press attack us because we as Guardians -dare to spend public money in saving these people from starvation? - -"What is a Board of Guardians to do, with its awful responsibilities and -its awful obligations, during such distressful winters as Poplar -sometimes witnesses? Remember, we Guardians live among the poor. We are -not carriage folk who can return to the West End and talk about the poor -over dinners of a dozen courses. What else can we do but try to keep the -bodies and souls of these poor people together in times of trade -depression and cold weather?" - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -THE FIRST WORKING-MAN MAYOR IN LONDON - - Elected Mayor of Poplar--"No Better than a Working-man"--Shouted - Down at the Mansion House--The Lord Mayor Defends Him--Refusing a - Salary--Slums and Fair Rent Courts--Fighting the Public-House - Interests--Crying not for the Moon, but for the Sun. - - -In November, 1901, Crooks was chosen to be Mayor of Poplar. In this, as -in all his public offices, he was not the seeker, but the sought-after. -Of the many public positions he has filled, not one has come of his own -seeking. It has always been at the earnest solicitation of others that -he has gone into office. Moreover, the request in every instance but one -has come from working-men. - -The proposal to put him forward for Mayor was made to him before he had -been a member of the Poplar Borough Council many months. The Labour -Party was barely half a dozen strong on the Council, so that even with -the support of the Progressives it was extremely doubtful whether he -could command a majority of votes. This he pointed out in reply to his -party's entreaties. Since his arguments were all unavailing, he agreed -at last to be nominated, making one very emphatic condition. That -condition was, that were he elected there should be no talk of paying -the Mayor a salary. - -Any of the London Borough Councils can vote a salary to the Mayor, and -in some of the boroughs L300 and L500 a year was being paid. Crooks felt -he could better retain the confidence of his neighbours, and better meet -the criticisms of opponents, by refusing a Mayoral grant entirely. -Besides making this the condition of his nomination, he influenced the -Borough Council, some few days before the Mayor was to be elected, to -pass a resolution declining to pay a salary. - -On the night the new Mayor was elected there were some curious scenes -both inside and outside the Municipal Buildings. To be Mayor in -Coronation Year seemed to be the desire of half the public men in the -kingdom. There were several aspirants in Poplar, and when the number was -reduced to two, Crooks's name was one of them. - -Twice amid the greatest tension in the crowded Council Chamber the -voting on the two names resulted in a tie. Twice the retiring Mayor -appealed to the Council to come to a decision without his casting vote. -Since nothing would alter the equality of the votes, the Mayor finally -hit upon the device of writing both names on separate slips of paper and -drawing one at random from a covered bowl. - -Meanwhile, the tension had become too much for some burly working-men in -the public gallery. They could be heard blubbering. When you looked up -you saw them mopping their grimy faces with red-spotted handkerchiefs -or the ends of their scarfs. - -These men, with many of their mates, had crowded into the Council -Chamber on their way home from the engineering yards and railway goods -sidings in Millwall and from all the neighbouring docks. Those who could -not get inside formed a dense crowd in the streets below. As the news -was brought out from time to time, how two ballots had been taken and -the votes were still equal, a silence strange and solemn fell upon the -massed crowds surging round the Municipal Buildings in the lamp-lighted -streets. - -Soon the silence gave way to a roar of working-men's voices. - -"Crooks has got it!" - -"Our Will's made Mayor!" - -"God bless the Mayor!" - -Among that rough-jacketed company could be seen men falling on each -other's necks. And as they streamed homeward in all directions the -streets of Poplar echoed with the cry that lingered far into the night, -"Will Crooks is Mayor!" - -He was the first Labour Mayor in London. As such he did not make the -mistake of trying to fill the office like the ordinary middle-class man. -He faced all the world essentially as a working-man Mayor. He showed how -well a workman can carry out the administrative and ceremonial duties -inseparable from the office. In doing that he dispelled for ever the old -illusion that only men of means can become mayors. - -"What d'yer think?" he overheard a tradesman's wife ask another in -disgust. "They've made that common fellow Crooks Mayor! And he no better -than a working-man." - -"Quite right, madam," he interposed, raising his hat as she turned -round, crimson, and recognised him. "No better than a working-man!" - -It was evident, too, that at first certain of the other metropolitan -mayors thought him a common fellow, far beneath their notice. The first -occasion that saw him in their midst was a conference of mayors at the -Mansion House. It was convened by the Lord Mayor to consider -arrangements for the Coronation Dinner to the Poor. Crooks listened for -an hour to all kinds of suggestions put forward by men who knew little -about the poor before rising at last to make a proposal of his own. - -The instant he rose there was a howl of disapproval. - -"Sit down--sit down!" "Who are you?" "We want none of your opinions." -"Sit down--sit down!" - -The wrath of some of these funny little functionaries at the idea of a -Labour man daring to address them was something he laughed at for a long -time after. Several of them had lost their heads entirely at being -invited to discuss a matter which so closely concerned the King and -Queen. The very presence of a Labour man at such an august gathering was -felt to be an insult. - -They drowned his voice each time he attempted to speak, until it began -to dawn upon them that instead of gaining favour with the Lord Mayor, -who was in the chair, they were incurring his displeasure. - -"Gentlemen," he cried, "I protest against this conduct. I call upon _my -friend_, Mr. Crooks, to speak." - -You should have seen their faces then! They had forgotten that the Lord -Mayor (Sir Joseph Dimsdale) and Crooks had been colleagues together for -years on the County Council. - -Having got a hearing, the Labour man spoke evidently very much to the -point. Sir Thomas Lipton, who represented the King at that and the -subsequent conferences, declared afterwards that the one mayor in London -who seemed to know what was wanted was the working-man Mayor of Poplar. -At any rate, the final arrangements for the King's Dinner were left to a -small sub-committee, of which Crooks was unanimously elected one by the -body that first tried to howl him down. - -The illusion that working-men cannot make mayors died hard. It lingered -last in the columns of the _Times_. Crooks had been in office several -months when that journal called public attention to the fact that the -Mayor of Poplar lived in a house "only rated at L11 a year." From this -circumstance the _Times_ drew the rash conclusion that a man so poor -could not necessarily fill the office of mayor properly. - -After this, nobody could be surprised at the wild mis-statements that -followed. The _Times_ went on to say that before Crooks's election the -Labour Party of Poplar seemed to think his income of L3 10s. a week -insufficient for the mayoralty, and that they started a movement "in -favour of paying future mayors of the borough a salary at the rate of -from L500 to L1,000 a year." - -How completely the facts tell a different story has already appeared. -What movement there was in Poplar for paying a salary originated with -the previous mayor, Mr. R. H. Green, a large employer of labour. Mr. -Green did not wish for a salary himself, being a man of means; he was -only anxious that his colleagues should understand that he favoured the -principle. His successor, the Labour man, was equally anxious his -colleagues should understand that he did not favour payment. - -The real facts were placed before the _Times_, but although its original -mis-statements were copied into several other newspapers and led the -_St. James's Gazette_ to publish a foolish leader on the subject, the -_Times_ offered neither an explanation as to how it fell into its -culpable error nor an apology for its amazing exhibition of bad taste. - -In reality, his position as Mayor was strengthened by his refusal to -take a salary. He stated in an interview in the _Daily Telegraph_ -towards the end of his year of office:-- - - - I have only had to do what I have done in every other position I - have held--let people understand that I have nothing to give away. - Since my position has become generally known people have let me - alone, except when I get an appeal like this one--to support a - football club as a lover of British sports and pastimes. Nobody - seems to think the worse of me for refusing. - - -To the last, however, he was not forgiven by many people for daring to -be poor. A worthy lady at a church sewing-party in a London suburb -became very indignant at the mention of the name of the Labour Mayor of -Poplar. One of the members present--to whom I am indebted for the -incident--happened to make an incidental reference to Crooks. "It's a -shame, I say, to let such people be made important," cried the good lady -with much feeling, stopping for a moment her work of making garments for -the church bazaar. "Look how they interfere with business. My husband -used to get fifteen per cent. from his Poplar property before they made -that man Crooks Mayor. Now, what with being compelled to spend so much -on repairs and new drains, it's as much as he can do to get ten per -cent." - -When Crooks heard of the incident, he said he had little doubt the -husband was an ordinary decent man who invested in poor property, -because, as house investment agencies sometimes state in their -advertisements, it pays better than any other kind. - -"Probably he is one of that large class who leave the collection of the -rents and all control to agents. That is why slum property has paid so -well in the past. It has been neglected. Nothing has been spent on -ordinary repairs. Whatever expense we as a Municipal Council may put the -owners to in order to make their property healthy, is strictly regulated -by law. We cannot go beyond the letter of the law. The reason why -investors in slum property have reaped such a rich harvest in the past -is because neither they nor the local authorities have carried out the -law. - -"No man with ordinary sentiment can own slum property and collect his -own rents. A flint-hearted agent generally has control. I know such a -one well. If the tenant does not pay up by Saturday he waits and watches -round the corner on Sunday morning. As soon as he sees the wife turn out -to buy a piece of meat or a few vegetables from a coster's stall for -Sunday's dinner, he pounces down on her and demands her few pence on -account. - -"It's so easy to run away from responsibility by simply saying, 'This is -a mere investment, and I am not concerned with the tenants.' - -"A very wealthy man who owns a lot of small houses in Poplar had his -attention called to the hardship inflicted by the heavy increase in -rents. He was told that a widow whose rent had just been doubled would -have to seek parish relief if the new demand were enforced. 'My dear -good fellow,' said the owner, 'I leave these matters to my agent. I -don't want the woman's money. Look here,' pulling a handful of -sovereigns out of his pocket. 'Why should I care about the woman's rent? -I leave these trifles to my agent, and never interfere.' - -"Can you wonder that so many of our people are driven to drink and -immorality?" Crooks went on after telling this incident. "Sweated as -they are for rent in this way, they begin to live in an unholy state of -overcrowding. House speculators, Jewish and English, gamble with the -people's homes. Nearly every time a house changes hands the rent is -raised. The overcrowding is thus made worse than ever. The family living -in three rooms takes two. The family in two rooms pushes its furniture -closer together and goes into one. - -"Surely something should be done by the State to prevent this gambling -with poor people's rents. I would like to see Fair Rent Courts, where -the rents could be fixed in fair proportion to the value of the house. -Something of the kind has been done in Ireland; why not in England? - -"One thing is certain: the more crowded the home is, the more convenient -becomes the public-house, with its welcome light and deceptive -cheerfulness tempting the wretched. Of course, in theory it is easy to -argue that the poorer the man the more reason there is that he should -not place in the publican's till the money that ought to be spent on -food. I fear few of us would retain the moral courage to resist if we -had to eat, live, and sleep in the same room, sometimes in the company -of a corpse for several days." - -Property owners were not alone in their opposition to the Labour Mayor. -The publicans almost in a body were ranged against him. Nor was this -only because of his uncompromising attack on the drink interests as -such. It was mainly because he insisted on public-houses being rated on -the same principle as the grocer's shop or the working-man's -dwelling-house. - -For several years before his mayoralty he had been Chairman of the -Poplar Assessment Committee. He found that while small tradesmen and -householders were rated to the full market value of their shops and -dwellings, public-houses were very much under-assessed. He therefore -persuaded the Committee, in face of all that the publicans said and -threatened, to raise their assessments to the proper scale. The -publicans brought the whole strength of their organisation against him, -briefing counsel in appeals and subsidising opposition candidates at the -local elections. This kind of thing had no fears for Crooks. His policy -prevailed. - -Sorely though the problem of housing vexed him, he rarely came away from -a slum visit without some instance of quaint humour. On one occasion he -was called into a tenement when the woman told him to mind the hole in -the floor. - -"Why don't you ask the landlord to repair it?" he asked. - -"I did tell him about it," she answered in despair, "but he only said, -'What! the floor fallen in? Why, you must have been walking on it!'" - -He feels keenly that we are allowing the English working-class home to -be broken up by the gambling of speculators. By the time the gamblers -are finished, it will be found they have broken more than the poor man's -home. It will be found they have broken the English race. - -The cost to the municipality of preventing the existence of slums is -small, he maintains, compared with the cost to the Poor Law authority of -dealing with the human wreckage that slums create. He brought out this -fact in a striking way in a paper he read before the Central Poor Law -Conference at the Guildhall. His subject was "Pauperism and -Overcrowding." He estimated from a study of the official returns that -overcrowding and insanitation in the homes of the poor threw an -additional expenditure on the Poor Law every year in London of about -L134,000. He obtained this figure by estimating the number of people -forced into workhouse infirmaries or requiring the outside attendance of -the parish doctor owing to sickness solely caused by slumdom. - -As regards the inmates of public asylums, he showed that London was -involved in a still heavier yearly outlay. The number of such inmates -per thousand inhabitants of London varied from 1.9 in the healthy -districts to 10.1 in the overcrowded districts. The mean rate was 4.7. -The numbers above this mean rate were all found in the slum quarters. By -adding them up he arrived at a total of 2,700 people who were forced -into asylums as the results of ill-housing. It cost London L70,000 a -year to maintain this number in asylums. He further argued that an -additional sum of half a million sterling must be put down as -representing the cost of providing the necessary asylum accommodation -for these 2,700 inmates, the creation of our slums. - -"So if the public refuse to spend a few hundreds on improving the homes -and conditions of the poor, they are compelled to spend tens of -thousands after the slums have robbed their denizens of health and -reason. I know some of the poor do not live the cleanest and best lives. -They live down to their environment. And if we don't improve the -environment, then, apart from all the higher considerations, we are -penalised for our neglect by having to pay for their care and keep in -asylums and infirmaries. - -"We Labour men are sometimes accused of crying for the moon. No; we are -crying for the sun, and before we are finished we mean to get a little -more sun into the homes and hearts of the people." - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -THE KING'S DINNER--AND OTHERS - - A Dinner to the Labour Mayor--The Mayoress--The King's Twenty-five - Thousand Guests--The Prince and Princess of Wales at - Poplar--Organising a Coronation Treat for Children--A Little Girl's - Thanks--At the Lord Mayor's Banquet in a Blue Serge Suit--The Mayor - of Poplar's Carriage at St. Paul's--A Testimonial on Quitting - Office. - - -Since the Labour Mayor was debarred by what he called his "chronic want -of wealth" from entertaining at his own expense, the Poplar Labour -League decided to entertain him at a dinner on their own part by way of -commemorating his election. Directly the project was talked about, -friends of his of all classes expressed a wish to attend. - -The dinner was given on January 11th, 1902. An old Chartist was in the -chair, Mr. Nathan Robinson, one of the Mayor's colleagues on the London -County Council. Lord Monkswell sat at the same table with stevedores and -gas-workers. Some of the Mayor's fellow-workers on the Asylums Board -fraternised with some of the Mayor's fellow-workers on the Labour -League. Nearly every trade and every church in Poplar were represented. -Dean Lawless of the Roman Catholics, the Rev. Mr. Nairn of the -Presbyterians, and Father Dolling of the Anglicans, sat at meat together -for the first time in their lives, drawn by the engaging personality of -the Labour Mayor. - -"I must just write a word of congratulation on our dinner of Saturday," -wrote Dolling from St. Saviour's Clergy House a couple of days later. "I -think it was just splendid. It is given to few men to gain the respect, -confidence, and esteem--I might say the affection--of friends and foes, -colleagues and opponents. God grant you strength and perseverance." - -The same spirit breathed through a letter from the Roman Catholic -Dean:--"God bless you and God speed you; and also your gentle wife, the -Mayoress." - -Mrs. Crooks, by the way, filled the office of Mayoress with a quiet -dignity and grace that won everyone's regard. As her husband stood -primarily as a working-man Mayor, she too as Mayoress made no pretence -at being other than a working-man's wife. She could be seen cleaning her -own doorstep as housewife in the morning and taking part in some public -function as Mayoress in the afternoon. - -The day the appointment was announced a journalist from an evening paper -went down to Poplar, hoping evidently to find the new Mayoress greatly -elated. He seemed surprised to find her so busy in the kitchen preparing -the children's dinner that she had barely time to grant him the -interview he sought. - -"Why should you think it would make any difference to us?" she asked -him, with natural simplicity. "Dad will just be the same plain and -cheery Will Crooks that he has always been. Of course, we'll do our best -as Mayor and Mayoress, but it will simply be as ordinary -working-people." - -With perfect self-possession and a modest, dignified bearing, which -remained the same when she was receiving the Prince and Princess of -Wales as when attending a conference of working women, Mrs. Crooks -carried out her duties as Mayoress of Poplar and won good opinions on -every hand. - -The unbounded pride of the poor in their Mayor was something to -remember. For the first time they became conscious of a personal tie -between themselves and a public office that previously had always seemed -far removed from them. They followed him admiringly. They hovered about -his door until the Mayoress despaired of keeping the step clean. If they -could obtain a momentary glimpse of him in his robes and chain, or -better still, pass a few words with him, it was something to boast of. -Speculation as to where he kept the mayoral chain reached the length of -one wild suggestion that he put it under his pillow at night. - -On the Sunday morning that the Mayor and Council went in state to the -parish church, nearly all Poplar turned out to honour the occasion. The -streets were lined with spectators as for a royal pageant. Work-people -alone would have filled the spacious church of All Saints four or five -times over could they have obtained admission. - -Even the children at the Poor Law school at Forest Gate, four miles -away, joined in the chorus of congratulations. - -"The boys and girls here have toasted your election as Mayor with cheers -that you might almost have heard at Poplar," wrote the superintendent. -"We all feel that in a way we have some share in your new dignity." - -Coronation year was a busy year for the London mayors. Crooks, who had a -great share in organising the King's Dinner to the Poor of the whole of -London, carried through the local arrangements in Poplar for feeding -twenty-five thousand without a hitch. It is notorious that the -deplorable muddle which marked the dinner arrangements in some of the -West End boroughs brought a Royal request to the mayors for an -explanation. - -The King had made known his intention to visit Poplar during the dinner. -It is known how his illness prevented him from leaving Buckingham Palace -on the memorable Saturday. The Prince and Princess of Wales, on behalf -of the King, attended the two or three centres he had arranged to visit. -Much to the consternation of metropolitan mayors in wealthier districts, -who were competing among themselves to secure the Royal visitors, the -Prince and Princess went to Poplar. - -The King's guests, we have seen, numbered twenty-five thousand in Poplar -alone. Of these, three thousand dined under a great awning in the Tunnel -Gardens, one of the open spaces Crooks had secured for the borough. The -Mayor passed among the motley throng like a benediction, receiving the -good-natured chaff of the men and their wives concerning his gold-laced -hat and scarlet robe. Only one of the three thousand, a steward, was -inclined to be cantankerous, though not in the Mayor's hearing. Pointing -to Crooks with a carving-knife he said to his companion:-- - -"I wonder he ain't ashamed of himself. Why couldn't we have had a -gentleman for mayor like Morton? I've been a sheriff's officer myself, -and I call it a disgrace to Poplar." - -He changed his tone when the Prince and Princess of Wales arrived and -were formally received by the Mayor and Mayoress, before going round the -tables, chatting and joking with Crooks. - -"Well, that takes the cake!" said the ex-sheriff's officer in amazement. -"There's the Prince of Wales talking to that fellow Crooks just as -though he was talking to a gentleman!" - -Later on the mayors of other London boroughs, chiefly out of their own -private purses, gave a special Coronation treat to the children. It -looked as though the children of Poplar, in the absence of a wealthy -mayor, would receive no such favours. - -Crooks met the need by a public appeal. Nearly L300 was subscribed, -chiefly by local employers and residents, enabling the Mayor to -entertain about eight thousand children. Some five thousand were divided -among four garden parties. Infants to the number of three thousand were -entertained at their own schools. All the crippled children in the -borough were taken in brakes to Epping Forest for the day. - -A couple of days later Crooks received through the post an unsigned -letter in a child's large round hand-writing. This is what it said:-- - - - All the little boys and girls in our school want to thank you for - the very nice party we had in honour of the King's Coronation. Some - of us had chocolate and very nice medals, and all the school had - cakes, lemonade, fruit, sweets, and a little medal. We had sports - in the playground and prizes for those who won the races. And we - all enjoyed it very much. - - Please accept the best thanks from the children of the Infants' - School, Wade Street. - - -He tells many amusing stories about the mayoralty. An ardent admirer -chased him over half of Poplar one night, following him from the Town -Hall to a chapel bazaar and from the bazaar to a Labour meeting, -guarding carefully under his arm a brown paper parcel. At last he saw -his chance of getting a private word with the Mayor. - -"Pardon me, Will, but I've just heard as how you've been asked to dine -at the Mansion House with all the other mayors. And I thought I'd like -to offer to lend you my ole dress suit. I couldn't abear the thought of -our Mayor not looking as good as the other blokes. 'Tain't much to speak -of, Will"--unfolding the parcel--"but perhaps your missus can touch it -up a bit." - -Crooks did not go to the City banquet on that occasion. It was not until -three years later that, on the invitation of Lord Mayor Pounds, he -attended the Ninth of November banquet at the Guildhall. Then he turned -up in his blue serge suit, which, in a way, made him one of the most -conspicuous figures present, since all the other guests were in Court -dress, uniform, or ordinary evening dress. A crowded company in the -reception room broke out into rounds of applause when the Labour man in -his plain attire walked down the room after being announced. He was -received in the most cordial way by the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress. - -He had an amusing experience in connection with a State service at St. -Paul's, to which he was invited as Mayor of Poplar. - -"I took train to the City, and was walking towards the Cathedral when a -cabman from my own district accosted me. - -"'I say, Mr. Crooks, let me give you a lift up to the Cathedral, so that -I can get a chance to see what's going.' - -"'All right,' said I; and I got into his cab, and was driven up with as -much dignity as the cab and horse could command. - -"The cabman then rode away and took up his position in waiting. The -service over, all the titled people crowded out, and there was an eager -demand for carriages. A stout policeman at the door called out the -names. - -"'The Duke of ----'s carriage.' 'The Mayor of Westminster's carriage.' -'Lady ----'s carriage.' And so on, as each swell conveyance rolled up. -Then, when the policeman learnt who I was, he yelled, 'The Mayor of -Poplar's carriage.' - -"Up drove my cabby with his growler. - -"'Take that thing away!' shouted the policeman. 'Make room for the -Mayor of Poplar's carriage.' - -"'Who yer getting at?' said cabby mischievously. 'This _is_ the Mayor of -Poplar's carriage.' - -"'All right, constable,' I said, as I went down the steps; 'that's my -cab.' - -"The policeman immediately began to apologise. Cabby said he wouldn't -have missed the fun for fifty quid." - -At the Coronation ceremony at the Abbey, to which all the London mayors -were invited, Crooks asked to be exempt from wearing Court dress. The -King sent him the exemption he asked for. - -"I attended the Abbey in my mayoral robes, and when the ceremony was -over I escaped from the crowd as quickly as I could, and was going to a -house near by to take off my robes. I found myself in Dean's Yard, which -was quiet and almost deserted, save for a few youngsters. - -"'I say, Tom, here's the King,' I heard one of them remark as I -approached. - -"'That ain't the King,' said a second youngster; 'that's the Dook of -Connort.' - -"'Garn! he ain't no royalty!' said another of the lads. And looking up -into my face, he asked, 'Who is yer, guv'nor?' - -"The question was more than I could stand, and I had to hurry away -laughing heartily." - -His year of office was pronounced by opponents and supporters to be a -triumphant success. From the very first the Labour Mayor proved that he -knew his duties. He had not been in office long before he obtained a -gift of L15,000 for the building of three additional public libraries -for Poplar. As an administrator he brought about many changes in the -Borough Council's methods of doing work, introducing into the municipal -life of Poplar something of the business-like methods of the L.C.C. - -How far his efforts succeeded is shown by the presentation made to him -and Mrs. Crooks at the close of the mayoral year. All parties on the -Borough Council combined in a gift of silver plate to the Mayoress, and -an illuminated address to the Mayor. - -"Had we only known what a good mayor you would have made, Mr. Crooks," -said one of the Conservative members, "we should never have opposed your -election." - -In thanking his colleagues on behalf of himself and his wife, Crooks -closed his speech with these words:--"We are as poor now as when we -began, but money cannot buy the satisfaction we possess. We have had -opportunities of being useful, and we have done the best we could with -our opportunities. As I have lived, so I hope to end my days--a servant -of the people." - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -THE MAN WHO PAID OLD AGE PENSIONS - - Address to the National Committee on Old Age Pensions--Paying - Pensions through the Poor Law--A Walk from West to East--The Living - Pension and the Living Wage--Scientific Starvation under - Bumbledom--Defending the Living Pension at the L.G.B. - Inquiry--Poplar "a Shining Light." - - -With several other Labour leaders, Crooks was invited to join the -National Committee on Old Age Pensions that arose out of Mr. Charles -Booth's Conferences at Browning Hall. Mr. Richard Seddon, on his last -visit to England, described at one of the conferences the New Zealand -experiment. - -It was news to all the members of the Committee to hear Crooks unfold -the details of a scheme differing largely both from Mr. Booth's and Mr. -Seddon's. It was one that had been forced upon him after much reflection -and experience. - -"For two or three generations the working classes of this country have -been asked to vote for Doodle or Foodle and Old Age Pensions. The -elector of to-day, like his father and grandfather before him, is still -waiting for the fulfilment of the promise. It seems a vain hope. He, -too, like those before him, may die of old age still waiting, perhaps -ending his days in the workhouse. - -"Now I for one have got tired of waiting. I've commenced to pay -pensions already. I maintain that it is both lawful, and right to pay -pensions through the Poor Law. And I intend to go on paying them, and to -urge others to pay them, until Liberal and Conservative politicians -cease deluding the people by promises and establish a State system." - -He put forward his scheme before many other assemblies. To the argument -that this is only a system of "glorified out-relief," he makes answer, -"So are most pensions. At the risk of outraging the feelings of -economists, I hold that out-relief to the poor is no more degrading than -out-relief to the rich. We hear no talk of endangering the independence -of Cabinet Ministers or of Civil Servants when they are paid old age -pensions. - -"It is argued the poor have the workhouse provided for them. True; but -was it not Ruskin who pointed out that-- - - - The poor seem to have a prejudice against the workhouse which the - rich have not; for, of course, everyone who takes a pension from - Government goes into the workhouse on a grand scale; only the - workhouses for the rich do not involve the idea of work, and should - be called playhouses. But the poor like to die independently, it - appears. Perhaps, if we make the playhouses pretty and pleasant - enough, or give them their pensions at home, their minds might be - reconciled to the conditions. - - -"Look down as you may on these veterans of almost endless toil, but -don't forget they have made our country what it is. They have fought in -the industrial army for British supremacy in the commercial world and -obtained it. The least their country can do is to honour their old -age." - -The twofold character of Crooks's Poor Law policy has already appeared. -While he wants to make life in the workhouse less like life in prison, -he is also anxious that all worn-out old men and women, who have friends -to look after them, should be kept as far from the workhouse as -possible. - -"To do that means the granting of a pension. Call it outdoor relief if -you like, but at the same time call the Right Honourable Gerald -Balfour's and Lord Eversley's pensions outdoor relief. - -"At any rate, relief must be on a more generous scale than it usually is -if you are going to keep honourable old people out of the workhouse. -Failing that, out-relief has a tendency to perpetuate sweating. Mr. -Chaplin was not alone in deprecating inadequate out-relief. The Aged -Poor Commission, of which the King was a member, reporting in 1895, -called attention to the ill-effects of inadequate out-door grants and -suggested that the amounts be increased." - -In one of our many walks together about the streets of London, I -remember with what animation and depth of feeling he discussed this -subject. We began somewhere in Westminster with the intention of taking -a 'bus at Charing Cross. We found ourselves still walking eastward as we -passed Temple Bar, and then agreed to mount a 'bus at Ludgate Circus. We -were still on our feet as we went through St. Paul's Churchyard, so -decided to walk on to the Bank. But he forgot everything but the poor -again until we stopped our walk for a moment at Aldgate Church. Before a -'bus could arrive he was deep in the subject again, and almost -mechanically resumed walking. And so, on through Whitechapel and Stepney -and Limehouse into Poplar, he discoursed earnestly all the way on the -need for poor people's pensions. - -"Since I prefer to call out-relief a pension," he said, "I'm going to -see that it is a real pension, and not a dole. Inadequate out-relief -gives the sweater his opportunity. A sympathetic half-crown a week to a -worn-out old woman making shirts at ninepence the dozen has the effect -of dragging the struggling young widow with a family of children down to -accepting the same price. It sometimes takes a whole week to earn -one-and-six, so little wonder that the pinch of hunger sends many a -young widow to the devil. We may preach that the wages of sin is death, -but life isn't worth living at all to many people. An unknown hell has -no more terrors to them than an awful earth. - -"How would I stop this? I would stop it by making it impossible for the -old woman to be the unconscious instrument in encompassing the ruin of -the young woman. The old woman cannot live on a half-crown dole from the -Guardians; so to make a shilling or two more she undercuts the young -woman, and the sweater gets them both at reduced wages. Now if the old -woman deserves help at all, the help ought to be sufficient to keep her -without the necessity of falling into the sweater's net and dragging -others with her. The help must be a pension on which she can live. It -ought not to be a dole on which she starves." - -"Then you stand for the Living Pension as well as for the Living Wage?" - -"Precisely. But nearly all pension schemes, like most out-relief -systems, fix the allowance at a starvation figure. Sums of four or five -shillings won't save old people from hardship. For example, we have in -the Poplar workhouse old pensioners who received as much as six -shillings a week. They found they couldn't live outside on that, and so -had no alternative but the House. Only the other day there was another -six-shilling pensioner admitted to the House. He had struggled on -outside in his one room, selling and pawning his few things bit by bit -to eke out a living until he hadn't a stick left. So, although receiving -a pension of six shillings a week, he was forced into the workhouse." - -"Do you find the same thing happening in regard to old people assisted -by a friendly society or a trade union?" - -"Occasionally we do," answered Crooks. "The other day, for instance, a -superannuated trade unionist came before the Board, an old man blunt in -speech and not without independence. - -"'We understand you have a pension of six shillings a week,' says the -Chairman. - -"'That's all right, guv'nor. But how could you pay three shillings a -week out of that for the rent of our one room and then you and the wife -live on the rest?' - -"Take another case," resumed Crooks as we crossed Commercial Road. "A -fine-looking old woman enters the relief committee room, scrupulously -clean but poorly clad--a splendid specimen of a self-respecting -honourable old English woman. - -"'Now, my good woman, what can we do for you?' - -"'Well, sir, we've nothing left in the world, and I've come to see if -you can assist us?' - -"'Where's your husband?' - -"'He's ill in bed to-day. He's turned seventy-three. I'm seventy-five -myself. We've been living on his club money until now. He had six -months' full pay and six months' half-pay. That's as much as the club -allows. Now we've got nothing. He worked up to a little more than a year -ago; At seventy-three he can't work any longer.' - -"'We are very sorry,' says the Chairman, 'but the Poor Law practice is -to ask old people like you to come into the workhouse.' - -"'Anything but that, sir,' pleads the old lady tearfully. 'Both of us -over seventy; we should feel it so much now after working all our lives. -We can look after ourselves outside if you can give us a little help.' - -"Here, then, you have an honest, hard-working old couple still faced -with nothing but the workhouse, although they have been thrifty and done -everything which the political promoters of old-age pensions say ought -to be done. We made full inquiries, and for a time at least we thought -we would meet their wishes and let them live outside. We gave them six -shillings a week, and watched the case carefully. We saw that to eke out -existence, one by one their articles of furniture were going. Struggle -and strive as they did on their six shillings a week, they would have -been compelled to come into the House ultimately after a few further -stages of this system of scientific starvation if we hadn't found -outside help for them from another quarter." - -"You want, then, to base out-relief, like an old-age pension, on the -Living Wage principle?" - -"No other plan will work. No other plan is just," he said in his earnest -way. "The out-relief ought to be the pension. There are a lot of old -people receiving out-relief grants of three or four shillings. What is -the result? They toil and struggle and pine outside on an amount which -barely keeps body and soul together. They reach the workhouse at last, -as a rule, through the infirmary. That means they break down and have to -get medical orders for admission. It has been proved that thirty per -cent. of the people in Poor Law infirmaries are suffering ailments of -some kind or other due to want of proper nourishment. - -"That is what I mean when I say that the present Poor Law, as Bumbledom -would administer it, has nothing better to prescribe than scientific -starvation to old people who refuse the House. If one is foolish enough -to grow old without being artful enough to get rich, this world is the -wrong place to be in. - -"When old age comes to working people, both thrifty and unthrifty have -in most instances to turn to one of two things--precarious charity or -the Poor Law. Charity is a splendid exercise for many people, but no law -or custom exists compelling its practice. Now the Poor Law can be -enforced; only it has been used to terrorise the poor. The State sets up -a system to save old people from starvation, and then allows it to be -used to perpetuate starvation. - -"It won't do. So long as we have this system, I'm going to make not the -worst use of it, but the best use of it. And I believe in paying old-age -pensions through the Poor Law. The Poor Law ought not to degrade any -more than the Rich Law degrades under which Ministers and officers of -the State receive their pensions. Why do I say pay pensions through the -Poor Law? Because it is here. It is something to begin with at once. It -is the thin edge of the wedge of a system of universal old-age pensions, -free and adequate." - -Pending the adoption of some national system, he practises in Poplar the -policy he urges in public, that of paying a living pension through the -Poor Law. - -His policy received unexpected endorsement in a letter sent to him by an -old woman of eighty-three in a provincial town. She wrote to him in the -summer of 1906 at the time others were attacking him for his policy. - - - Your noble efforts on behalf of penniless old people like me I see - are being condemned in some of the papers. They can't know the - facts. I was managing very comfortably until the Liberator crash - took away my income. I started a small school and maintained myself - until I was seventy. After that I was no good for work. What I - should have done I don't know had it not been for a few friends - who, like yourself, believe in out-relief grants of sufficient - amount to keep a person living; and they persuaded the Guardians to - help me. I thank you for the fight you are making on behalf of - hundreds of helpless old people like myself. May the King soon call - you Sir Will Crooks. - - -He was examined at some length on his Living Pension policy at the Local -Government Board Inquiry into the Poplar Guardians' administration. He -admitted that old people over sixty receiving out-relief in Poplar were -costing the borough a sixpenny rate. - -"I say it is wicked to compel us," he stated in evidence, "to maintain -out of our local rates these old people who ought to be a charge--as I -have said hundreds of times, and repeat--for the whole metropolis or for -the nation rather than the locality. These industrial veterans are -thrust upon us in Poplar to maintain, notwithstanding that most of the -wealth they created has been enjoyed by people who live elsewhere, and -thus escape their share of the burden of maintaining their old workers -in old age. But because this unjust state of things exists, are we, with -a full sense of our responsibility, to tell these broken-down old -workers that we refuse to bear the burden ourselves, and that they must -do the best they can?" - -Then followed a rapid fire of questions and answers between himself and -the legal representative of the Poplar Municipal Alliance. - -_Q._--Is not that rather a dangerous doctrine? If local authorities -generally allowed their sympathies to carry them into acts not -contemplated by their constitution and their powers, what do you think -the general result would be? - -_A._--It _is_ contemplated by our constitution. We are here to relieve -distress. We are created for that purpose. - -_Q._--Do you say there is any machinery or power in the Poor Law which -authorises you to give allowances which are, in fact, old age pensions -to these people? - -_A._--It allows us to give out-door relief. You can call it what you -like.... We cannot refuse to give people help and assistance in old age. - -_Q._--I am not quarrelling for a moment with the proposition in the -abstract; I am quarrelling with your method of carrying it out in your -local machinery. - -_A._--Tell me what you would do--leave them to starve on the streets? - -_Q._--I suggest, is it not a dangerous doctrine for local authorities to -exceed their statutory powers? - -_A._--I assure you we have never done anything of the kind, and I -challenge you to prove it. - -_Q._--I ask you to show me any authority for a grant continuously of, -say, ten shillings a week to these old people? - -_A._--The Local Government Board issued an order dealing with the -matter. - -The Inspector:--You rely on Mr. Chaplin's circular? - -_A._--Yes, with regard to the treatment of the aged and deserving poor. -That circular reads:-- - - - It has been felt that persons who have habitually led decent and - deserving lives should, if they require relief in their old age, - receive different treatment from those whose previous habits and - character have been unsatisfactory, and who have failed to exercise - thrift in bringing up their families or otherwise. The Local - Government Board consider that aged and deserving persons should - not be urged to enter the workhouse at all unless there is some - cause which renders such a course necessary, such as infirmity of - mind or body, the absence of house accommodation, or of a suitable - person to care for them, or some similar cause; but think they - should be relieved by giving adequate outdoor relief. The Board are - happy to think it is commonly the practice of Boards of Guardians - to grant outdoor relief in such cases, but they are afraid that too - frequently such relief is not adequate in amount. They are desirous - of pressing upon the Boards of Guardians that such relief should, - when granted, be always adequate. - - -That is our authority for what we are doing.... For once in a way one -can say this Inquiry at least will be an enlightening one. - -_Q._--I hope it will, Mr. Crooks. - -_A._--I am sure it will. - -_Q._--To other places than Poplar? - -_A._--I hope so indeed. Poplar will be a shining light in the days to -come. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -ELECTION TO PARLIAMENT - - Labour Candidate for Woolwich--Lord Charles Beresford describes - Crooks as a Fair and Square Opponent--How the Election Fund was - Raised--Crooks recommended by John Burns as "Wise on Poor - Law"--Half-loaf and Whole Loaf--"Greatest By-election Victory of - Modern Times." - - -On the morning of February 19th, 1903, the Press stated that -considerable excitement was created in London on the previous day by the -announcement that Lord Charles Beresford had been offered the command of -the Channel squadron, and that he was about to resign his Parliamentary -seat in Woolwich. - -A few days later the genial admiral, from a public platform, was bidding -good-bye to his constituents and introducing to them the Conservative -candidate in the person of Mr. Geoffrey Drage. He took occasion to throw -out the warning that the opposition candidate was a strong man, whom he -knew to be a fair and square opponent. - -The reference was to Crooks. He had been adopted as Labour candidate -some few weeks previously. The invitation sent to him by the Woolwich -Labour Representation Association was a unanimous one. It surprised him -to receive it, since his association with Woolwich--on the other side -of the Thames two miles below Poplar--was a very slight one. When he -accepted the invitation it was believed there would be at least two -years to prepare for the General Election. The Labour candidate had -barely made his _debut_ before the by-election was announced. - -Nobody but the little band of Labour men in the constituency believed in -Crooks's chances. The honours had fallen so easily hitherto to the -Conservatives. Lord Charles Beresford got the seat without a contest. -Sir Edwin Hughes before him was returned unopposed in 1900, while for -sixteen years previously he held the seat by majorities averaging more -than two thousand. The majority at the previous contest (which took -place in 1895) reached 2,805. - -Faced with this formidable figure, Crooks entered upon the contest with -all his usual zeal and good humour. There was first the difficulty of -the election expenses. The Labour Association quickly raised L200 from -among its members. It soon became evident, however, that before the -Labour Party could get in touch with the sixteen thousand voters on the -register and meet the returning officer's fees, a sum four or five times -as large as that would be needed. - -An appeal to the public was sent out by the Association, signed by S. H. -Grinling, M.A. (chairman), W. Barefoot (treasurer), and A. Hall -(secretary). The appeal was taken up by the _Daily News_, which opened a -Woolwich Election Fund. In about a fortnight that paper raised L1,000. -Contributions poured in from all classes, in every part of the kingdom, -accompanied by a chorus of well-wishes of which any public man might -indeed be proud. - -As from day to day the amounts were acknowledged in the _Daily News_, -one saw side by side with the modest two shillings from "Four workers" -L10 from Lord Portsmouth. Among the shillings and sixpences from working -women and girls appeared L5 from Lady Trevelyan, and a list of -subscriptions from Father Adderley, containing one "From a lady in lieu -of a new hat." The day "Two Chalfont lads" sent "a bob each," two sums -of L50 were acknowledged from the Right Hon. Sydney Buxton and Mr. -George Cadbury. The authors of "The Heart of the Empire," with a gift of -L25, shared the same spirit with "A Leominster working-man," who -forwarded three shillings, and "Four working men of Cirencester," who -sent four shillings between them. Dr. Clifford, the Rev. Stopford -Brooke, and Canon Scott Holland swelled the list, together with old -Labour Members of Parliament like Mr. T. Burt and Mr. H. Broadhurst. - -"A fellow worker of Mr. Crooks on the Asylums Board" was responsible for -L10, while colleagues of his on the London County Council contributed -about L100 between them. - -From Porchester Square came a substantial cheque with an unsigned note -written in the third person, to this effect:-- - - - The lady who sends the enclosed is nearly eighty-four, and - therefore cannot offer any help in person, but she most heartily - wishes Mr. Crooks success in his brave fight, as she has for a long - time past desired to see more Labour representatives in the House - of Commons. - - -The campaign went on merrily. The magnetic personality of the Labour -candidate drew to his side every Progressive section in the -constituency. It was not only that working-men threw themselves into the -fight with Herculean energy, but the temperance societies and the -churches of nearly every denomination became enthusiastic in his -support. - -They seemed to share the same estimate of the candidate as Mr. Keir -Hardie, who wrote to the electors describing Crooks as "a first-class -fighting man, and the best of good fellows, who would, if returned, -bring credit and honour to the constituency." - -Mr. John Burns went down to Woolwich to pay his tribute in person. With -the Labour candidate he addressed a mass meeting of over five thousand -electors in the Drill Hall, while crowds surged outside the doors, -delaying the tram traffic in the streets. Mr. Burns fell into glowing -periods in his eulogy of his old colleague:-- - - - Woolwich has in Mr. Crooks a man who not only carries a banner - which typifies a cause, but honours the army for which he works. By - his tolerance and sweet-tempered geniality, he has united the - Progressive forces of Woolwich as they have never been united - before. In securing what is possible to-day, Mr. Crooks never - forgets his ideal, but with a brotherly love and Christian charity - pursues the line of least resistance in a way which Labour has not - always shown. - - -Before sitting down, Mr. Burns took occasion to tell his five thousand -hearers that among other reasons why he was there to commend their -candidate was because Crooks was "wise on Poor Law." - -As the contest developed, Crooks found that much the same kind of thing -was being said against him as he had heard during his mayoralty in -Poplar. He told one of his public meetings:-- - -"Lovely ladies are already going about with lovely stories. As they -canvass for my opponent they tell the elector or his wife that the rates -will go up if a Labour candidate is elected. They say that because he is -a poor man he will have to be paid a salary of L500 a year out of the -rates. You tell these alluring ladies that Will Crooks has been in -public life for fourteen years, and has never had a penny from the rates -all the time. Tell them further that if he remains in public life -another fifty years, he will still never have a penny from the rates." - -Evidently those good ladies had not read his election address. There he -stated:-- - -"I have no desire to enter Parliament unless it be for the opportunities -it may afford me of continuing and extending my life's work. If I can -further the well-being of my country by assisting in the developing of a -nation of self-respecting men and women, whose children shall be -educated and physically and mentally fitted to face their -responsibilities and duties, I shall be content. - -"I therefore ask those of you who believe that the greatness of our -Empire rests on the happiness and prosperity of its people to consider -carefully the importance of the present election. - -"I am of opinion that a strong Labour Party in the House of Commons, -comprised of men who know the sufferings and share the aspirations of -all grades of workmen, is certain to exercise greater influence for good -than the academic student." - -As the day of the poll (March 11th) drew near, confident hopes of -victory began to be entertained by many outside the Labour Party. The -most telling election cry used by his supporters was innocently supplied -by the opposition candidate, Mr. Drage, a gentleman who at one time sat -with Crooks on the Asylums Board. At one of his public meetings early in -the campaign, Mr. Drage attempted to justify certain low wages paid in -the Woolwich Arsenal by remarking that half a loaf was better than no -bread. - -The Labour Party seized upon the words at once. "No half-loaf policy for -us; we want the whole loaf," was their immediate retort. - -From that moment the loaf became the feature of the fight. As Free Trade -and Protection were also to the front, the loaf had a double -significance. Crooks's supporters carried about the streets, on the end -of poles, loaves and half-loaves to represent the rival policies. "F. C. -G.," in one of his _Westminster Gazette_ cartoons, represented Crooks -standing firm and solid on the whole loaf, while his opponent balanced -himself with some temerity on a tottering half-loaf. - -Polling day dawned hopefully. Sunshine illumined the streets, while the -Labour candidate's carriages filled them. For once a Labour man -out-classed a Conservative in the number and style of his conveyances. -Friends of Crooks sent four-in-hands, motor cars, two-horse carriages, -traps, drags, vans, coal-carts, and donkey shays. The bakers of the -district had made thousands of miniature loaves about the size of -walnuts, which were in evidence everywhere. With stalks through them, -these loaves were sold in the streets and shops for a penny. Men wore -them in their buttonholes, boys in their caps, and women on their -dresses as a symbol of the Labour man's policy of the whole loaf. - -Victory had been hoped for, but victory such as that achieved was beyond -the wildest dreams. A Conservative majority of 2805 was turned by Crooks -into a Labour majority of 3229--"the greatest by-election victory of -modern times," as the _Speaker_ described it. The actual poll was:-- - - - Crooks (Labour) 8687 - Drage (Conservative) 5458 - ---- - Majority 3229 - - -[Illustration: WILL CROOKS ADDRESSING AN OPEN-AIR MEETING IN BERESFORD -SQUARE DURING THE WOOLWICH BYE-ELECTION IN 1903.] - -To the little company of supporters of both parties assembled in the -counting room of the Town Hall, Crooks turned after the declaration of -the result, and proposed the usual vote of thanks to the returning -officer. He added:-- - -"May I say, now that I am elected Member for Woolwich, that it will be -my aim and desire to serve all sections of the people of Woolwich, -including, of course, those who voted for Mr. Drage, as well as those -who voted for me. So far as Mr. Drage and myself are concerned, we shall -still retain the same friendship we have had for years." - -In seconding the vote, Mr. Drage congratulated Mr. Crooks on the great -victory he had won, and assured him that their friendship had not been -shaken by the campaign. - -A roar from the streets told that the news had reached the waiting -crowds. The new Member with his wife and a few friends passed out of the -Town Hall into the midst of the multitude. It was only by the aid of the -police, who opened a passage through the serried ranks, that Crooks was -able to reach the market square by the Arsenal gates, where it had been -arranged he should speak. - -It was then nigh on midnight, but when he mounted a cart he looked out -on a sea of faces in the glare of improvised torches and the street -lamps such as had never been witnessed at that hour in Woolwich before. - -Amid the exuberant joy of this multitude, it was in vain he tried to -speak. One sentence only, sharp and clear, broke in between the -cheering:-- - -"To-night Woolwich has sent a message of love and hope to Labour all -over the country." - -Not another word could be heard. Finally he gave up the attempt to -speak. The crowd was content to roll out its cheers. These increased in -volume when someone from the dark mass passed up a large bouquet of -flowers to Mrs. Crooks. - -So the curtain fell on a great fight. Mrs. Crooks, with her presentation -bouquet, the happiest woman in England. The crowd of workers, who felt -that a workers' battle had been won and a new hope arisen. And the new -Member of Parliament, very tired, cheery, undisturbed, desirous only -that the efforts of those who had assisted should be gratefully -acknowledged and no undue credit given to the vigorous and magnetic -personality who had focussed all the enthusiasm and driven it forward -into an unprecedented victory. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -ADVENT OF THE POLITICAL LABOUR PARTY - - Congratulations--A Letter from Bishop Talbot--Bar-parlour - Opinion--The Press on the Victory--The Birth of a Party--An - Opponent of the South African War. - - -Before Crooks went down to the House of Commons on the following day, he -had a busy morning opening telegrams to the number of two or three -hundred. - -Mr. John Burns, Mr. Keir Hardie, Mr. David Shackleton, wired their -congratulations from the House of Commons. Other messages came from -trade unions and groups of working-men and working-women in various -parts of the country. Among them were telegrams from dockers at -Middlesbrough, coopers at Birmingham, postmen in London, engineers at -Newcastle, and cycle-makers at Coventry. - -These well-wishes from the ranks of Labour poured in simultaneously with -congratulations from Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the Hon. Maud -Stanley, Lord Tweedmouth, Mr. Beerbohm Tree, and many ministers of -religion. - -The late Sir Wilfrid Lawson, as was his wont dropped into verse. He -wired from Carlisle:-- - - - Hurrah! The future brighter looks; - We worry on by hooks and Crooks. - Oh, what a heavy, heavy blow - Last night you struck on Jingo Joe! - - -From the Bishop's House, Kennington, S.E., Dr. Talbot wrote:-- - - - I wish, as one to whom, as its Bishop, the affairs of Woolwich are - of great interest, to offer you my sincere good wishes for your - Parliamentary course. - - I am aware that by so writing at this moment I may risk - misunderstanding and seem to "worship the rising sun," and that you - may not care for words when there were not deeds in support. - - But I venture to risk this: and to trust you to take as genuine - what is genuinely said. I think you are the man to do this. - - I cannot but feel and I desire to express great satisfaction that - the needs and interests of Labour should have their representative - in one who has given such proof of desire to work and suffer for - the welfare of his fellow-men as you have done. - - All that I have heard of you commands my admiration and respect. It - will be a great pleasure to find there are occasions when we may - co-operate for the public welfare in Woolwich. - - Had the Bishop of Bloemfontein--Chandler--been in England, I might - have asked him for an introduction to you; as it is, may our common - friendship for him serve the purpose. - - You will come into Parliament with great power from your character - and experience, and as the representative by such a majority of - such a place. May you seek, and may God Almighty give you, the - wisdom and strength to use rightly this great position. - - -To turn from the Bishop to the bar-parlour will help us to preserve the -balance of things human. While Dr. Talbot was sending his blessing from -the Bishop's House, there came a chorus of good-wishes from nearly every -public-house in Woolwich. This was all the more remarkable because -Crooks had made the constituency hold its sides with laughter over the -innumerable stories he told during the campaign against beer-drinkers. -Those who laughed the loudest were the drinkers themselves, admitting -while so doing they had never heard a teetotaler put the case against -them so well before. - -It was a great delight to Crooks to learn that even the regular tipplers -were saying among themselves that "although that chap Crooks don't spare -us blokes, he's the man for our money." - -One conversation reported to him from a public-house a few days after -the election was certainly quaint and amusing. The narrator was the best -of mimics. He told how the subject of the election was introduced by "a -long thin man with a sheeny nose," who had just come in. - -"Well," began the new-comer, without any preliminary, "I've read 'The -Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World,' but I tell you Woolwich licks -the lot." - -"What about Napoleon Bonaparty?" ventured one of the company. - -"Bonaparty? What did Bony do? Why, ten years after Wellington won -Waterloo things was back worse than they was before." - -"I thought Bill Adams won the battle of Waterloo," called out a voice -from the corner bench. - -"You shouldn't think; it might hurt yer head." - -"D'yer reckon as Crooks is bigger nor Bony was?" inquired the first -questioner. - -"Certainly I do," said the long thin one, severely. "What did Bony do? -Why, he made men fight for him. But what did Crooks do? Why, he taught -men to fight for themselves and their families. See? Bony built his -house on the sands, and the tide of humanity has washed it away. Now -Crooks taught us men to build our own house, and nothing can destroy it -while we stick together." - -To the new Member there came in due time congratulatory messages from -Europe, America, South Africa, and Australia. Children also sent him -their well-wishes--children are always writing to Crooks--one letter -being signed by a whole family of them in Plumstead with their ages set -out like stepping-stones after each signature. This "little household," -as they called themselves, told him how eagerly they had "watched the -papers," and how glad they were he had won. - -One only of the many letters that poured in sounded a despondent note. -It was signed by two desolate old women who lived together in Poplar. - -"We have just heard," they wrote, "you have been elected Member for -Woolwich. Does this mean you are going to leave Poplar? If so, please -give up Parliament, for who have we to look to for help if you go away?" - -Some of his supporters were anxious to serve him in a practical way. -The workers at a tailoring establishment in Woolwich asked him to allow -them to make him a suit of clothes "as a thank-offering for the splendid -victory." When a fortnight later they sent the suit it was with an -expression of "regret that it is not like our esteem--warranted not to -wear out." - -The Press all over the country was profoundly impressed by the result. -The Liberal papers for the most part were too eager to hail it as a blow -at the Conservative Government to see its true significance. The -Conservative papers, in attempting to lessen its effect on their own -party, got nearer to the real meaning that lay behind the victory. - -As the _Times_ put it:-- - - - The result ... means that the questions bound up with the existence - of an organised Labour Party which have been hitherto regarded as - chimerical are coming to the front in practical politics. - - -The _Pall Mall Gazette_ also got near the mark:-- - - - Mr. Crooks's return is first and most obviously an indication of - the growing strength of the idea of an organised Labour Party, such - as under the name of Socialism is so potent a force in Continental - politics. - - -For Woolwich was the first manifestation to the public of the birth of -the political Labour Party. - -The election came within a few weeks of the famous Newcastle conference -of the Labour Representation Committee, whose delegates represented over -a million organised workmen in the country. That was the conference -which decided on the absolute independence of the Labour Party. Almost -the first duty of its secretary, Mr. J. R. Macdonald, on his return from -Newcastle was to issue an appeal "to everyone in London interested in -the formation of a Labour Party in the House of Commons to go to -Woolwich to help Mr. Crooks." - -The best explanation of the striking Labour triumph was given by Crooks -himself in the _Daily News_:-- - -"The workman is learning after years of unfulfilled pledges and broken -promises of the usual party stamp that before he can get anything like -justice he must transfer his faith from 'gentlemen' candidates to Labour -candidates. The workman has seen how the 'gentlemen' of England have -treated him in the last few years--taxed his bread, his sugar, his tea; -tampered with his children's education, attacked his trade unions, made -light of the unemployed problem, and shirked old-age pensions. - -"What the workman has done in Woolwich, you will find he will do in -other towns." - -His prophecy was fulfilled within three years. The General Election of -1906 saw Labour men for the first time returned for two or three dozen -constituencies, some with the greatest majorities known to political -history. As the amazing results poured in from day to day, with their -three and five and even six thousand majorities, a prominent public man -declared at the time:--"This is the Party that was born at Woolwich." - -One significant phase of the Woolwich by-election was emphasised by the -_Speaker_. Here, in a district where the majority of workers earn their -daily bread in the Government Arsenal, a man was elected who had -bitterly opposed the South African war, which from the material -standpoint had brought a period of prosperity to Woolwich without -parallel. The _Speaker_ went on to say:-- - - - Mr. Crooks was among the sturdiest and most outspoken opponents of - the war and its objects, and a man who survived that ordeal may be - trusted to stand to his colours in the next emergency. He was a - conspicuous member of what was called the "Pro-Boer" party. He was - one of the orators at the famous Trafalgar Square meeting that the - jingoes broke up. - - -In the pages of the same weekly journal the new member for Woolwich -wrote an article on the Labour Party. "The Labour Party," he said, "is -quite a natural result of the failure of rich people legislating for the -poor. The one hope of the workman is a strong Labour Party.... The -Labour Member has nothing but his service to give in return for support. -Perhaps he is dependent on his fellows for his maintenance until Payment -of Members is secured. The continued selection of rich men for -working-class constituencies is a perversion of representation, and -quite as absurd as it would be to attempt to run a Labour candidate for -the aristocratic West-End division of St. George's, Hanover Square." - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -THE LIVING WAGE FOR MEN AND WOMEN - - Crooks's Maiden Speech--A Welcome from the Treasury Bench--Demand - for a Fair Wage in Government Workshops--Advocating the Payment of - Members and the Enfranchisement of Women--Crooks's Hold upon the - House. - - -A fortnight after his election to Parliament, Crooks made his maiden -speech. He called attention to the fact that the Government was allowing -portions of the national workshops at Woolwich Arsenal to remain idle -while it was giving work that could be done in them to outside -contractors. - -"I do not know how it appears to other hon. members," he told the House, -"but it seems to me that every department of a Government which claims -to be a business Government ought to have the right to make the first -use of all the resources which the nation has placed at its disposal -before considering outside contractors.... The contractors have fairly -good representation in this House, and many things are to be said in -their favour; but the Government has no right to use the money of the -nation in building machinery and then to allow it to stand idle in the -interests of outside firms, no matter who they are or what influence -they may have." - -In the opening words of his reply, the Minister for War (Mr. Brodrick) -said he was sure that whatever their opinion as to the views of the hon. -member (Mr. Crooks), all sections of the House would welcome his -appearance in debate on a subject on which he was so fully informed. - -The same day Crooks called the attention of the House to the low wages -paid to labourers in the national workshops. - -"I maintain that it is not cheap for the Government to pay men 21s. per -week, although other employers may be able to get them for that amount. -If the men had more money they would be able to get better house -accommodation, and the ratepayers would be saved the substantial sums -now paid under the Poor Law for medical orders for people brought up in -over-crowded homes. The President of the Local Government Board knows -that in consequence of over-crowding in London, hundreds of such medical -orders go to people living under unhealthy conditions, impossible to -avoid when the family depends on this weekly wage of 21s. paid to -Government employees. Such earnings are barely sufficient for food, let -alone shelter. An order has been issued by the Local Government Board -instructing Guardians to feed the inmates of workhouses properly. The -minimum scale laid down for persons in workhouses is of a character that -no man with a family can approach if he is only earning 21s. a week. -What I urge is that the men in the employment of the State should have -a Local Government Board existence, if nothing else--that the men in the -national workshops should no longer have to live on a lower food scale -than that prescribed for workhouses." - -Before he had been in Parliament a month, he got an opportunity to -introduce a proposal in favour of the payment of members. The House was -well filled when he rose to move the following motion:-- - - - That, in the opinion of this House, it is desirable and expedient - that, in order to give constituencies a full and free choice in the - selection of Parliamentary candidates, the charges now made by the - returning officer to the candidates should be chargeable to public - funds, and that all members of the House of Commons should receive - from the State a reasonable stipend during their Parliamentary - life. - - -He addressed the House at some length on this motion. Here is a summary -of his speech:-- - - - There was a good deal of talk about there being absolute equality - in this country, but there was, as every member knew, only one way - of getting into the House, and that was by spending substantial - sums of money. A considerable sum of money was spent in securing - his election, but he did not have to find a farthing of it. The - cash was subscribed openly and freely. But he had often heard it - asked when a poor man was standing: "Who is finding your money?" - - Only the other day he saw the following advertisement in the - _Yorkshire Post_:-- - - M.P.--A gentleman, thirty, holding a responsible - position in London, desirous of entering Parliament, - wishes to meet with an affectionate and wealthy lady, - view matrimony. Genuine. Highest credentials. - - It might be suggested that men would go into the House of Commons - simply to make a living out of it. But was there not in the present - House more than one member who made a pretty good thing out of the - privilege of being able to attach the magic letters "M.P." to their - names? However that might be, he ventured to assert that the - administrative capacity of this country had never yet been properly - tapped. - - It was said a man needed to be trained for political life. Yes, but - where? Was it at the University? Was it by taking a double first at - Oxford or Cambridge that he would turn out a great law-maker, or - was it by constant contact with humanity? He had seen in the Press - an observation to the effect that it was all very well for Labour - to have its representatives in Parliament, but what did they know - of those great historic and important questions which so vitally - affected the interests and welfare of the nation? His answer to - that was that it was infinitely more important to the average - industrial worker of this country that the conditions of life - should be bettered, and that an opportunity should be given for men - to enter the House who knew what he wanted. - - He was one of those who believed that practical knowledge of - working men would prove exceedingly helpful in the deliberations of - the House. There were too many academically-trained men and too few - practical men engaged in the government of the country. He had been - in touch with working-men for years and years; he had sat with them - on administrative bodies, and his experience was that one touch of - nature was worth infinitely more than all the academic training - Oxford or Cambridge could give. - - -The speech was listened to with sympathetic interest, frequently -producing laughter and cheers. The motion, however, was talked out by -the Government's supporters. - -In his election address Crooks had shown that he wanted women to have -the vote. It was with much satisfaction, therefore, that he introduced -the Women's Enfranchisement Bill prepared by the Independent Labour -Party. The second reading not having been reached when the Session -closed, the Bill fell through. Similar measures which have his support -have been introduced since. He hopes they will be brought forward -regularly until a woman's right to the franchise is recognised. - -He gave in the _Review of Reviews_ his reasons for introducing the Bill -that bore his name:-- - -"It is because in all my public work I aim at making the people -self-reliant, able to think and act for themselves, that I want women to -have the power and the responsibility that the possession of the vote -gives. It is by this rather than by any consideration of how their votes -would be used that I ask for woman's suffrage. At the same time I -believe that the cause of progress has nothing to fear from this reform. -We entrust to women as teachers and as mothers the all-important work of -educating the future citizens. How absurd, then, to hesitate to give to -women the rights of a citizen. As regards the women of the -working-class, I point out constantly that all the many social questions -that are pressing for settlement affect these women as much as, if not -more than, they affect their husbands. We must give women a share in -settling such questions." - -He went on, in the course of further remarks in the same magazine, to -lay great stress on the importance of organisation and of agitation in -order to secure the vote for women. There should be local workers in -every constituency. Every member of the House of Commons should have -strong pressure brought to bear upon him. No woman, he urged, should -work for any candidate who is not a supporter of women's franchise. If -the candidate put forward by her own political party cannot support -this, she should work for the candidate who can, no matter to what party -he belonged. - -"If women are in earnest on this question," he added, "they must prove -it by putting principle before party, and making the enfranchisement of -their sex the first object of all their political work." - -On political platforms he often mentioned an incident that arose in -connection with a protest he made against the low wages paid to women in -the Government's Victualling Yard at Deptford. - -"It's starvation," he told one of the responsible officials, "to pay -widows with families 14s. a week." - -"But it's constant," said the amazed official. - -"So, you see," Crooks adds in telling the incident, "that Government -officials think starvation's all right so long as it's constant. Do you -think this system of constant starvation would be tolerated for a day if -women had the vote?" - -Before Mr. Balfour's Government came to an end, Crooks had become one of -the popular speakers of the House. He brought into Parliament a lively -conversational style rarely found in that assembly. His quaint -witticisms, his telling illustrations from the every-day life of the -people, together with his downright sincerity, his tolerance and -restraint, won him the good-will of both sides of the House. Whether -pleading for underfed school children, for the unemployed, or speaking -against the taxation of the people's food, he was generally admitted to -be bright and forceful. He never spoke without bringing a new point of -view to the debate. "Jehu Junior," writing in _Vanity Fair_, said of -him:-- - - - His tact and common-sense served him as well in the House as they - had done in settling Labour disputes at Poplar. By never debating - any subject but those on which he has special knowledge, and by his - perfect good temper and modesty, he became one of the men whose - politics arouse no personal animosity on the "other side." - - -Of him and the other Labour men in that Parliament--the small band of -stalwarts who were reinforced so strongly at the General Election of -1906--Mr. John Morley, addressing his own constituents at Montrose, -said:-- - - - Will anybody, who has watched the life of the House of Commons, say - that in moderation of demeanour, in decency of manners, in - self-respect, in freedom from swagger and assumption, these men - have shown themselves inferior to men sitting by their side who - have had all the opportunities of wealth, education, and culture? - If I were leaving the House of Commons to-morrow, and were called - upon to adjudicate a prize, I would impartially give the prize for - good manners, for self-respect, for moderation of statement, for - respect for the audience they addressed in the House of Commons, to - the dozen Labour men whom we have had the pleasure of having among - us rather than to a dozen gentlemen I could name if I liked. - - -From the other side of the House came the testimony of Sir John Gorst. -The ex-Conservative Minister brought out his book, "The Children of the -Nation"--wherein he argues that it is the duty of the State to see that -the nation's children are well fed, well housed, and well clothed--with -the following dedication:--"To the Labour Members of the House of -Commons in token of my belief that they are animated by a genuine desire -to ameliorate the condition of the people." - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -FREE TRADE IN THE NAME OF THE POOR - - M.P.'s Investments and their Votes--A Lecture from a Lady of - Title--Urged to give up some of his Public Work--Defending Free - Trade throughout the Country--Ridiculing Tariff Reform at - Birmingham--A Brush with Mr. Chamberlain--Real "Little Englanders." - - -"Show me where a man has his money invested and I will tell you how he -will vote." - -Such was Crooks's way of summing up the House of Commons before he had -been a Member many months. Someone had expressed surprise to him that -both Liberal and Conservative Members should have combined to support -the proposed Electric Trust for London when the L.C.C. was promoting a -municipal scheme. - -"The first lesson one learns in Parliament," he replied, "is that the -two great parties generally forget their political differences when the -just claims of the people threaten their pockets." - -It amused him to find that many Members preferred the smoking room and -the Terrace to the House. It was on the Terrace he overheard a -Conservative Member ask a Liberal:-- - -"Are you in favour of this Bill?" - -"I think I am," came the halting reply. - -"That's all right, then; I'm against it. We needn't go up to -vote--we'll pair." - -And Crooks left those British legislators smoking on the Terrace, since -it was too much trouble to them to go inside and vote. - -It was on the Terrace one afternoon that a party of titled ladies, -taking tea, sought his acquaintance. They immediately began to lecture -him on his duty to the poor. - -"I think you are supremely stupid to bother about the poor as you do, -Mr. Crooks," said one of the dames from behind her fan. "I am told they -are always coming to your house to consult you about their troubles. If -they came to my house I should order them away." - -"I'm sure you would, madam." - -"And if those dreadful people were only like me they wouldn't listen to -what you tell them." - -"I'm sure they wouldn't, madam." - -"You needn't be sarcastic, Mr. Crooks. I would send them to the Poor Law -officers or the Charity Organisation people." - -And then, as another honourable member joined the party, the good lady -turned to him: - -"I'm just teaching Mr. Crooks his place." - -"Indeed," said the Labour man, "I thought I was teaching you yours." - -It was more agreeable to him when accosted by one of the policemen on -duty in the House. - -"Well, Mr. Crooks, how's Poplar?" - -"You know Poplar?" - -"Yes, I used to be stationed that way. I well remember your Dock Gate -meetings. I liked the Poplar people better than the West Enders. You -take it from me, Mr. Crooks, there's far more respect for law and order -in Poplar than there is in the West End." - -He still kept his College by the Dock Gates going, notwithstanding his -election to Parliament. Indeed, he was still as much the servant of -Poplar as of Woolwich. - -Parliament, of course, added enormously to his work. Friends urged him -to give up several of his public posts. He was advised to retire from -the Asylums Board, and doubtless would have done so but for a powerful -appeal sent to him not to desert the Board's children. He wanted to -resign from the Poplar Board of Guardians, of which he had then been -Chairman for half a dozen successive years; but all parties in the -borough pleaded with him to remain, and the Conservatives and Liberals -withdrew their candidates in his ward in order that he might be returned -unopposed. He was showered with requests to remain for the sake of the -poor. At last he agreed, on the understanding that he should give less -time to the work. This was perhaps an unwise decision, for owing to the -slackening of his personal vigilance the administration was besmirched -by irregularities which of course laid the Chairman's Poor Law policy -open to the attacks of his opponents. - -The only post he gave up was that on the Poplar Borough Council. The -Labour League would not hear of his resigning from the London County -Council, and within a year of his election to Parliament, Poplar -re-elected him to the L.C.C. with a majority of over 1,600. - -The demands made upon him to address public meetings in other parts of -the country became terrific after Woolwich. I found him one afternoon -turning over the pages of his engagement book with a worried look. - -"I'm just wondering whether I can do it," he said. "I find I'm booked to -speak at thirteen different meetings at different places within the next -fortnight, and I've just got a pressing appeal to speak at another -within the same time." - -The appeals came from the churches, from temperance societies, from -Adult Sunday Schools, from P.S.A.'s, as well as from Labour -organisations. - -The Labour Party, which was then organising for its great political -triumph of 1906, had his first consideration always. He addressed Labour -meetings all over the country, nearly always with an audience of three -or four thousand. He was at Glasgow, Birmingham, Leicester, Plymouth, -Liverpool, Exeter, Darlington, Ipswich, Chatham, Newcastle, Blackburn, -Barnard Castle, Huddersfield, Edinburgh, Cardiff, all within a few -months. - -Everywhere he turned Mr. Chamberlain's tariff proposals into ridicule. -He made his great Birmingham audience laugh the loudest. He told that -and other audiences:-- - - - Mr. Chamberlain has shown you two loaves, the Free Trade loaf and - the Protection loaf. - - "There's hardly any difference between them," he tells you. "Why - make all this fuss?" - - Let him take the two loaves down a Birmingham court and ask a poor - woman with children to cut them up. She'll soon tell him the - difference between the solid Free Trade loaf and the spongy - Protectionist loaf. You trust the mother of a family to know the - difference between good bread and blown-out pastry. - - "Ah, but we must make sacrifices in the interest of the Empire," - says Mr. Chamberlain. - - Let him come down our way and talk like that in Poplar. I tried it - the other day. - - "Times is awful bad just now, Mr. Crooks," said one of a party of - women who stopped me on my way to the House of Commons. - - "Yes," I said, "but don't you know the new kind of comfort the - Imperialists have found for you? They say you belong to an Empire - on which the sun never sets. It's so filling, isn't it, when you're - hungry?" - - "An Empire on which the sun never sets!" cried one of the women, - pointing towards her slum tenement. "What's the good of talking to - us like that? Why, the sun never rises on our court!" - - "That may be," I say, "but you've got to pay more for your bread - and your meat, all in the interests of the Empire. You've got to - learn to make sacrifices for the Empire." - - "Look here, Will," says the eldest among them; "I've known you - since you was in petticoats, and you've never deceived me yet. - Wot's the use of talking to us about sacrifices when we can't make - both ends meet as it is?" - - "Both ends meet!" exclaimed one of the women. "We think we are - lucky if we can get one end meat and the other end bread." - - "Wot's it all about, Mr. Crooks?" asked another. "Here's bread - gone up a ha'penny a loaf. And sugar and tea's gone up. And the - children say they don't get so many sweets for a farthing now as - they used to." - - "And," I added, "meat's likely to go up too--all in the interests - of the Empire. Twopence a pound more for Colonial mutton." - - "What!" they cried in a body. "Twopence more for mutton!" - - "Haven't you heard?" I went on. "The Tariff Reformers have a great - scheme to bind the Empire together by letting the Colonies charge - us more for our food. If you don't agree with them they'll call you - little Englanders." - - "That's just it," said one of the women. "If I'm to pay another - twopence a pound for meat my children will soon be Little - Englanders!" - - -Then turning suddenly from his anecdotal style, Crooks would go on to -ask his audience how a worthy Imperial race was to be built up on a lack -of food? - - - The Empire begins in the workman's kitchen. The imposition of new - duties on food imports, though no more than a penny or twopence, - means to many a poor housewife the difference between having and - going without. - - I know one large family where the recent addition of a half-penny - on the loaf robbed the children of a slice of bread a day. Do you - know what that means? Have you ever lived in a family where the - slices have to be counted, and where every child could eat twice as - much as its allowance? I belonged to such a family as a child, and - when a clergyman came round once and found my mother crying over an - empty cupboard, he said: - - "Ah, well; God sends the bread for all the mouths." - - "That's all very fine," my mother said; "but He seems to send the - mouths to our house and the bread to yours." - - -The policy of Preference came in for his banter equally with that of -Protection. Under any scheme of Preference, the relation of this -country, with its large imports, to our Colonies, which take -comparatively few of our exports, he used to say reminded him of a -boxing-match between a thin man and a fat man. After the first round or -two the fat man stops and says: - -"This ain't fair; you've got more to strike at than I have." - -"Very well, then," says the thin man, "let's chalk my size out on your -body, and all blows outside the chalk mark don't count." - -Mr. Chamberlain seems to have heard how Crooks was riddling with -ridicule his Protection and Preference policies up and down the country. -At any rate, the ex-Minister began his favourite policy of Retaliation. -At some of his public meetings he supported his argument by representing -Crooks as having said at Leith that the poor of this country were worse -off than the poor of any other country. - -As soon as Crooks heard of this he wrote to Mr. Chamberlain:-- - - - SIR,--I do not for a moment think you deliberately misquoted the - words I used at Leith, but whoever sent you the information is - absolutely without excuse for the blunder. For what I said I have - said in twenty different parts of the kingdom to tens of thousands - of our fellow-countrymen--viz. "that even if, as Mr. Chamberlain - suggests, the Colonies do desire Preference, it is no reason why - the poor of Great Britain should pay more for their bread to help - those Colonies which have no poor, or certainly no poverty - compared with the poverty we have in this country." - - This, as you will note, makes a very great difference in the - reading of your quotation of what I really did say. - - I am, yours truly, - - WILL CROOKS. - - -In reply Mr. Chamberlain sent a tardy apology, thus:-- - - - SIR,--I have your letter of December 17th, and in reply I beg to - say that the statement which you say you have repeatedly used is in - no sense inconsistent with the statement which you were reported to - have made at Leith, and which referred not to the Colonies but to - foreign countries. Unfortunately, I have only the extract which was - sent to me and not the whole speech, and of course if you deny - having used the words which I quoted I most readily accept your - contradiction. - - I am, yours faithfully, - - JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN. - - -A fallacy very popular with Protectionists was neatly dealt with by -Crooks at a meeting of the London County Council. One of the Moderate -members asked whether an assurance could be given that certain tramway -materials would be of British manufacture. - -The reply was that since the Council worked under Free Trade conditions, -no such assurance could be given. - -"Will not trade union conditions be observed?" inquired another Moderate -member. - -"Yes." - -"Do you call that acting on a Free Trade basis?" - -"Some members," interposed Crooks, "seem to identify trade union -conditions with Protection." - -"Quite right too," shouted the Moderate. - -"Yes," came Crooks's retort; "but the one kind of Protection is the -protection of the workers against the sweater, and the other kind is the -protection of the sweater against the workers." - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI - -PREPARING FOR THE UNEMPLOYED ACT - - Principles for dealing with Unemployed--Twenty-four Per Cent. of - Poplar's Wage-earners out of Work--Folly of Stone-breaking and - Oakum-picking--Public Warning by Crooks and Canon Barnett--How - Crooks used a Gift of L1,000. - - -Crooks's three years in Mr. Balfour's Parliament had a remarkable -triumph in the Unemployed Act. No one needs reminding that the measure -was introduced by the Government; but as the sequel will show, it is -doubtful whether it would have seen the light, and it is certain it -would never have been passed but for his untiring advocacy. - -This was so far recognised at the time that one of the bitterest -opponents of the measure, Sir William Chance, a stern disciple of the -Charity Organisation Society, described it as "a Poplar Bill framed to -meet Poplar's needs." - -So it was. For Poplar's needs just then were the needs of the -unemployed. And the unemployed's needs were the same all the country -over. The Bill was introduced about the time the Poplar Guardians took a -census of the unemployed in typical working-class streets in the -district, revealing over twenty-four per cent. of the wage-earners out -of work. - -The Bill was based on the principle which had guided Crooks in all his -dealings with the unemployed. The only sound way to help an unemployed -man, he maintains, is by work rather than by relief. The condition he -imposes on the provision of such work is that it must be useful. He will -have nothing to do with "works" provided only as "relief." Work that is -not useful can never relieve. - -His agitation in Parliament put the crown on fifteen years of laborious -striving to make the State admit a duty to its unemployed citizens. - -As far back as September, 1893, he was appealing in the _Daily -Chronicle_ to the Board of Trade and the Thames Conservancy to help in -allaying the threatened distress of the coming winter by reclaiming -foreshores. His appeal was taken up at the time by other papers, which -complimented him upon the practical common-sense character of his -proposals. - -Somewhere in the archives of the Board of Trade that scheme of his -doubtless lies buried to this day. He is still confident it will be -carried out some time. He is fond of saying that it takes Parliament -seven years to grasp a new idea and seven more to carry it out. - -Compressed into a few lines in his own words, the story of his effort -runs in this way:--"It was in the November of 1893 that in consequence -of what I had been saying at public meetings and in the Press, I was -urged to lay the scheme before Mr. Mundella, who was President of the -Board of Trade at the time. There was great suffering that winter, and -the Local Government Board advised all the local authorities to put in -hand as much public work as possible. Well and good, I said, but let the -Government do the same. I pointed out that under the Foreshores Act of -1866 the Board of Trade had power to reclaim land. Again, under an Act -of 1857 the Thames Conservancy could reclaim miles of foreshore in and -below London. I showed that this was just the kind of work to absorb -unskilled labour, and supplied examples of the success of reclaiming -land on the banks of the Forth and the Tay and on the Lincolnshire -coast." - -As his Poor Law duties crowded heavily upon him he had opportunities as -a Guardian of carrying out in his own district his guiding principle in -regard to the provision of useful work. He found the usual "task" work -going on in the workhouse. He saw its degrading uselessness and -abolished it. In place of oakum-picking and stone-breaking he -substituted useful and profitable work like clothes-making, laundry -work, bread-baking, wood-chopping, painting, and cleaning. - -For every ton of oakum picked in the workhouse the ratepayers were -involved in an expenditure of L10. The Guardians were often glad to get -rid of the oakum when picked by returning it free to the firm supplying -it. At the best they got 2s. 6d. per ton for it. - -To a man like Crooks, holding firmly to Ruskin's theory that the -employment of persons on a useless business cannot relieve ultimate -distress, all work of that kind was wicked as well as wasteful. - -He told his own Board so very plainly in 1895. It was a bitter winter. -River and docks were frozen for weeks, closing the door against work to -half the men in Poplar. The Guardians were besieged by starving -families. Well-nigh in despair the Board arranged that the relieving -officers should send the out-of-work men to break stones at three -stoneyards specially opened in different parts of the district. - -"It's a mistake," he argued. "You are putting men to break stones which -nobody wants. You are wasting men and money by inventing work which is -utterly useless. Plenty of useful work can be found with care and -organisation." - -After six disastrous weeks the Guardians admitted he was right. Only the -worst class of men went into the stoneyards. He showed that this work of -breaking stones was costing L3 2s. 6d. per yard, whereas the work could -be done outside at trade union rate of wages for 2s. 6d. per yard. - -When the stoneyards were closed and it became known to the loafers -thriving under the system that Crooks was responsible, they threatened -his life. These men knew they had been sent to the stoneyard simply to -justify the Guardians in paying them wages. They grumbled and idled most -of the time. Self-respecting men out of work refused to mix with them. - -Some time later Crooks joined with Canon Barnett, George Lansbury, and -others in a letter to the _Times_ and the Press generally, uttering a -note of warning to municipal authorities against "made work" for the -unemployed. This joint letter stated:-- - - - Made work tends to be regarded as a source of relief rather than of - earnings. It is often as tempting to the idler as it is repugnant - to the self-respecting workman.... - - We would therefore submit that the municipalities which may decide - to take part in meeting present needs could best do so by leaving - distinctively "relief" duties to Guardians and other agencies; by - starting and carrying on, as good employers, works which have a - definite public advantage, and by requiring of each worker the best - work during a continuous period under thorough supervision. - - -The most successful scheme for relieving distress with which Crooks was -associated in the severe winters of the early 'nineties was one on which -a dozen years later the Unemployed Act was based. It represented -co-operation between a committee of citizens and the local authorities. - -The Committee was formed in the first instance as a relief committee by -the Rector of Poplar. When Crooks joined at the rector's request and -found himself sitting among none but parsons, representing every -denomination in the district, he told them their first duty was to widen -their ranks. - -"You will never do anything so long as your committee is confined to -gentlemen like these," he told the clerical chairman. "What you need is -to get hold of trade union secretaries and the secretaries of the -friendly and temperance societies and members of working men's clubs. -They will soon discriminate between the waster and the deserving man. -The waster is always boasting that parsons are so easily deceived." - -Besides the Labour men, representatives of other classes were invited to -join the committee. The Bishop of London and Canon Scott Holland backed -up the Committee's appeal to the public for funds, and about L5,000 was -raised to meet Poplar's needs. - -It was amusing to see how often the working men members had to undeceive -the parsons. One good vicar tearfully brought forward several cases -which the Labour men proved had been manufactured for him by -professional cadgers. - -"I have never known a distress committee to equal that one," was -Crooks's verdict. - -It taught him that a shilling given to an unemployed man for work done -was better than a sovereign given simply as charity. - -Ever since he has steadily worked for the unemployed under that -conviction. He changed that committee from a relief committee into a -committee for providing work. - -In its second winter he received an offer for the unemployed of L1,000 -from Mr. A. F. Hills, of the Thames Ironworks, on condition that he -should raise a similar sum. He took the offer at once to the Poplar -District Board, the precursor of the Borough Council. They agreed to -vote another L1,000, and to put men to work on repaving roads and -lime-whiting courts and alleys. So far was the local authority -satisfied with the way the work was done that, after spending Mr. -Hills's L1,000 in wages and the second L1,000 they themselves had -promised, they voted another L3,000 during the prevalence of the -distress. - -Meanwhile, Crooks had brought about co-operation between the rector's -Distress Committee and the local authority. The Committee went on as -usual investigating the condition of families, with the great advantage -of now being able to offer a job rather than relief to the out-of-work -husband. - -"When we came to starving families, as we did very often, we fed them up -until the man was able to go to work. As soon as a man was able to work -we sent him to the local authority. If he failed to turn up for the -work, but came round later for relief, he got this answer: 'We can't -afford to play the fool in this business. If you won't turn up to work -you can't be in distress. All we can do for you now is to put you at the -bottom of our list. When we reach your name again we'll give you one -more chance. If you don't take the work then, don't come here any more.' - -"Of course, the cost of the labour to the District Board was somewhat -higher than it would have been in the hands of skilled road-makers. You -must always allow for a loss due to the want of experience (as well as -the want of food) when you engage unemployed men. But remember we had a -free gift of L1,000 from Mr. Hills, which more than met the extra -expense, so that the ratepayers lost nothing. On the other hand, the -community got something that it needed. How much better, then, to pay -this little difference in price by employing out-of-work men on public -works than by giving them relief under the guise of stone-breaking, -which costs the community over L3 per ton when it can be done in the -open market for 2s. 6d. a ton." - -The winter that witnessed this scheme was described as "a red-letter one -in the history of the unemployed difficulty in the East End of London." -The words appear in the report of the Poplar District Board. In summing -up what had been done, the Board further stated that "on every ground -much good has been accomplished and a valuable lesson learned." The -Board also thanked the local Relief Committee and Mr. Hills and Crooks -personally for their co-operation. - -The lesson that had been learned saw fruit in the Unemployed Act a dozen -years later. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII - -AGITATION IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS - - How the Workless Man Degenerates--Pleading the Cause of the - Unemployed in the House--Creation of the Central Unemployed - Committee--Feeding the Starving out of the Rates--"Would a Hen - bring 'em off?"--A Letter from the Prime Minister--Crooks's - Rejoinder. - - -The interval was one of unwearied agitation. Of all his other pressing -public duties he gave first place to this of urging the State to deal -with the unemployed. - -"This unemployed question is a terrible worry, Crooks," said a -Conservative member, walking with him out of the House of Commons into -Palace Yard one evening. - -"Yes," Crooks replied as the other stepped into his motor car, "it is a -terrible worry when you have it for breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper." - -It was the beginning of the winter of 1904. He had spent the afternoon -in one of his interminable battles in Parliament urging that -preparations should be made to act wisely instead of waiting until -panic-stricken, and that the usual wild schemes for helping the -unemployed would once again result in waste and demoralisation. - -"I stood for a minute or two interested in the hurry and scurry of -people hastening to clubland, to dinner parties, and to theatres," he -afterwards remarked when recalling the incident. "Then, turning my back -on the West End, I wended my way eastward. Yes, a terrible worry the -unemployed, and yet how few people seemed to realise it. Never-ending -lines of conveyances, long queues of pleasure-seekers thronging the -theatre doors, all the externals of my surroundings pointed to -everything but unemployment. But straight in front of me was my home in -Poplar, and I knew that in a few more minutes I should be hearing a tale -of some family's misery, considering myself a lucky man if I spent a few -minutes indoors without someone calling to ask, 'Can you help to get me -a job?' - -"Truly to some of us the unemployed are a terrible worry, not only in -December, January, and February, but summer and winter, night and day, -all the year round. But more terrible than the unemployed themselves is -the heart-breaking carelessness of the British public, which, generous -to a fault, will not make up its mind until stirred by sensational -appeals. - -"'Oh, but,' some of my political opponents say to me, 'the unemployed -are generally such a shiftless, good-for-nothing class. What good can -you expect to do with such men? I quite sympathise with your keenness, -but they are a very worthless, thankless lot, and you are wasting a lot -of time over them.' - -"Well, suppose we allow that as a class the unemployed retain a large -measure of original sin. I know other classes possessing the same -weakness, but neither class prejudices nor racial hatreds interest me -very much. So, for the sake of argument, we will say that the unemployed -are very imperfect. This is one of the reasons why my Labour colleagues -and I want to press home the importance of England making a praiseworthy -effort to grapple with the problem. We see how quickly a workless man -deteriorates. A person out of work in October, unless promptly dealt -with, is in danger of becoming by the following March that social wreck -known as a loafer. And I object to loafers at both ends of the scale, -whether in Park Lane or in Poplar." - -In the issue of _Vanity Fair_ containing "Spy's" popular cartoon of -Crooks, the Labour member himself had an article on the unemployed. - -"If _Vanity Fair_ will train the rich, the Labour men will guide the -poor," he wrote. Further: "Old England is as dear to the Labour man with -poverty for his birthright as to the hereditary legislator with a county -for a heritage. But wealth, and the carelessness that wealth often -induces, are blind to the causes which heap misery and discontent upon -the people from generation to generation. To the wealthy the whole -business is a social phenomenon, but to us it is a permanent terror. - -"And so, whatever our differences may appear to be, our Labour hopes are -concentrating upon sound practical methods by which the conditions and -opportunities of the people shall be improved. - -"You who read this are invited to remember that organised work is the -first step which will separate the workman from demoralising charity, -his wife from the pawnshop, and his children from the streets. Sentiment -and sympathy need no longer be the prey of the fawning cadger, or the -victim of hypocritical distress. - -"To keep England in the forefront of the nations of the earth we must -begin in the homes of our people, there to raise a truly Imperial and -patriotic race of good, healthy, honest men and women. The task is -admittedly a difficult one, for social reconstruction is as much moral -as economic, but helping hands stretch out in every direction. The one -great need is to change a national apathy into keen, sympathetic, -well-balanced criticism." - -His agitation for the unemployed in the House of Commons, which formed -the main part of his parliamentary life for a couple of years, began -with the opening of the Session of 1904. He seconded Mr. Keir Hardie's -amendment to the Address, regretting, "in view of distress arising from -lack of employment," that no proposal was made for helping out-of-work -men. - -Crooks began his speech by declaring that mere relief schemes encouraged -the loafer. He knew well both the loafer and the man who was born tired. -The wife of one such got up early and wakened her husband in time for -work. - -"Is it raining?" the man asked from the folds of the bedclothes. - -"No." - -"Does it look like raining?" - -"No." - -"Oh, I wish it was Sunday." - -With a sudden change of tone and manner, Crooks then went on to tell the -House that if an able-bodied man out of a job was driven into the -workhouse, he generally remained a workhouse inmate for the rest of his -life. It degraded and demoralised him. It took away his muscle to stand -up and fight for himself. If the Local Government Board would permit -Guardians to take land, this man could be put to useful work. Even -able-bodied men of the "in-and-out" type would be better for being put -to work on the land under powers of compulsory detention. Of course, -these men should be allowed to go out if they really desired to look for -other work. What they should not be allowed to do was to drag their -wives and children about the country, vagrants bringing up more -vagrants. Employment on farm colonies would quickly get rid of the tramp -difficulty. Such men, trained in useful agricultural work, if they felt -they had little chance in this country, would then have some equipment -for the colonies. A country like Canada, for instance, had no use for -men who had simply been loafing about English towns, but would very -quickly find work for men who had had a little training and discipline -on the land. It would be better for the whole community that something -of this sort should be done than that we should go on with the present -system of doles and relief, whose effects, like idleness, only -demoralised. - -The appeal to the House on that occasion fell on deaf ears. - -The winter of 1904 was made memorable to him by the creation of the -Central Unemployed Committee. For several years he had urged that the -Poor Law Unions of London should be empowered to form a central -committee to deal with the unemployed on well-organised lines. With the -several Unions acting separately, confusion and waste followed on -well-meaning efforts. The genuine unemployed received little real help. - -Few public men took his scheme for a central organisation seriously at -first. He was well-nigh worn out with his failures when unexpectedly the -then President of the Local Government Board came to his aid. Crooks, -with several other Members of Parliament, had waited upon Mr. Long in -deputation. The result was the calling together of the famous Unemployed -Conference at the Local Government Board on October 14th, 1904. - -To that Conference the Poplar Guardians sent Crooks and Lansbury, armed -with a series of carefully-thought-out proposals. Some of them found a -ready acceptance on the part of Mr. Long. Others were adopted by the -succeeding Government. - -Since those Poplar proposals have already figured prominently in -unemployed schemes and promise to appear in projects yet to be framed, -the substance of them is here set out:-- - - - 1. The President of the Local Government Board to combine the - London Unions for the purpose of dealing with the unemployed and - the unemployable. - - 2. Such central authority to take over the control of all - able-bodied inmates in London workhouses. - - 3. Farm colonies to be established by the central authority for - providing work. - - 4. Local Distress Committees to be also set up, consisting of - members of Borough Councils and Boards of Guardians, to work on the - lines already laid down by the Mansion House and the Poplar - Distress Committees. - - 5. The cost to these local committees of dealing with urgent need - occasioned by want of work to be a charge on the whole of London or - on the National Exchequer, instead of being a charge on the - locality, "always provided that the payment given be for work done - on lines similar to those adopted by the Mansion House and the - Poplar Distress Committees." - - 6. Rural District Councils to be asked to supply the Local - Government Board with information when labourers are wanted on the - land, such information to be sent to the Local Distress Committees. - - 7. Parliament to take in hand the question of afforestation, the - reclamation of foreshores, and the building of sea walls along the - coast where the tide threatens encroachment. - - -Almost immediately after the Whitehall Conference Mr. Long formed a -Central Unemployed Committee for London, personally arranging that -Crooks and Lansbury should become members. He also advised the formation -of local Distress Committees by the Poor Law and Municipal authorities. - -While Crooks was calling the nation's attention in Parliament and at -public meetings throughout the country to the wasteful and disorganised -way in which we met these recurring periods of distress, he was making -reasonable use of the local machinery at his hands. - -Little could be done through the newly-formed committees in the way of -providing work during that winter. Want was felt keenly all over the -East End. Distress brooded over West Ham, for instance, like a black -cloud. To such a plight was that district reduced owing to lack of work -that the _Daily Telegraph_ and the _Daily News_ between them raised -L30,000 for relief. - -West Ham's neighbour, Poplar, was in an equally bad plight, but there -the Guardians made an attempt to deal with the distress themselves. They -grappled boldly with a terrible state of things. The newspaper funds, by -bringing bread to West Ham, saved that district, according to the -testimony of the local police superintendent, from serious rioting. -Poplar, too, said the _Daily Mail_ at the time, was only saved from a -series of bread riots by the promptness of Will Crooks. - -He talked into calmness a lean and clamorous crowd of starving men who -swarmed into the Guardians' offices one day. He promised that their -claims should be considered and their cases investigated, and advised -them to go away quietly. - -Poplar fed its starving poor, and in doing so the Guardians did not -hesitate to raise the rate for the time being by fourpence. In no single -case, however, was money given to families where the out-of-work husband -was under sixty years of age. All they got was a few shillings' worth -of food, just enough to keep body and soul together until the husband -found work again. Had food not been given in this way, scores of -families would have been forced into the workhouse, where the cost of -their keep would have been four or five times greater. - -In the following winter, in face of similar distress, the same policy -was followed. It was mainly for thus feeding the starving that the -Poplar Board was afterwards so violently attacked. But, given the like -distress, Crooks stoutly maintains he will apply the same remedy. - -"The Poor Law is entrusted to us to prevent starvation," he holds. "My -dead friend and neighbour Dolling used to say that 'the law that -safeguards the poor is always in the hands of those who do not put it -into force.' So long as I live that shall not be said of Poplar." - -With all the pressing claims of Poplar and his daily duties in -Parliament, together with the calls made upon his time by the London -County Council and the Asylums Board, he was yet constant in his -attendance at the Guildhall meetings of the Central Unemployed -Committee. He and Lansbury spared themselves in nothing on that -Committee. They believed that on its success depended the future of -State-aid for the unemployed. They believed that such a crisis as they -were grappling with in Poplar in the winter of 1904 would never recur -once they got the State to recognise its duty to assist in organising -useful work for hard times. - -"The lesson of all our work on Mr. Long's Unemployed Committee was -this," he told me. "The only way to deal properly with the unemployed in -winter is to make your preparations in summer. The test of the Central -Unemployed Committee will be the character of its organisation in good -times. Only by being well organised when there is little distress will -it prove a success when times are bad. It is far harder to organise -useful work for the unemployed through public bodies than it is to raise -money for their relief." - -Crooks himself had seen the dark shadows of that winter creeping up -ominously in the previous summer. Before Parliament adjourned in August -he uttered a warning note in the House of Commons. He asked the Prime -Minister whether the various Government Departments could not do -something to prepare for the exceptional needs. Mr. Balfour's reply was -to the effect that inquiries would be made. - -"Ah, those inquiries!" said Crooks, recalling the promise at a public -meeting in Woolwich. "I've seen a good many inquiries and Royal -Commissions in my time, and they always remind me of the East Ender who -went down Petticoat Lane on market day. He saw on a barrow some -hard-boiled eggs which had been dyed various colours, evidently for -children. He'd seen nothing like them before. - -"'Wot kind of eggs is them?' says he. - -"'Them? Them's pheasants' eggs,' says the coster. - -"'Would a hen bring 'em off?' - -"'Rather!' - -"'How much for a sitting?' - -"'Eighteenpence and half yer luck.' - -"A month or two later the same man was down that way again. The coster -saw him. - -"'Ain't you the bloke as bought them pheasants' eggs?' - -"'Yes.' - -"'How'd yer get on?' - -"'Well,' he says mournful like, 'that old hen sat and sat and sat until -I'm blowed if she didn't cook them pheasants' eggs at last.' - -"And," added Crooks, "I have never known a Royal Commission or a -Government Inquiry yet that didn't sit and sit and sit until its report -was cooked by the time it had done with it." - -As the distress deepened with the approach of winter, the Poplar -Guardians pressed for an Autumn Session of Parliament. They wrote to the -Government welcoming Mr. Long's scheme of Distress Committees, but -doubting their efficacy unless power was granted to raise a halfpenny -rate for providing the unemployed with work. - -As Chairman of the Board, Crooks himself wrote a long letter to the -Prime Minister on November 21st. He supplied official figures, showing -the exceptional distress then prevailing, and pointed out that the -Guardians' request for an Autumn Session was supported by fifty-six -other Poor Law Unions and no fewer than eighty municipalities throughout -the country. - -To that letter Mr. Balfour sent the following reply:-- - - - 10, Downing Street, Whitehall, S.W. _November 28th, 1904._ - - DEAR MR. CROOKS,-- - - I am well aware that in many parts of the metropolis--and more - particularly, I fear, in the district in which as a Guardian you - are immediately concerned--much temporary distress prevails at the - present moment. - - How best to deal with the situation thus created has, as you know, - been the subject of most anxious consideration on the part of the - President of the Local Government Board; and Mr. Walter Long has - established a scheme--now, I understand, in actual working--which - will have the effect of organising and generalising methods which - local experience has already proved to be useful, thereby greatly - increasing both their economy and their efficiency. - - You are, I gather, of opinion that this by itself is not - sufficient, and you suggest that a special Session of Parliament is - required to meet the emergency. I would venture, however, to make - two remarks on this project. In the first place, I think we ought - to wait and see how far the new machinery fulfils the hope of its - designers; and, in the second place, I think we should abstain from - basing exaggerated hopes upon anything which may be immediately - accomplished by Parliamentary debates. These are invaluable for the - purpose of criticising legislative proposals or executive action. - They may educate the public mind. They may prepare the way for a - constructive policy. They can hardly, however, frame one. And, so - far as I can judge, an abstract discussion upon the general - situation would not only be of little present value to those whom - it is intended to benefit, but it would do them a positive injury. - Organised effort would be paralysed till the decision of Parliament - was known; and between the beginning of our debates and the moment - when their result could be embodied in a working shape much - preventable suffering would inevitably have occurred. - - Yours very truly, - ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR. - - -In his reply on behalf of the Guardians, Crooks said: - -"From a purely academic standpoint your argument is doubtless correct; -but while Mr. Long's scheme does, in a general way, show a departure in -the direction of making London a unit for dealing with the unemployed, -yet it has no power to enforce contributions from anyone. Thus all poor -parts, where work-people are aggregated, have to bear abnormal burdens -which should be shared, if not by the nation, then at least by the -metropolis. - -"The position in this district has reached a stage where something -immediate has to be done, and the only course open to the Guardians is -to meet the numerous applications made to them by grants of out-door -relief. The total amount of out-door relief now being granted by the -Guardians exceeds L690 per week, and is borne entirely by local rates, -which already stand at 10s. in the L, and will considerably increase by -the addition of this extra relief. - -"If the public were assured that the problem would be seriously taken up -by his Majesty's Government at an early date, funds might be forthcoming -to bridge over the present period of anxiety. - -"The Guardians desire to emphasise the fact that this question of -dealing with the unemployed has been several times before Parliament, -and if the Government really desire to grapple with this great evil, -they could, in a short time, with the expert advice at the disposal of -the Government, set in operation a great deal of work useful to the -nation. The Guardians, therefore, sincerely hope that their previous -representations will be acted upon, and that you will give an assurance -that the matter shall be laid before Parliament at the earliest possible -moment." - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII - -THE QUEEN INTERVENES - - A Breakdown from Overwork--Health Permanently Impaired--Appointment - of a Royal Commission on the Poor Law--Saving the Unemployed - Bill--Need of Money to Work the Bill--Mrs. Crooks heads the Women's - March to Whitehall--Mr. Balfour's Sympathetic but Unsatisfactory - Reply--Queen Alexandra's Intervention--A Vote of Money in the New - Parliament. - - -The labour and anxiety, the long arduous days and the sleepless nights -Crooks endured that winter for the unemployed, culminated in a sudden -and serious illness. - -The attack was short, but dangerous. His doctor reported that unless a -change took place within a few hours it would be a case for confinement -to bed for at least three months. Fortunately, the welcome change came. - -A few days before he took to his bed he got a severe shaking by a fall -while jumping off a 'bus in the Strand. That was not the cause of his -illness, however. The real cause, as his medical man declared, was -nervous breakdown due to overwork. His overwork had all been in the -direction of trying to get work for the unemployed. - -He fretted himself into a worse condition during the first few days of -his illness. Every night, instead of sleeping, he was mentally putting -hosts of unemployed men to work. - -The sympathy and affection shown during his illness by his neighbours at -Poplar affected him deeply. All day long callers of all sorts and -conditions were making inquiries and leaving messages of good-will. -Labourers, mechanics, widows, children, tradesmen, public men, -officials, Free Church ministers, Anglican clergymen, Roman Catholic -priests, and Sisters of the Poor were among those who came to the door -once the news leaked out that the man from their midst, whom they had so -often delighted to honour, lay sick and in danger. Their sympathy was -intensified by the knowledge that Mrs. Crooks herself had not wholly -recovered from a serious operation that had kept her for weeks in -hospital. - -That breakdown shattered him for life. He has never been the same in -health since, and knows he can never be the same again. Sometimes for -weeks together he endures agonising nervous pains, deprived of sleep and -rest, yet all the time steadily refusing to slacken his labours for -those whom he is fond of calling "the people at our end of the town." - -As soon as he was able to get out again in the New Year (1905), he took -up the case for the unemployed, if not with all his former zeal, -certainly with all the zeal he could then command. - -Towards the end of January he had so far recovered as to be able to -attend the Liverpool Conference of the Labour Representation Committee. -He was then in a position to make public for the first time that the -King's Speech at the opening of Parliament in the following month would -in all likelihood promise an Unemployed Bill. On his motion the -Conference decided: - - - That the policy of the Labour Party in Parliament relating to - unemployment should be to secure fuller powers for the local - authorities to acquire and use land, to re-organise the local - administrative machinery for dealing with poverty and unemployment, - to bring pressure on the Government to put the recommendations of - the Afforestation Committee into effect, to undertake forthwith, - through the Board of Trade, the reclamation of foreshores, and to - create a Labour Ministry. - - -His forecast of the King's Speech proved correct. An Unemployed Bill was -promised. It was introduced on April 18th by Mr. Gerald Balfour, who had -succeeded Mr. Long at the Local Government Board. The Bill confirmed Mr. -Long's scheme of Distress Committees in London, and provided for the -formation of similar bodies in provincial towns. It granted the -principle of State aid by permitting the cost of organisation, including -the provision of farm colonies, to be charged to the rates, leaving it -to voluntary subscriptions to provide a fund for paying the men's wages. - -That Session was made memorable to Crooks in another sense. A Royal -Commission on the Poor Law was appointed, and although it was little -faith he had in Commissions generally, he believed that, whatever came -of the recommendations of this one, it would help the people of England -to see, while its investigations were going on, something of the cruelty -and folly of a system which had been ruthlessly thrust upon the voteless -labouring people by the middle class individualists who came into power -after the Reform Act of 1832. His fellow Guardian, George Lansbury, was -appointed a member of the Commission--a notable compliment to Poplar, -which for a dozen years had striven to make this soulless system humane -and helpful. - -Although the Unemployed Bill passed second reading with a majority of -217, the Session dragged wearily on with little prospect of its getting -through the Committee stage and becoming law. When August dawned and the -House found itself within a week of adjournment, everyone but Crooks -despaired of getting the measure through. The Prime Minister told the -House there was no time for the Bill. Several of Crooks's Labour -colleagues declared the Bill to be too meagre a thing to fight for. - -"I admit its faults and shortcomings as readily as anyone," he argued -with his Party; "but it contains the germ of a great principle--State -recognition of the need and State aid in carrying out the organisation." - -Almost alone he fought for the Bill in the last days of the Session. He -urged the Government to save the unemployed from foolish and useless -rioting by holding out to them the hope which the passing of the Bill -would convey. - -By a dramatic coincidence, on the very afternoon he was thus warning -the Government the police were charging a crowd of desperate unemployed -in Manchester. - -"The Prime Minister urges the plea that there is no time," Crooks went -on to tell the House. "What would the business men of this House think, -when they went down to their offices to-morrow, if they were told by the -manager that grouse-shooting would begin on the Twelfth and that -therefore business would have to be suspended? Does the Government -prefer grouse-shooting to finding work for honest men? Was this Bill of -theirs only introduced to kill time--to wait until the birds were big -enough to be shot? I don't want to stop your holidays. Go and kill your -grouse and your partridges. But are you going to put dead birds before -living men? - -"There was the day on which the Eton and Harrow match was played. What -will the unemployed say when they hear that the Government could not -find time to discuss this Bill because Ministers wished to see two -schools play cricket? Do you think the working man gets a day off to see -his sons play cricket in the public parks? Unlike many hon. members of -this House, workmen do not live by dividends. They have nothing to sell -but their labour. When out of work a little help often saves them from -ruin and pauperism. They are only asking to be given an opportunity to -fulfil the Divine curse by earning their living in the sweat of their -brow." - -His appeal went home. The following day the Government sprang a -surprise on the House. The Bill would be taken that week. It was passed -within a few days. "H. W. M.," in his parliamentary sketch in the _Daily -News_ of August 5th, referring to what he called "the strange story of -the passing of the Unemployed Bill," said: - - - At the end of last week its chances seemed to have disappeared. - To-day it has passed Committee, and Monday will see it through the - Commons. The Member chiefly responsible for this issue is Mr. - Crooks, who has shown undoubted subtleness as a Parliamentary - tactician. - - -In his final speech on the Bill, Crooks argued that even the loafer -would become a better man by being given, not the charity that -demoralised, but a day's work for a day's pay. Such a man, by being put -on a farm colony for a few months, would be turned into a good citizen. -He stood for discipline in Labour as the Government stood for discipline -in the Army and Navy. He wanted to preserve the manhood of the nation -rather than to see it degraded, as it was by the present system of -despising an unemployed man. The type of men who hung idle about all our -large towns was the type that filled the workhouses and prisons. Take -them in their early stages of unemployment, put them under proper -discipline on the land, and he was prepared to prophesy they would -become useful citizens. It was a loss to the nation that men and women -should be going about without the common necessaries owing to being out -of work. - -So the Bill went through, and people of all classes agree with his old -friend, Mr. A. F. Hills, a large employer, who wrote to him a letter on -the subject, ending with the words: "I believe that generations yet -unborn will in the years to come rise up and call you blessed." - -In the opinion of many people well able to gauge the distress and -discontent of the country, the Act came just in time to prevent serious -disorders in the large towns. For the winter that immediately followed -found the unemployed in a worse plight than ever. - -Promptly the Distress Committees formed under the Act got to work. The -London Committees found themselves at first stranded for funds. The weak -point in the Act was that which allowed only the expense of organisation -to be made a public charge. The Committees found themselves asking, What -was the use of organising work for the unemployed when there were no -means of paying wages? It looked as though public subscriptions were not -to be forthcoming. Was the Act, so hardly won, to fail on its first -trial? - -Again Poplar fought the cause of the poor for the whole country. This -time the workless men's wives took action. The women of Poplar met in -the Town Hall, Mrs. Crooks in the chair, with the object of urging -Parliament to vote money to the Distress Committees set up under the new -Act. - -Mrs. Crooks, as reported in the _Times_, said: - - - They were endeavouring to enlist the help and sympathy of those in - high places to give some little time to the consideration of the - claims of the wives and children of men who were willing to work, - but who were unable to find the wherewithal to feed those near and - dear to them. The Queen had more than once shown her desire to - help. Was it, then, too much to expect that their wealthy sisters - would use their influence with their all-too-powerful husbands to - appeal, with the women of Poplar, to the King and Government to - call Parliament together with a view to passing estimates to enable - work to be undertaken--work that would give them their daily bread? - Theirs was a cry for national defence, and Parliament must see to - it. - - -The meeting decided to petition the King to instruct the Prime Minister -to call Parliament together. In acknowledging a vote of thanks to his -wife for taking the chair, Crooks said the mothers and sisters had -remained too long indoors, suffering in silence. If the King could see -that meeting it would make him realise what unemployment meant to the -wives and mothers of his industrial army, and he would no doubt do -something to ensure that they should not lack the sustenance needed to -bring up strong daughters and strong sons as faithful and loyal -citizens. They had got the machinery, and they had got certain powers, -but they needed funds. They had got an organisation that could gather up -all the information as to useful work that needed doing--work that would -be profitable and inspiring to the men who did it, instead of being -degrading, like the foolish and useless and expensive task-work which -was all the Poor Law had to offer. - -[Illustration: MR. & MRS. WILL CROOKS - -_Photo: G. Dendry._] - -About a month later took place the memorable women's march to Whitehall. -The day, November 6th, was truly a tragic and historic one in the -social life of London. - -Headed by Mrs. Crooks and the then Mayoress of Poplar (Mrs. Dalton), -some six thousand poor women gathered on the Thames Embankment, near -Charing Cross Bridge, and marched to the offices of the Local Government -Board in order to back up their appeal to the Premier to aid their -out-of-work husbands and brothers. The women came not only from Poplar, -where the march had been organised by George Lansbury, but from -Edmonton, Paddington, West Ham, Woolwich, and Southwark. Some carried -infants in arms; others had children dragging at their skirts. - -"Work for our men--Bread for our children." So ran the appeal on the -banner that floated above the Southwark contingent, led by Mrs. Herbert -Stead. - -The Embankment was deep in mud, and, as the women trudged bravely -through it--those carrying babies unable to save their skirts from -dragging in the road--the scene was one that filled you with an -indignant shame. Even those other women in motors and carriages, who had -driven down to see the sight out of curiosity, sank back into their -cushions aghast, sickened, ashamed at this spectacle of their sisters' -plight. - -In Whitehall the processionists told off a dozen of their number to form -the deputation to Mr. Balfour. The women were accompanied into the Local -Government Board offices by Crooks and Lansbury and two or three other -men from the Central Workers' Unemployed Committee. - -The object of the visit was explained by Lansbury, and then a working -woman from Poplar read the women's memorial. The memorial spoke of the -misery, degradation, and desperation of the women which had driven them -to determine to bear their lot in silence no longer. They thought that -Parliament should make it impossible for unscrupulous employers to grind -the faces of the poor. The Government had gone to the aid of the -tenantry of Ireland. The plight of the poor in London was worse. If war -were threatened, ways would be found for raising money. The country was -faced with a worse evil than war in the presence of starving citizens. -In the name of their country, their homes, and their children, they -appealed to the Prime Minister not to send them empty away. - -Several of the workless men's wives who, it had been arranged, should -speak broke down; so Mrs. Crooks explained they had not come to utter -words only; they had come as Englishwomen, driven to despair, in the -hope that the Premier, as the chief Minister of the King, would no -longer leave them in a worse condition than that of his dogs and horses. - -Mr. Balfour was sympathetic, but had nothing to suggest. He saw no hope -of Parliament voting money. The deputation came away sullen and -disappointed. For the time it looked as though the women's march had -been in vain. But, before a week passed, another woman spoke. The need -was met by Queen Alexandra. On November 13th her Majesty issued her -famous appeal: - -"I appeal to all charitably disposed people in the Empire, both men and -women, to assist me in alleviating the suffering of the poor starving -unemployed during this winter. For this purpose I head the list with -L2,000." - -Before the winter was over the public, in response to this appeal, -subscribed L150,000--a sum that proved sufficient that winter to keep -Distress Committees going in London and elsewhere during the time of -greatest privation. - -The needs of the next winter were provided for by the State. The new -Liberal Government had not been in office many months before it voted -L200,000 to the Distress Committees appointed under the Unemployed Act. - -Poplar had done its work. The women had marched to victory. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX - -HOME LIFE AND SOME ENGAGEMENTS - - Crooks becomes a Grandfather--A Glimpse of his Home Life--Mr. G. R. - Sims on "A Morning with Will Crooks"--Crooks's Daily - Post-bag--Sample Letters--Speaking at Religious and Temperance - Meetings--On Adult Sunday Schools--On the Licensing Bill--A Homily - to Free Churchmen. - - -By this time Crooks had moved from Northumberland Street to Gough -Street, a few minutes' walk away. The change was from a five-roomed -house to a six-roomed house, "with exactly three and a half feet more -space for a garden at the back," as he jocularly described it. - -His two eldest daughters had both married, and his eldest son, who was -doing well at the same trade his father learnt--that of cooper--had also -settled down to married life in Poplar. This son had the pleasure one -day of telephoning to his father at the County Council offices, just -after the latter had passed his fiftieth birthday, "You became a -grandfather this morning. Cheer up!" - -Another daughter qualified at the Cheltenham Training College as a -school teacher. The youngest daughter elected to be "mother's right hand -at home." The youngest son was apprenticed in a Thames shipbuilding -yard. - -Of his children he would often remark, during the controversy over -religious education in schools, that they seemed to disprove the -theories of both contending parties. One of his daughters and a son, who -were educated in Board Schools, became communicating members of the -Church of England, while two daughters educated in Church of England -schools afterwards became Nonconformists. - -A glimpse of his home life was given in the "Celebrities at Home" -series, published in the _World_. The writer described Gough Street as a -row of tiny houses so much alike that the only difference between one -and another was the number on the door. - - - But if you did not know Mr. Crooks's number, you could guess his - house by waiting at the corner of the street. Because, between - half-past nine and half-past ten, the door-knocker of No. 81 will - beat a tattoo twelve or twenty times to the hour, when all the - other knockers are silent. For this is the hour when Mr. Crooks is - at home and receives his visitors, while he takes his breakfast in - a spasmodic and interrupted manner--bad, one feels sure, for his - digestion. They are not social callers. They come because they want - something--an order for free medicine or for an artificial limb, - for advice as to a likely quarter to get work, for a hundred and - one needs of poor people who have no resources of their own. - - They are pleasant rooms in which the Labour member finds the best - happiness of his life. They are not large. They are not handsomely - furnished, for a Labour member has no need of luxury; but to Mr. - Crooks every little adornment in them has its own story to tell and - its own pleasant memory. On one of the walls are two oil paintings - of ships in distress--"good or bad," says Mr. Crooks, "I'm no - judge," But they are valuable to him, because they were painted by - a man down on his luck, as a thanksgiving for a good turn done to - him by the only friend he had. - - "Bless you," says Mr. Crooks, "they all bring me little things, and - I can't refuse them. See that champagne glass on the piano? That - was given me by a poor old lady I used to look after a bit. That - wine glass on the other side came from another old friend. Someone - will bring me a China shepherd, another a vase or candlestick, or a - comic pig. It's pleasant, you know!"... - - Mr. Crooks is one of the pleasantest and most interesting men to - visit. If you take him at the right time--half-past nine - o'clock--it means an early journey from the West!--he will sit you - down to a plate of porridge and give you more information about the - life of the working-classes in the course of an hour than the most - laborious reading of Blue-books will do in a lifetime. - - The visitor must be prepared for interruptions. In a corner of the - breakfast-room is a member of the family who likes to have his say. - It is a poll-parrot--"as cunning as a barge-load of monkeys," says - his owner affectionately. He has a peculiar habit of cracking - invisible filbert-nuts at the back of his throat, rather - disconcerting to a stranger; and although he dotes on Mr. Crooks, - it is a little game of his to snub the Labour member by - depreciatory remarks and scornful whistles of derision. But he - always has an affectionate "Goo'-bye, Will!" for his master when he - puts on his hat in the morning. To Mrs. Crooks he is always - courteous. "Goo'-morning, mother!" he says, when the lady comes - down to breakfast, and thrusts his beak out for a kiss. Then he - calls "Tilly! Tilly!" in a shrill voice, like an elderly landlady, - and is not satisfied till Mrs. Crooks's pretty, black-eyed daughter - has given him his morning greeting. - - "He has his little prejudices, like the rest of us," says Mr. - Crooks. "He can't abide babies, and squawks at them fearfully." - - -Mr. George R. Sims gave a sketch of "A Morning with Will Crooks" in the -_Daily Chronicle_ of May 2nd, 1906. He suggested that if 81, Gough -Street--Crooks's Castle, as he called it--had a brass plate on the door, -the most appropriate device to be inscribed upon it would be, "Inquire -within upon everything." - - - It was twenty minutes past ten when I arrived. At half-past ten we - were due at the relieving office. But before we started, some three - or four pathetic narratives had found their way into the little - hall for Mr. Crooks to mark, learn, and inwardly digest. - - I appreciated the situation, and expressed sympathy. - - "It is depressing," said the people's M.P., "but, after all, - somebody's got to listen and somebody's got to help." - - We went out into the street. In the hundred yards that we walked to - our destination six sad riddles of life were submitted to Mr. - Crooks for solution. - - The broad-shouldered, black-bearded, smiling politician of the - people had a cheery word of advice for all applicants, and scarcely - had these pavement consultations ended before we were seated in the - relieving office listening to tales of woe told by a procession of - poor petitioners with whom the world had gone woefully wrong. - - The committee of relief were generous and sympathetic. Poplar has a - reputation for generosity in this matter. It struck me that at - times the committee might have impressed a little more earnestly - upon the recipients of out-relief the other side of the situation; - but I am bound to admit that undeserving cases--cases which had a - history of drink and thriftlessness--were dismissed with no - illusions.... - - We went to the workhouse at the dinner hour. A comfortable place - certainly, and the dinner probably better than a good many of the - inmates had been accustomed to when they were earning their own - living.... - - A pleasant hour with Mr. and Mrs. Crooks and their daughters at - the castle, a stroll in the little garden which is Mrs. Crooks's - delight, a short interview with Tommy the Tortoise, and it is time - for the Member for Woolwich to start for Westminster and take his - place in the National Assembly. - - He takes up a leather case containing some sixty or seventy letters - to be answered, and we go out into the street, which is happily - bathed in sunshine. We get on the top of an omnibus, and I listen - to the merry stories merrily told until we arrive at Aldgate - Station and bid each other good-bye. - - I have spent a most interesting and instructive morning with a - typical Englishman, a man who has laboured with skill and used his - brains as well as his hands to good purpose--a man who has fought - his way up from boyhood, a man whose heart is as big as his - shoulders are broad. - - Beyond his sterling common sense and his sympathy with suffering, - Will Crooks has one golden quality in a tribune of the people. He - has a sense of humour. It does your eyes good to see him smile. And - he has a laugh that makes you feel the sunshine even when the north - wind blows. - - -Sometimes the Labour man has nearly a hundred letters a day to deal -with. First attention is always given to those from people seeking -counsel or help in Poplar and Woolwich. - -An old man of ninety-four asks him to visit him for old times' sake. A -widow has lost her property--will Mr. Crooks see her righted? A sick -woman wants to know how she can get into a convalescent home. An anxious -father asks him to speak to a wayward son, because "the lad sets such -store by what you say, Mr. Crooks." Again, it is a distracted mother -who writes, maybe about a son or a daughter who has run away or fallen -into trouble. - -Amusing letters come sometimes, varying the note of sorrow sounded in so -many of the others. This, for instance, from a sympathetic Frenchman, -who evidently imagines that a place called Poplar must be studded with -trees of that name and surrounded by open fields. "I see," wrote this -sympathiser from across the Channel, "that you are doing much for the -unemployed, and I have pleasure in sending you enclosed cheque for them. -I would suggest, in view of the importance of the poor children having -pure milk, that the money be spent in putting unemployed men to work in -cleaning out the ponds in the fields and lanes of Poplar where the -cattle drink." - -While Crooks is essentially a home-loving man, counting it one of his -chief joys to have an evening free or a week-end to call his own, he -regards it as a duty to speak at religious and temperance meetings, and -on behalf of other movements not necessarily allied with the Labour -Party. - -One day finds him with the Bishop of London at the Mansion House meeting -of the United Temperance Council. Another day he is speaking with the -President of the Baptist Union, the Rev. John Wilson, one of his best -supporters in Woolwich, at the Union's annual gathering. Another day he -is congratulating Canon Hensley Henson, at the annual meeting of the -London Wesleyan Mission, on having "six of his parishioners on the -platform"--a reference to the presence of half a dozen members of -Parliament, Canon Henson being rector of the House of Commons. - -After addressing the Baptist Union on a second occasion, a letter came -to him from the secretary, the Rev. J. H. Shakespeare:-- - - - On behalf of the Council of the Baptist Union and on my own behalf - I beg to thank you most warmly for the magnificent services you - rendered to us last Tuesday night. It was delightful to hear you. I - personally was very curious to see you managing a dense crowd of - men. It does not seem to me that there is any reason why you should - ever stop drawing from the rich and endless resources of your - eloquence and wit and your wise sayings. - - I feel very deeply indebted to you for having kept your engagement - under such trying circumstances, and I hope you were not too - fatigued afterwards. - - -A different letter was one from his old friend the Hon. and Rev. J. G. -Adderley, announcing his call to Birmingham:-- - - - Alas! I leave dear old London on November 2nd. Thank you for all - you have been to me during my time here. I have known you now - fifteen years. - - -The many occasions on which he addressed working men at adult Sunday -schools in different parts of the country forced him to this conclusion, -to which he gave public expression:-- - - - The adult school movement has, I do sincerely believe, done more to - make men understand that Brotherhood is not merely a word, but a - real living thing, than any other movement of recent days. Men - under the influence of adult schools now begin to see that their - whole life on earth does not consist merely in eating, drinking, - and working and going to a place of worship, but in taking a - living part in God's work personally--in a word, in striving for - some of Christ's ideals on earth as in Heaven. - - -He assisted at conducting something like an adult school in Poplar. -Besides the Sunday morning meetings at the Dock Gates, the Labour -League, in conjunction with the Rector of Poplar, carry on a winter -series of addresses at the Town Hall on Sunday afternoons, to which -Crooks and his friend, Mr. Fred Butler, give a good deal of their time. -Of these Town Hall meetings he wrote in the article he contributed to -the volume of essays on "Christianity and the Working Classes":-- - - - The meetings are always crowded with working-men and their wives - and working girls and lads. The rector or myself takes the - chair--often we are both on the platform together. The gatherings - are not religious in the orthodox sense, nor is any attempt made to - teach religion, but I venture to say they have as much influence - for good on the work-people of Poplar as many of the churches. We - nearly always begin with music by singers or players who give their - services, and then we have a "talk," generally by a public man, on - social questions, on education, on books, and authors, and - citizenship. Some of our speakers take Biblical subjects. - - Thus every week we get together a good company of work-people who - ordinarily attend no place of worship on Sunday; and if nothing - more, we keep them out of the public-house, we make them think for - themselves, we awaken some sense of citizenship. The presence of - the rector has convinced many, who were formerly hostile to all - parsons, Anglican and Nonconformist, that the Churches and Labour - can work in harmony. Without pretending to be this, that, or the - other, our gatherings have made for the love of one's neighbour, - and therefore for the cause of Christ. - - -Nearly every P.S.A. and adult school and men's Sunday meeting in London -wanted him. He would be at the Whitefield Tabernacle one Sunday, at the -Leysian Mission another, at Dr. Clifford's church another. - -The demands made upon him by temperance bodies redoubled after the -introduction of the Licensing Bill of 1904, of which he was an -uncompromising opponent. In nearly all his temperance addresses, full as -they were of his humorous fancies, he denounced the practice, followed -by so many temperance reformers, of making cheap jests at the men or -women whom drink has degraded. - -"We who can overcome temptation should be the last to make light of -those who have failed to overcome temptation. Rather should we use our -greater power to assist them." - -What he said from public platforms he did not hesitate to repeat on the -floor of the House of Commons. Speaking after Mr. Balfour, in one of the -debates on the Licensing Bill, he said:-- - -"I wish to take the opportunity, while the Prime Minister is in the -House, to say a few words on the question of temptation, because the -impression left on my mind by the remarks of the right hon. gentleman is -that every man who indulges in drink is capable of taking care of -himself and of overcoming the drink habit by his own efforts. I hold -that there are thousands of our fellow-men and women who cannot resist -temptation when the opportunity to drink is put in their way. No doubt -if everyone had the moral fibre of the Prime Minister there would be -little need for a measure of temperance reform. Those hon. members who -attend prayers at the opening of the proceedings of this House listen to -the words, 'Lead us not into temptation.' I ask the Prime Minister -whether he has ever thought that the thousands of people in our asylums -through drink are there because they are capable of looking after -themselves? No; it is because temptation has been too much for them. -Does not that involve an obligation on the State to take temptation out -of their way?" - -The National Free Church Council invited him to address their annual -gathering in 1906. The Council met in Birmingham in March, and the -President (the Rev. J. Scott Lidgett), in introducing Crooks, said the -invitation to him had not been given lightly. It was a deliberate -recognition of the claim that Labour had upon the thought, energy, and -prayer of the Free Churches. Then, turning to Crooks, he clasped his -hand. "Thus," said the President, "Labour and the Free Churches are -joined in their endeavour to solve some of the great human problems." - -"The world," said Crooks in his opening remarks, "could be divided into -two classes--some willing to work and the rest willing to let them." He -went on to ask the representatives of the churches to put it out of -their heads that the workman who did not go to a place of worship was a -man utterly without religion. Such a man often had greater faith and -more works to his credit than many regular worshippers. - -Shortly afterwards the Free Church Council asked him to the banquet -given at the Hotel Cecil in celebration of the return of nearly two -hundred Free Churchmen to the House of Commons. - -"You Free Churchmen," he said in his after-dinner speech, "have to come -out of yourselves a great deal more in the future than you have in -by-gone days. You cannot live for Sunday alone. You have to live for all -the seven days of the week, and we expect you to come out and take a -share of the work of social reorganisation. You are all of you, or the -majority of you, a little bit ashamed of South Africa, and some of you -wish you had got your tongues loose two or three years ago instead of -now. You can imagine how I feel about this. A few of us at that time had -to take our lives in our hands because we dared to say that that was a -wicked war. Remember, the Empire does not consist in yelling about the -Union Jack; the Empire begins in the workman's kitchen.... - -"I have been told plenty of times that our men and women are not -God-fearing. Aren't they? I know the stories they tell you parsons -sometimes; but down at the bottom of their hearts is a deep religious -feeling which some of us would be better for having. Why can I always -get the truth from the poor, who so often deceive you parsons? Why, -because they feel I am a brother, and they have a doubt about you. You -have got to wear that doubt off. You have got to make the humblest of -our brothers and sisters understand that you do really care for them, -that you intend to use the Parliamentary machine to abolish sweating -and slumdom. We have got to promote industry in such a way that every -honest worker may find useful work to do. We have to deal with the -shirker whether he wears a top hat or hobnail boots." - - - - -CHAPTER XXX - -COLONISING ENGLAND - - Signs of Progress--a Crown Farm Cut Up into Small Holdings--The - Colony Experiment at Laindon--How it was Killed by the Local - Government Board--The Hollesley Bay Farm--A Minister for Labour - Wanted. - - -After nearly twenty years of hard public service, Crooks saw some of the -things for which he had striven so strenuously adopted as part of the -policy of two successive Governments. - -Woolwich re-elected him at the General Election with over nine thousand -votes, some three or four hundred more than it gave him at the famous -by-election three years before. He saw the new Government back up the -Unemployed Act. He saw the Poor Law Commission at work. He saw the -appointment of another Commission to consider the question of coast -erosion and the reclamation of foreshores, which makes him believe there -is still a chance for the scheme he laid before the Board of Trade in -1893. - -Meanwhile, he believes he has done something practical in Parliament for -the unemployed in another direction. He discovered that of the 70,000 -acres of agricultural Crown lands, about 5,000 had been lying idle for -many years. Thereupon he promptly reminded Sir Henry -Campbell-Bannerman's Government, in the early days of its first -Session, that at the General Election they had talked about the need for -colonising England. Here, he told the House, was a chance to give effect -to the promise. Cut up the idle land into small holdings, and it would -let at once. Make better use of the other land by dividing it into -smaller farms. Further, why not try a scheme of afforestation on some -portion of these Crown lands, which, after all, were the lands of the -people? - -He exacted a promise from the Government that the question of giving the -Board of Agriculture some control of Crown lands, instead of leaving -them in the hands of the Department of Woods and Forests, would be -considered. - -Something was done sooner than he expected. The President of the Local -Government Board (Mr. John Burns) informed the House that a scheme of -afforestation would be started on Crown lands the succeeding year. -Moreover, Lord Carrington, whose encouragement of small holdings on his -own estates Crooks had commended in the Commons, was added to the -Commission of Woods and Forests in his capacity as President of the -Board of Agriculture. A start was immediately made by cutting up into -small parcels a Crown farm of 916 acres at Burwell in Cambridgeshire. - -This quiet little reform Crooks hails as affording further means of -solving the problem of unemployment. - -"Whatever may be said to the contrary," is his way of putting it, "I -maintain that even the town wastrel takes more kindly to the land than -to anything else. Of course, I know that before he can be made of any -use on the land he must be trained; but then it is well known that I -favour farm colonies for training him." - -Since he entered Parliament he had seen farm colonies for the unemployed -become realities. His own Board of Guardians was the pioneer of the -modern farm colony in this country. For nearly a dozen years the -Guardians pleaded with the Local Government Board to be allowed to take -a farm. Consent was at last obtained in 1903, when the Guardians had an -offer of 100 acres at Laindon, in Essex, rent free for three years. The -offer was made by Mr. Joseph Fels, a London manufacturer, who had been -favourably impressed by a system he had seen in Philadelphia, whereby -unemployed men were put to cultivate vacant land. - -At first the Guardians' experiment was confined to able-bodied men from -the workhouse. Its scope was widened with the coming of winter. The -Poplar Unemployed Committee, which had the Mayor at its head and Crooks -and Lansbury among its members, agreed on the suggestion of these latter -to send a number of out-of-work men to this farm, meeting the expenses -by a public appeal. - -The need for giving out-of-work men proper training on the land was -being urged at the same time by Mr. John Burns. That winter, as chairman -of the Unemployed Conference called by the London County Council, Mr. -Burns and Canon Escreet, the vice-chairman, signed a report urging that -every opportunity should be taken to provide such training on the land -as would fit the workers for efficient labour. The report went on:-- - - - Efforts in this direction are already made in the case of emigrants - to the Colonies, but it does not seem altogether reasonable that - special efforts should be made which would have the effect of - providing the colonies with specially trained labour if no efforts - in this direction are made on behalf of the Home Country. It is not - suggested that training for colonial life should not be provided, - but merely that the needs of the United Kingdom should be equally - borne in mind. - - -"I've seen wastrels," says Crooks, "who were going from bad to worse in -our back streets in Poplar regain health and strength when sent to our -farm at Laindon, and as they felt their muscles strengthening turn to -work like men. I have seen many a decent unemployed man tided over hard -times by being sent to work on our farm. The result of our first -winter's experiment was that twenty-five of the men emigrated to Canada, -the better for the training we had given them on the land. A dozen -obtained work on their own account. And then, as the winter passed and -trade got better, we began to discharge the men gradually. Over one -hundred of the discharged men have never asked for relief from the -Guardians since. If we had taken them into the workhouse at the time of -their destitution, as the Poor Law prescribes, the greater part of them -would have become permanent charges on the rates for the rest of their -lives." - -This promising experiment was killed by the Local Government Board. The -Local Government Board refused to allow the farm to be continued except -as a branch workhouse. Mr. Fels, at the end of the three years' trial, -wrote to the Guardians:-- - - - I desire to emphasise that my offer of the farm in the first - instance was not for the purpose of establishing a branch - workhouse, and in that way perpetuating stone yards, oakum picking, - and corn grinding, and other useless tasks, which seems to be all - the Local Government Board want to do. - - On the contrary, I hoped that your Board would be allowed to try to - re-establish men who were down on their luck. I never for one - moment dreamed that your Board would be forced by the Local - Government Board to keep 150 men on one hundred acres of land, it - being obvious to me then, as now, that neither men nor staff could - have a chance in such conditions. Although the Local Government - Board has stifled this experiment, I am convinced that some such - Poor Law reform is bound to come. - - -The Poplar experiment certainly satisfied Mr. Long when he was at the -Local Government Board. He expressly stated, when suggesting the -formation of his Central Unemployed Committee, that farm colonies -represented one means by which the Committee could assist men out of -work. - -One of the first things the Committee did was to take the Hollesley Bay -Farm, where both Crooks and Lansbury as active members of the Committee -helped to develop the work. Mr. Fels again assisted, this time building -a number of cottages with a view to drafting off some of the colonists -into a position of independence, joined by their wives and families -from London. The hope is entertained that some proportion of them may -become small holders. Hollesley Bay Farm, which had been an agricultural -training college for the sons of rich men going to the colonies, thus -became a centre for training poor men to colonise their own country. - -All these practical schemes for helping the unemployed and saving the -cities from recurring periods of distress, which Crooks had done so much -to set going, lend colour to his claim that the time has come for the -addition to all future Cabinets of a new member to be styled the -Minister for Labour. For nearly twenty years we have seen this labouring -man, content with his three or four pounds a week, in a working-man's -house in a working-man's neighbourhood, devising and carrying out social -measures for the well-being of the nation that ought rightly to have -come from the Government. - -"The first thing a Labour Minister would do," he says, "would be to take -over the Labour Department and other more or less allied departments of -the Board of Trade. The present Labour returns of the Board of Trade are -no good to anybody. I would have the Labour Minister obtain from all the -local authorities a statement of what they regard as useful public works -for their own districts. As soon as a spell of bad trade set in in any -particular district our Minister of Industry would turn up the -suggestions that had reached him from the affected quarter and make a -national grant towards starting the local works. - -"Then again I should leave to his Department rather than to the Local -Government Board the duty of controlling farm colonies. I want to see -the Government responsible for three separate kinds of labour colonies. -First I want a farm colony for the habitual able-bodied pauper. He needs -to have his muscles hardened and to be trained to work. The tasks set -such a man in the workhouse are wasteful, and do him no good. You might -have a combination of Poor Law Unions interested in such a colony. The -second class of farm colony would be for habitual tramps. These men need -to be kept entirely separate from able-bodied paupers. The third class -would be voluntary colonies, to which unemployed men could be sent and -trained in market gardening and farming. - -"In fact, the practical work a Minister of Labour could do is endless. -He could settle differences between masters and men before a strike was -thought of. To him could be referred disputes as to machinery, questions -as to safeguards, matters affecting hours, meal-times, overtime, and -women's work. He would be the most useful Minister in the Cabinet." - - - - -CHAPTER XXXI - -THE REVIVAL OF BUMBLEDOM - - Crooks's Poor Law Policy Attacked--How a Local Government Board - Inquiry was Conducted--Crooks's Mistake in Remaining Chairman of - the Board of Guardians--The Inspector's Report--Why the Poor Die - rather than go to Poplar Workhouse. - - -It is easy to understand that the humane spirit Crooks had infused into -Poor Law administration, and the fact of his having made the State -recognise a duty to the unemployed, was not acceptable to the old order -of Poor Law administrators, nor to some of the officials of the Local -Government Board. - -When Crooks entered upon Poor Law work he found it bound hand and foot -by red tape. The men elected by the people did not rule at all. They -were little more than the servants of paid officials, whether in the -person of Bumble in the workhouse or of Bumble at the Local Government -Board. - -We have seen how he fought against Bumble administration, and how -successive Presidents of the Local Government Board lent him their -support. Mr. Ritchie, at the request of Poplar, reduced the -qualification for Guardians. Sir Henry Fowler abolished it, and, again -at Poplar's request, deprived workhouse masters of the power to refuse -admission to Guardians. Mr. Henry Chaplin ordered "workhouse comforts" -and "adequate out-relief." Mr. Walter Long improved the dietary scale -and formed the Central Unemployed Committee. Mr. Gerald Balfour passed -the Unemployed Act. - -All these reforms were more or less unwelcome to Bumbledom. One can -understand how impatiently those who stood for the old harsh order of -things waited for an opportunity to break into revolt. Their opportunity -came in June, 1906, at the Local Government Board Inquiry into Poplar's -Poor Law administration. - -Crooks, who was still Chairman, courted the fullest and most open -investigation. Directly he heard that the Poplar Municipal Alliance was -making charges against the Guardians to the Local Government Board, he -appealed for a public Inquiry. - -On the opening day of the public Inquiry at Poplar Crooks and his -colleague George Lansbury felt it to be their duty to protest against -its being conducted by an Inspector who, they alleged, had his verdict -in his pocket. They wished to make no reflection upon the Inspector's -personal integrity, but they declared then and afterwards that it -appeared to them to be "quite unjust to appoint so extreme an opponent -of their policy to conduct the inquiry." - -For fifteen out of the twenty days that the inquiry lasted the Inspector -allowed the Municipal Alliance practically to direct the proceedings. -They did their best to discredit Crooks's Poor Law policy on account of -the malpractices of some of his colleagues, of which, up to then, owing -to the pressure of his other public duties, he had been ignorant. - -The Inspector, whose knowledge might have taught him how far from true -many of the innuendoes were, made no attempt to stop them. He appeared -to think it quite right to allow statements to go forth to the public -that paupers were being fed on all kinds of delicacies, and that -serviettes, pocket handkerchiefs, and outfits for girls going to service -were for the use of the ordinary inmates of the workhouse. - -The public did not know at the time that the "Linen Collars for -Workhouse Inmates," blazoned forth in the Press as an example of -Poplar's extravagance, were simply what were supplied to the boys in the -school, that they too, like the girls, might go out into the world no -longer branded, but self-respecting. - -All through the Inquiry the public was given to understand that Poplar -was an example of what happens under Labour administration. Since the -two most prominent Guardians, Crooks and Lansbury, were known everywhere -as Labour leaders, the whole Board was wrongly supposed to consist of -their followers. In reality, out of a Board of twenty-four members only -ten were Labour representatives, and not half of these Socialists. The -majority of the Guardians were Conservatives and Liberals. - -The policy of Crooks and Lansbury did to a large extent dominate the -Board, due no doubt to their ability and personal magnetism. But -between the _policy_ of these two men and the _administration_ of -certain of their colleagues lay a gulf that neither the Inspector nor -the Press seemed to see at the time. These two were held responsible for -certain faults of administration committed by individual members of the -Board belonging to the Liberal and Conservative parties. They were -actually held up to reproach and ridicule for faults and follies -committed by colleagues who had bitterly opposed their policy at every -step. - -The Inquiry taught Crooks his mistake in consenting to remain Chairman -of the Board after his election to Parliament. We have seen that his -consent to remain was given reluctantly, and on the understanding that -he should devote less time to the work. He little thought that some of -those who pressed him to stay would take advantage of his relaxed -attention to bring discredit on the Board's administration. He therefore -seized an early opportunity in the succeeding year of resigning the -office, informing the Board by word of mouth, and the people of Poplar -by circular letter, that in doing so, owing to the press of other public -duties, he did not propose to abandon in the smallest way any part of -that policy of Poor Law reform to which the best years of his public -life had been devoted. He also publicly declared in Poplar repeatedly -that he would do his best to expose and turn out of public life any -person guilty of corruption, and even while the Inquiry was going on he -appealed to the Inspector more than once to order a prosecution of -suspected Guardians and contractors. - -After the dust and din caused by the Municipal Alliance had died down, -that body found itself largely discredited in Poplar. One of its members -wrote to the Press:-- - - - Over this Inquiry we have already made many enemies.... It would be - difficult to define what the Alliance set out to do, but the - methods employed in doing it were, to say the least, unworthy.... - - I did not think, when we embarked on this expensive trip, that we - were going to attempt to cover with ridicule men who, it must be - admitted, have devoted a considerable portion of their time to the - affairs of the Union, and are now proved to have been thoroughly - honest in their policy. - - -The Alliance was to receive a heavier blow from the Poplar people. To -them an insult to Crooks was an insult to Poplar. The Borough Council -Elections followed soon after the Inquiry, the Alliance throwing all its -weight into the local campaign. In nearly all the other London boroughs -the Progressives and Labour men were badly beaten. In Poplar the Labour -Party went back larger in numbers and backed by a stronger vote of the -electors than they had ever had before. Lansbury defeated the Chairman -of the Alliance. - -"That," said Crooks at the time, in an interview in one of the daily -papers, "is the answer of the people of Poplar to the slanders and -misrepresentations levelled against me. The people of Poplar know the -truth about my policy, whatever may have been the shortcomings of some -of my colleagues; the people of London do not know--they only have the -Yellow Press version." - -Again, when a few weeks later the triennial election for the London -County Council took place, the people of Poplar stood by their Labour -member. Progressive and Labour seats fell all over London in March, -1907, but Crooks was re-elected for Poplar at the top of the poll with -3,504 votes, though the Alliance strained every nerve to oust him. - -Then it was that his outside accusers began to suspect they had been -misled. Here was a prophet in his own country indeed--accused and -slandered outside, but trusted and honoured by his neighbours. And when -a month later the election of Guardians took place, and Poplar, put to a -third test, declared more emphatically than ever for the Crooks policy -by defeating about two-thirds of the Alliance candidates and electing an -increased number of Labour men, the eyes of the public were opened. - -But the revival of Bumbledom was not yet at an end. The Local Government -Board Inspector's report came out three and a half months after the -inquiry closed. The unusual course was followed of publishing it before -the evidence. When the evidence did appear it disproved many of the -Inspector's conclusions. - -The Inspector was bound to say there was no reflection upon the -"personal integrity of Mr. Crooks and Mr. Lansbury." - -While deprecating the standard of comfort in the workhouse, the -Inspector made no reference to the doctor's statement that he did not -think the inmates were too well fed or clad. Rather, he tried to -undermine Crooks's policy by remarks of this kind:-- - - - Mr. Crooks in his evidence admitted that the dietary in the - workhouse was better than could be obtained by the independent - labourer in the borough with a wife and two children to keep who - received anything under 30s. a week. - - -The evidence gives a different version. What Crooks said (page 389) -was:-- - -"A man with 30s. a week with a wife and two children can only just keep -himself in decency. When he gets below that he gets below the Local -Government Board diet.... The men in the workhouse get a bare -subsistence, and no man outside ought to be paid wages less than enable -him to get that kind of living. What you have to prove is that we are -giving the people in the workhouse such luxury as a man in ordinary work -at from thirty to forty shillings a week could not get at home. But what -he" [the legal representative of the Municipal Alliance] "does not say -is that we are dealing with the very aged in the workhouse--the -able-bodied, as you know, are exceedingly limited in number--but he does -not appreciate for a moment that after all a man's liberty is worth -something. Liberty has not fallen in value. It is a priceless something. -A man will die for it. And our people will die--a good many of -them--rather than go into the workhouse." - -It happened that the people of Poplar were dying for it about that very -time. While the Local Government Board was harassing Crooks for his -efforts to save the poor from starvation, another Department of the -State was in correspondence with the Guardians over two cases of people -who had died from starvation in Poplar. This was the Home Office. - -It is a theory of the British Constitution that no person in the kingdom -should die of starvation. Yet in London alone forty-eight people died of -starvation in the winter of 1905-6. Whitechapel, which gives no -out-relief, and is held up as a model by the Inspector who conducted the -Poplar inquiry, had ten deaths from starvation within its borders during -the year. Poplar, where the Guardians are said to be too generous in -their treatment of the poor, was unable, with all its zeal, to prevent -two people dying from want of food. - -One of the victims was a child whose father refused to go into Poplar -workhouse--this so-called "palace of luxury"--because he thought he -might still be able to earn a trifle outside. Out-relief in the way of -food was given to the value of 3s. 6d. a week, but that not being enough -for a family of five, the youngest defied the British Constitution by -quietly slipping into the grave--"Died of asthenia and bronchitis," was -the coroner's verdict, "due to mother's want of food, accelerated by -want of proper clothing." - -Shortly afterwards a married labourer in Old Ford, faced with -starvation, refused to apply to the Poplar Guardians because it had -become common talk among the poor of the district that the Local -Government Board would no longer allow the Guardians to assist people -outside the workhouse. And one morning this unemployed man had to run to -the nearest doctor's because one of his children was "took queer." What -followed was told by the doctor in evidence a few days later at the -Poplar Coroner's Court. He related how he was knocked up in the early -morning, and how, when he went to the house, he found no sign of food, -no fire, and, lying on some scanty bedding, a girl-child, who had been -dead about an hour. Death, he added, was due to exhaustion from want of -sufficient food. He was so shocked with the poverty of the home that he -gave the parents five shillings out of his own pocket, and sent them -something to eat. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXII - -APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE - - Crooks Appeals to the Public--"This Insult to the Poor"--Resentment - all over the Country--A Voice from the Hungry 'Forties--Cheering - Letters--A Government Department's Blunder--Poplar's Appeal to - Crooks. - - -The day after the report of the Local Government Board Inspector was -published, Crooks sent his decision upon it to the Press. He wrote from -the House of Commons, where, as he stated in his letter, "the unfairness -and injustice of the report in its bearings on my Poor Law policy are so -far recognised that to-day I have been told by members of all parties -that the report is not only wicked but brutal." He further stated in his -letter to the Press:-- - -"Will you permit me to make it public through your columns that I accept -the challenge thrown down in the Local Government Board report? Against -all its strictures I intend to maintain my stand on that policy of -humanising the Poor Law, to which I have given the greater part of my -life. And in doing so I propose to appeal from the Local Government -Board to the public. - -"If the public upholds this insult to the poor I shall be painfully -surprised. After twenty days of a searching inquiry, and after twice -twenty pages of a strained attack on Mr. Lansbury and myself, there is -nothing to show that we have done anything against the actual orders and -regulations of the very Board that now rises in mock-heroic wrath to -slay us. Our only crime is that we have humanised a system framed in -1834, when the voteless working classes were dragooned by a middle-class -majority.... - -"My present duty is clear. The public may remember that at Mr. Chaplin's -request I went as a nominee of the Local Government Board on the -Metropolitan Asylums Board. It may remember that I was co-opted on the -Central Unemployed Body on the suggestion of Mr. Walter Long. Now that -the Local Government Board, under the new Government, has seen fit to -attack me and my Labour colleagues, and to flout the poor as I venture -to say they have never been flouted by that Department before, I can no -longer hold those two positions. I propose to resign. Nor until its -attitude towards the poor and the unemployed changes will I ever consent -to represent the Local Government Board on any public body again. I -prefer to represent the people.... - -"The faults of administration at Poplar, so grossly magnified in this -report, are common to all such bodies, and Poplar will do its best to -avoid them. But the policy will not change. By that we stand or fall." - -The reason for that policy was briefly explained in a special report -issued by the Poplar Guardians and signed by Crooks as Chairman. It -formed part of the Board's reply to the Inspector's report. Thus:-- - - - This policy was never put in force with the idea that it would lead - to a reduction in rates or in the number applying for relief. No - one imagines that decent treatment of the poor will choke off - applicants in the manner that harsh treatment will, but we claim - that under the Act of Elizabeth, the poor (not merely the - destitute, but the poor) are entitled to come to society in time of - need. - - The State provides all kinds of services for the community, such as - roads, sewers, light, police, army, navy, education, etc., and we - all enjoy those privileges. The State pensions its well-paid - Cabinet Ministers and officials; and we claim that the poor, whose - charter is the 43rd of Elizabeth, instead of being penalised when - needing help, should receive such help in an ungrudging measure and - in a manner which would most effectively preserve their - self-respect. - - Finally, we would again repeat that our pauperism is due to our - poverty, that our policy is based on the claims recognised by - statute as the due right of the poor. We neither palliate nor - excuse any lapses either on the part of members or officers of the - Board, but we claim that as a Board we have carried out our duties - as efficiently and as economically as we were able, that we have - never given indiscriminate relief either in or out of the - workhouse, and in the main have usefully tried to do our duty both - to the poor, who have our first claim, and to the ratepayers. - - We have never ceased to urge for the past ten years that the poor - are a metropolitan charge, that unemployment is a national - question, that the Poor Law should be reformed. We are glad to know - that our work, despite this present attack, has been successful, - and that the poor of Poplar are better cared for, and not only the - poor of Poplar, but the poor of the United Kingdom generally, as a - result of our effort. - - -His appeal to the public won an inspiring response. Bumbledom was -against him, but the people were with him. While a section of the Press -was attacking him, it was so far ignorant of what the people of England -were thinking as to know nothing at all of the tremendous meetings he -was addressing all over the country. - -His meetings in Poplar and Woolwich, where he was supported with rousing -enthusiasm, were the largest he had ever had in those boroughs. At -Chesterfield he addressed an open-air meeting of nearly twenty thousand -Midland miners, when his reference to his Poor Law policy was cheered to -the echo. The Cleveland miners were equally enthusiastic when he went up -to their annual gathering. It was the same at public meetings in -Newcastle, Burton, Huddersfield, Rossendale, Stockport, Batley, -Sunderland, Penarth--the man who had stood out against one of -Bumbledom's fiercest onslaughts had the good-will and confidence of the -working people of England. At his indoor meetings there were rarely -fewer than two thousand people present. Often he had audiences of four -and five thousand. - -It looked as though a recurrence of his old illness would prevent him -from keeping an appointment to speak on his Poor Law policy at Bradford. -Such was the strength of the appeal sent to him, however, that he -determined to risk it. He had to be helped by his wife on the journey, -and when at the meeting it was found he was unable to stand there was a -unanimous call that he be allowed to keep his chair while speaking. -Seated in the middle of the platform, he held an audience of two or -three thousand people for upwards of an hour. The response he wrung from -the crowded hall moved him deeply. Bumbledom never had a worse hour. - -Of course his first public meeting after the publication of the Local -Government Board's report took place at the Dock Gates in Poplar. - -"We never had a better meeting," he wrote to me the next day. "The -audience backed me to a man and woman--and, by the way, we never had so -many women present before. It did me good." - -At some of his provincial meetings there were people who well-nigh -worshipped him. Old men in particular who had known the Hungry 'Forties -would come up to him after the meeting and say:-- - -"Let me shake you by the hand, Mr. Crooks. We read about it in the -papers, but the papers don't understand. We've been through it, and -know. Don't be down-hearted, Mr. Crooks. God bless you!" - -At a small country town a bed had been reserved for him at the little -hotel outside the railway station. He arrived about midnight, and found -the place in darkness. He knocked loudly for some time. At last a man's -voice was heard from the railway line. - -"Is that Mr. Crooks? Lord love yer, we knew you'd be late, and gone -again early in the morning, and so that I shouldn't miss seeing you I -told the hotel-keeper to go to bed and let me have the keys, so that -you couldn't get in without me shaking you by the hand." - -His first public meeting in Woolwich after the Local Government Board -Inquiry drew an audience of over five thousand people to the Drill Hall. -His colleague Lansbury shared in the inspiring reception and addressed -the meeting. - -Crooks told the audience it was no wonder that Lansbury and he got angry -at times over our iniquitous Poor Law system. Such was the injustice of -the rating system in London that Poplar--which was spending out of the -rates per head of population less than half what West-End districts like -Kensington and Marylebone were spending--appeared to outsiders to be -extravagant. If those West-End Boroughs had Poplar's poor to look after, -their rates, instead of being about 7s., would be about 15s. in the -pound. The poor of Poplar were London's poor; yet the cost of looking -after them was borne mainly by the people of Poplar. London was the only -city in the world where those who grew rich on the labour of the poor -were able to segregate themselves in favoured quarters, and escape their -obligation to help the aged poor unable to work longer. - -He went on to show the iniquities of our Poor Law system from a national -standpoint. About L28,000,000 a year was raised in the name of the Poor -Law. Of this only L14,000,000 had any connection with the Poor Law at -all. And how were the fourteen millions spent? The poor got seven and a -half millions, while the remaining six and a half millions were spent -in administrative charges. That meant that every 5s. given to the poor -out of the rates cost the ratepayers another 4s. 9d. to give it. No -wonder that Bumbledom became nervous when Guardians urged that the poor -rather than officials should receive more of this money raised for the -poor. The Local Government Board Inspector, when deploring that Poplar's -expenditure on the poor had gone up during the last ten years, might -have added that during the same period the cost of collecting rates in -the City had gone up from L11,000 to L23,000. It seemed to be all right -when officials got the money, but all wrong when the poor got it. - -"I believe in being a true Guardian of the poor, and not merely a -Guardian of the Poor Rate. We in Poplar have preferred to save the lives -of the poor rather than the rates. Even then we have administered with -remarkable economy; for Poplar's rates would not be high if London as a -whole paid its proper share towards maintaining London's poor. We in -Poplar, however, have not allowed an unjust rating system to prevent us -from doing our duty to broken-down old people, to the starving and to -the unemployed. We agree with Carlyle that 'to believe practically, that -the poor and luckless are here only as a nuisance to be abraded and -abated, and in some permissible manner made away with, and swept out of -sight, is not an amiable faith. To say to the poor: Ye shall eat the -bread of affliction and drink the water of affliction and be very -miserable while here, requires not so much a stretch of heroic faculty -in any sense as due toughness of bowels.'" - -From Stockport, where he had been addressing one of a series of public -meetings in the Midlands, he wrote:-- - -"How good the people are! Whenever I mention Poplar, it is truly -inspiring to hear the magnificent response. Last night the moment the -word passed my lips an audience of two thousand cheered like one man. It -sometimes overwhelms me almost. Who am I to deserve it?... - -"I am sometimes told that I affect to despise my critics. You know -better, of course. But, really, after such experiences as these, I can't -help laughing at them when I think of their ponderous official -pronouncements against my policy and of the equally ponderous lectures -read to me by certain sections of the Press and the Church. When will -the Press and the Church, and 'all who are put in authority over us,' -come to learn what the mind of the people really is, and begin to -interpret it rightly? I know the heart of the people to be true. That is -why I laugh and go on my way confident that the little piece of -well-doing I have aimed at on behalf of the poor and the unemployed will -in the end put to 'silence the ignorance of foolish men.'" - -If his meetings were inspiring, the same can be said of his -correspondence. Public men, in various parts of the country, including -Guardians, wrote to congratulate him on the brave stand he had made -against the forces of Bumbledom. From other quarters he had many -encouraging letters. - -Canon Scott Holland wrote: "You know how your friends feel for you in -this cruel trouble. We need not tell you how we trust you, and believe -in you, and stand by you." - -"You have made many lives happier and better by your work on behalf of -the poor," wrote a high official from a central Poor Law establishment. -"I thought it might be a comfort to you to know we feel indignant that -you have been rudely assailed." - -It was encouraging also to receive a note from a prominent Woolwich -Conservative. The writer commenced by saying that although he was a -political opponent, and would continue to be so, he had the greatest -respect for Crooks personally, and wished to assure him that he did not -agree with the attacks that had been made on his Poor Law policy. - -"Cheer up," came a message from the Rev. A. Tildsley, pastor of the -Poplar and Bromley Tabernacle. "Don't get off your high pedestal to go -down to your opponents' level. Leave the mud alone. The sun shines -daily, and will soon dry it. Then it will drop off itself. All good men -have to pay the price. This is not your first baptism of fire in defence -of the poor." - -From the Oxford House Settlement, Bethnal Green, the Rev. H. S. -Woolcombe wrote:--"I am perfectly certain that this attack cannot do you -any permanent harm, and that you and Lansbury are both men too big to -let it abate your courage and determination to go on with your work." - -Letters came to him from abroad long after the Inquiry. Unknown friends -in America, France, and other countries sent him sympathetic letters. He -told one of his Woolwich meetings--according to the report in the Labour -Party's weekly newspaper, the _Woolwich Pioneer_:-- - - - He had had a few letters that were not sympathetic (Laughter, and a - voice, "Rub it in for Robb"). Well, he had rubbed it in as well as - he could. Mr. Robb [the legal representative of the Alliance at the - Inquiry] was not a bad chap at all. A man must earn his money, and - Mr. Robb had earned his very well. He (Mr. Crooks) had not a word - to say against anybody. Some mud had been thrown, but it would - easily brush off. After all, there still remained the obligation to - look after those who were unable to look after themselves, and to - give to the poor and little children left to their care and mercy - the best of their ability and service. They were proud that God had - given them the opportunity to do the work they had done. And they - were not ashamed. - - -It is noteworthy that when the Local Government Board was investigating -the Guardians' contracts something was brought to light which even the -Inspector records to the credit of Poplar. He found that some years -previously the Guardians, recognising that the system of dealing with -contracts by Poor Law authorities was a faulty one, liable to abuse, had -appealed to the Local Government Board to establish a central authority -for dealing with all Poor Law contracts in London, thus removing from -the local Guardians the temptation towards favouritism and loose -administration. - -That appeal was disregarded, though it is understood the Local -Government Board will shortly be compelled to carry out Poplar's -suggestion, because of the demoralisation which the loose system has -created. Had the appeal been heeded at the time--originated as it was by -the Labour Members at Poplar--much of the corruption brought to light in -several Poor Law Unions in respect to contracts could never have taken -place. The Local Government Board's own loose system, therefore, has -been indirectly responsible for corruption on Poor Law bodies. - -This fact doubtless influenced Canon Barnett to pass very severe -strictures on the Local Government Board's gross neglect of duty. "The -inspectors of the Local Government Board," he stated in the _Daily -News_, "hold inquiries into scandals for which they are themselves -largely responsible. Why did they not discover and report these matters -years ago? We ought to have independent inquiries, in which the -inspectors are subjected to examination, for it is their perfunctory -inspection which has allowed the growth of such evil." - -Defeated over the Inquiry the Local Government Board carried out a -minute analysis of the Guardians' accounts. The ordinary Local -Government Board audit occupies only three days. In the case of Poplar, -it was on this occasion extended over three months. Every item was -carefully examined in accounts representing an expenditure of over a -quarter of a million sterling. On the whole of this sum, the auditor, -after his three months' investigation, only found half a dozen trifling -items that he could question. These represented a few shillings for -"Guardians' and other persons' teas," and about L5 in respect to -excessive fares under the head of travelling expenses. These items were -surcharged to the individual Guardians responsible, of whom Crooks, -needless to say, was not one. Indeed, he as Chairman assisted the -auditor in bringing to light what he considered the excessive fares -which had been charged by some of his colleagues on the Board. - -The surcharge for the teas revealed Bumbledom at its worst. The "other -persons' teas" referred to included the occasional afternoon cup offered -to the ladies of the Brabazon Society on their visiting days. Bumbledom, -which connives at Guardians' six-course dinners at five shillings per -head in other Unions, proved itself to be so far embittered against -Poplar that it actually objected to a cup of tea and a lunch biscuit to -lady visitors belonging to a society which has given thousands of pounds -from the private purses of its members for brightening our workhouses. - -It happened that these ladies were presenting their yearly report on -Poplar Workhouse about the same time the Local Government Board attack -took place. These good women are not influenced by the Local Government -Board or by Municipal Alliances or by the party differences among the -Guardians. Their opinion is that of a quiet body of independent, -intelligent women. In their report on Poplar Workhouse they say:-- - - - During the year forty-six meetings have been held, and at each some - part of the House has been visited. The year has been singularly - free from complaints, all the inmates seeming happy and contented. - - The nurses in charge are kindness itself, and are uniformly - good-tempered and active. The whole House is kept beautifully - clean, and each ward is a picture of cosiness and comfort. - - Every useful aid is procured for the infirm, to help them to move - about easily. The sick are kindly tended, and the little children's - health and comfort carefully supervised. - - -Observe, in connection with this three months' audit, that not a penny -was surcharged in respect to the out-relief grants. Notwithstanding all -the wild charges that had been made, not a single case could be found -where Crooks's policy of helping the poor could be proved to be illegal. -After all the hubbub, a three months' scrutiny under the eye of a -capable Government auditor proved that Poplar had simply been carrying -out the law relating to the poor. - -The Local Government Board was badly beaten in its attempt to discredit -Crooks's policy. Finally, it was argued on the Board's behalf, as though -in a last grasp at a straw, that the decrease in the amount of -out-relief during the year of the Inquiry was in itself a justification -of the Local Government Board's action. Everybody outside the Board -knows differently. The year referred to (1906) was the most prosperous -this country has ever experienced. If anything, the industries of -Poplar shared in that prosperity to a larger extent than other parts of -the country. The primary cause of the decrease was not the Inquiry, but -the lessening of want brought about by an extraordinary trade revival. - -"Give us," Crooks has repeatedly stated in public, "the same terrible -state of things that we had in some of the previous winters, and I shall -apply the same remedy again. The law is there for the sake of the poor, -not for the sake of officials. My policy is not a haphazard one. It is -the outcome of years of experience. It is fundamentally sound, and will -one day become a national policy." - -Crooks had indeed played a part for the poor of the whole nation. Before -the echoes of the Bumbledom agitation had died away the very Government -which allowed one of its Departments to be made an instrument in that -agitation was promising to carry out the very reforms for which Crooks -had striven and suffered--Old Age Pensions, Amendment of the Poor Law, -and Equalisation of London Rates. - -The Government, however, shirked a discussion of the Poplar Report in -the House of Commons. The Labour Party, backed by Conservative Members, -pressed the Prime Minister for an opportunity to discuss the report. Mr. -Keir Hardie and Crooks pointed out that, as the report stood, an -injustice was done to a popularly elected body, the effect of which -would be to deter other Boards of Guardians from carrying out the Poor -Law in a humane spirit. They further maintained that the country was now -without guidance as to how to treat poor people out of work and in need -of food. - -But the Government had learnt by this time that a departmental blunder -had been committed by associating the Poor Law policy of Crooks with the -faulty administration of some of his colleagues. The Prime Minister got -out of the difficulty by informing the House that the report was not -made by the Local Government Board, but to that Board by one of their -officers, "and," he added, "I don't understand that it is proposed to -call in question any action of my right hon. friend the President in -regard to the report." - -Indeed, the President of the Local Government Board assured a friend of -Crooks in a conversation in the Lobby that there had been a -misunderstanding somewhere. He sought an early opportunity of giving -Crooks a similar assurance. - - -It was said of Crooks in Poplar about that time that he was going to -leave the neighbourhood never to return. Working-men came round to him -in solemn deputation, and women and children stopped him in the street, -in order to hear from his own lips that the bodeful rumour bore no -meaning. The rumour, which never had the smallest basis of truth, -reached the workhouse, where he had not been seen for two or three -weeks, weighed down as he was by a hundred public attacks, his own -wearing illness and a heavy domestic trouble. But one afternoon he found -time to go and see the inmates again. And old men hobbled towards him -and clutched his arm and hand as they broke down in their efforts to -tell him what was in their hearts. When he entered the women's wards -there was a chorus of almost tearful appeals. "Say it isn't true, Mr. -Crooks." "Don't go away and leave us, Mr. Crooks." - -Sitting alone at the end of a bench was one old dame talking to herself -in that vague, mumbling way common to many old women in our workhouses. -As she rambled on in her talk she took up the cry:-- - -"Don't leave us, Mr. Crooks. For over seventy years I worked hard, Mr. -Crooks, ever since I was eight years of age. Brought up a family of -ten--two boys died in the wars, one drowned at sea. All the others left -me long ago, and I don't know where they are. And my man was buried in -'eighty-nine--buried near the brickfields where we worked together -thirty years before. And I kept myself outside for fifteen years, a lone -old woman; and you helped me, Mr. Crooks, until I couldn't look after -myself any longer, and then you made me comfortable here. So now I count -the days between your coming to see us to cheer us up. So please don't -leave us, Mr. Crooks. Don't--don't leave us, Mr. Crooks." - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIII - -"THE HAPPY WARRIOR" - - A Cheerful Invalid and his Neighbours--The Starving Children in the - Schools--Public Confidence in Crooks--Left Smiling. - - -Shortly afterwards he was laid low for two or three weeks, the victim of -his old enemy, muscular rheumatism. - -"Some of my ancestors must have been aristocrats," he used to tell his -visitors good-naturedly from his sick bed in explanation of his -recurring complaint. - -As usual, the knocker at No. 81, Gough Street, knew no rest during his -illness. Hundreds of people called to leave sympathetic little messages -of goodwill. From Woolwich came a telegram from a party of children. An -old bedridden man laboriously penned a letter, brought round by his aged -wife, to say that Mr. Crooks might like to know that an "ole bloke as is -pegging out fast" was thinking of him all day, and hoping he would soon -get well. - -This message cheered the invalid greatly, and he sent back a reply that -renewed the old man's youth for weeks. For Crooks never lost his -cheerfulness when lying bandaged in bed. He used to banter his wife and -daughters, and his Labour colleagues in Parliament who came to visit -him, until they had to hold their sides with laughter. His cheery doctor -used to store up good stories for the invalid's delectation; but he -always had to admit that Crooks could cap them all with better ones. - -Once back at work again, Crooks threw all the time and energy he could -spare from Parliament and his Labour meetings into a campaign for -feeding starving school children. Perhaps the best instance of the -people's trust in him was supplied by what happened in consequence of a -powerful plea for hungry children he made on the London County Council. -The Moderates were then in power, and he pleaded with them to persist no -longer in their policy of refusing to exercise their powers under the -Necessitous School Children's Act, which enables them to spend public -money on food for starving scholars. - -It was nigh on midnight before he got an opportunity of raising the -question, and then--according to the _Daily Mail_, which had often been -one of his bitterest opponents--he "electrified his sleepy colleagues as -he expressed the agony of hungry children and the despair of parents -unable to satisfy their cravings. The speech was spoken without a single -note; it came from his heart. When Mr. Crooks sat down, exhausted by the -effort--he was far from well--there was a moment of dead silence. Then -there broke out the applause which relieved the tension. There was -scarcely a dry eye in the Council chamber." - -In the course of his speech to the Council Crooks said:-- - - - There are no hard-hearted men and there are no hard-hearted women; - there are only men and women ignorant of the need. Only the other - day a teacher in one of our schools showed me a letter from a - mother of three fatherless girls. It ran:-- - - Dear Teacher,--Will you allow my little girls to - come home at half-past three? I shall have earned sixpence - by then, and shall be able to give them something warm to eat. - They have had nothing all day. - - Here are we, satisfied after a good dinner. Yet I know that this - very night hundreds of little children have gone to bed with - nothing but a cup of cold water for their supper, and that in the - morning they will have nothing but water for their breakfasts. What - do you expect them to become? What sort of citizens of this great - Empire City will they make? - - I have seen the poor as they live, and I tell you that, much as - they may forgive you for many things, they will never forgive you - for neglecting the children--the children stunted in body and mind - for want of food, old before their time, with the souls, not of - children, but of old men and women. - - A nation which neglects its children is damned. You are neglecting - London's hungry children by leaving the provision of meals to - private subscriptions which all over London have failed to meet the - little people's need. You never talk of running the Army and Navy - and the defence of the Empire generally by means of private - subscriptions and charitable doles. Yet the thing that is of - greater importance at the present moment than the Army and Navy to - us, as an Imperial people, is that the children who are going to - inherit the responsibility of the government of our vast Empire - should be properly fed and clothed _now_. - - What have you to say to facts like these? A woman, early the other - morning, as soon as the shutters were down, entered a pawnbroker's - shop, and took from under her shawl, in a shamefaced manner, a - small bundle. The pawnbroker's assistant unrolled the bundle, and - there, clean washed and scarcely dry, was the woman's chemise. She - had taken it off her body, washed and partly dried it, and to the - pawnbroker's assistant she said: - - "For the love of God, lend me sixpence on this." - - "I cannot," said the assistant. "It's not worth it." - - "Then give me threepence," pleaded the woman. "I must give my - children a mouthful before they go to school this morning." - - You object to feed the children because it would increase the - rates. Yes, it would increase the rates by a farthing. But - indirectly you are increasing the rates to a far greater extent by - starving the children. By neglecting them now you will be compelled - to feed and shelter them later in life in workhouses and - infirmaries. - - I appeal to you to rise to a sense of your responsibilities, and - see that these children are fed. If it meant that I should be - driven out of public life by feeding starving children out of the - rates, I should feed them out of the rates. I should then have done - my duty. - - -The appeal moved the Council deeply, but on a party vote he was -defeated, many of the Councillors who voted against him crowding round -him afterwards to assure him of their individual sympathy. - -The sequel came the day after his speech was reported in the Press. From -all parts of London he and his wife had cheques and postal orders -showered upon them from people in all walks of life, from little -children to old people. Nearly L200 in all came to hand, together with -huge parcels of boots and clothing, every donor leaving it entirely in -Crooks's hands as to how the money and the things were distributed, so -long as the needy children got them. - -This is just the kind of thing that he deprecates, but, public bodies -having failed to meet the need, he and his wife set to work, and did -their best to meet it in their own neighbourhood. With the aid of a few -friends they got in touch with some of the poorest schools in the East -End, and soon thousands of hungry school children were fed and hundreds -of the naked clothed. - -Crooks gave the London County Council no rest on this subject. He went -on agitating until the Moderate majority in the succeeding winter at -last gave in and agreed to make the feeding of necessitous scholars a -public charge. - - -Thus we leave him, still in the ranks fighting. We must part from him -with a smile, since that is how he likes best to leave both friend and -enemy. And those who heard him speak in the winter of 1908 at the City -Temple smile every time they think of the occasion--a mass meeting of -the London Federation of Pleasant Sunday Afternoon Brotherhoods. - -No written word can adequately describe the hilarious effect of Crooks's -speech. Without the man behind them, the words alone convey little, as I -many times have been made to feel keenly while writing this narrative. -Indeed, one of Mr. Crooks's colleagues in Parliament, a staid, dull man -of much wealth, accosted him in the House one afternoon with the remark: -"How is it, Mr. Crooks, that when I repeat your stories to my -constituents, they never laugh?" - -At the City Temple Crooks told his great audience how delighted he had -been to observe the growth of the religious and civic spirit among the -working classes since this movement for Sunday afternoon meetings began. - -"At the meetings in the early days," he said, "you know how you used to -be troubled with the irrelevant questioner. I was present once when the -speaker, after narrating his experiences abroad, was asked whether he -was in favour of compulsory vaccination! Another time a man got up, and -after reading out a list of parsons who had been sentenced asked me what -I had to say to that? - -"'A bad lot,' I answered, 'but it doesn't shake my faith in Christianity -any more than to-day's fog shakes my faith in the sun." - -"On another occasion a man asked me what I meant by condemning betting, -seeing that the aristocracy backed horses. - -"'But the aristocracy know no better. You do. So set them an example.' - -"Then there was the heckler who wanted to know whether I objected to a -man leaving money for the propagation of atheism. - -"'If he likes to do it, let him,' I answered. 'He's sure to regret it as -soon as he is dead.' - -"And that reminds me," continued Crooks, "of what happened at the last -County Council election. A local undertaker, who had always supported me -before, stopped me in the street to say he was going to vote on the -other side this time. - -"''Tain't as I don't believe in you, Mr. Crooks. I likes you as well as -ever I did; but men in our calling must keep an eye on the party that -best helps business, you know!' - -"I told him I did not understand. - -"'Why,' said the undertaker, 'I could make a decent living when the -death rate was 20 per 1,000. I can even get along nicely when it's 18; -but since you've bin on the move, Mr. Crooks, I can't make a living -nohow, with a death rate no more'n 14.'" - - - - -INDEX - - -A - -Adult Sunday Schools, 213, 259 - -Afforestation for unemployed, 265 - - -B - -Baby-farming in London, 94 - -Balfour, Mr. Arthur, 17, 238, 261 - -Baptist Union, Crooks addresses the, 257 - -Barnett, Canon, 222, 290 - -Beresford, Lord Charles, 186, 187 - -Bishop of London, The, 257 - -Blackwall Tunnel, Crooks and the, 101-04 - -Boarding-out children, 125 - -Borough Councillor, Crooks as a, 68, 154-74, 212 - -Brabazon Society and Poplar Workhouse, 291 - -Brotherhoods, Men's, 300 - -Burns, Mr. John, 68, 189, 195, 265, 266, 294 - - -C - -Campbell-Bannerman, Sir H., 195, 294 - -Canada and the unemployed, 231, 267 - -Central Unemployed Committee, 232, 235 - -Chamberlain, Mr. Joseph, 214, 217 - -Chandler, Bishop, 23, 76 - -Chaplin, Mr. Henry, 115, 144, 185 - -Chesterton, Mr. G. K., 148, 149 - -Children correspondents of Crooks, 171, 198 - -Children, Poor Law, 119, 125 - -Children, Starving School, 297 - -Christianity and the working classes, 259 - -Churches and Labour, 261 - -City Temple Speech, 300 - -"College" at the Dock Gates, Crooks's, 57, 212 - -Collins, Sir William, 97 - -Coronation festivities at Poplar, 169-171 - -Craftsmanship, Need of, 41 - -Crooks, Mrs., Will's mother; his tributes to, 3, 6, 18, 36 - -Crooks, Mrs., Will Crooks's second wife, 73, 167, 249 - -Crooks, Will: - born in a one-roomed home, 1; - taken into the workhouse, 9; - sent to a Poor Law school, 11; - an errand-boy, 16, 26; - at George Green schools, 19; - at Sunday School, 19; - books of his youth, 22; - at work in a smithy, 33; - apprenticed to coopering, 36; - nicknamed "Young John Bright," 37; - first marriage, 43; - dismissed as an agitator, 44; - out of work, 44, 51; - tramping experiences, 45; - finds work at Liverpool, 46, 50; - his child's death there, 46; - gets work as a dock labourer, 50; - his "college" at the dock gates, 57-66; - his part in the Great Dock Strike, 67; - a dangerous illness, 69; - death of his first wife, 72; - his second marriage, 73; - the Will Crooks Wages Fund formed, 75; - his election to the London County Council, 76; - declines a partnership, 81; - refuses a rent-free house, 82; - his work on the L.C.C., 85-104; - helps to formulate the Fair Wage Clause, 87; - is chosen Chairman of the Public Control Committee, 94; - declines the Vice-chairmanship of the L.C.C., 98; - secures open spaces for Poplar, 98; - his overcoat stolen, 99; - pleads the cause of good craftsmanship, 100; - the Blackwall Tunnel one of his monuments, 101; - is chosen Chairman of the Bridges Committee, 102; - becomes a Guardian for Poplar, 105; - is elected Chairman of the Board, 112; - changes the composition of the Board and of its staff, 112; - abolishes the pauper's garb, 114; - reforms the workhouse, 114-118; - sends Poor Law children to Board Schools, 120; - provides a home for them, 123; - his work on the Metropolitan Asylums Board, 128-43; - a peace-maker among the poor, 144; - chosen Mayor of Poplar, 154; - organises the King's Dinner to the Poor at Poplar, 169; - receives the Prince and Princess of Wales, 169; - raises funds for a Coronation treat to children, 170; - his policy of paying old age pensions through the Poor Law, 175-85; - his first election for Woolwich, 186-201; - his maiden speech, 202; - advocates the payment of members, 204; - introduces a Women's Enfranchisement Bill, 206; - retires from the Poplar Borough Council, 212; - up and down the country, 213; - ridicules Protection and Preference, 213-18; - his efforts for the unemployed, 219-51; - advocates the provision of useful work, 221; - his activity as a member of the Poplar Distress Committee, 223-26; - his scheme for a Central Unemployed Committee adopted by Mr. Walter - Long, 232; - his appeal to Mr. Balfour for rating powers for providing - work, 237-40; - overwork and illness, 241-42; - secures the passing of the Unemployed Bill, 244-47; - his children, 252-53; - his home life described by the _World_, 253; - his morning's work sketched by Mr. G. R. Sims, 255-56; - his many-sided activity, 257-60; - his temperance work, 260; - his relations with the Free Churches, 262-63; - his schemes for colonising England, 264-70; - defends the Poplar Board of Guardians at the Local Government - Inquiry (1906), 272; - sees his mistake in having remained Chairman of the Board, 274; - his reply to the Inspector's report, 280; - appeals to the public in defence of his policy, 281; - receives letters of encouragement, 287; - is assured by Mr. John Burns that there had been a - misunderstanding, 294; - is besought not to leave Poplar, 295 - -Crown Lands and small holdings, 264 - - -D - -_Daily News_ Woolwich Election Fund, 188 - -Deaths from starvation, 278 - -Dickens, Charles, References to, 19, 32, 149, 118 - -Dock Strike, The Great, 67-69 - -Dolling, Father, 23, 166, 235 - -Drage, Mr. Geoffrey, 191, 193 - - -E - -East India Company, The, 28, 29 - - -F - -Fair Rent Courts advocated by Crooks, 162 - -Fair Wage Clause in the L.C.C.'s contracts, 87 - -Farm Colonies, 231, 243, 266, 268 - -Feeding Necessitous Scholars, 297-300 - -First offenders, Children as, 138 - -Foreshore reclamation, 220 - -Free Church Council, Crooks and the, 261 - -Free Trade defended by Crooks, 191, 214 - -Frenchman, A, on Poplar, 257 - -Fry, Mr. C. B., 148 - - -G - -General Election of 1906, 200 - -George the Fourth at Blackwall, 31 - -Gorst, Sir John, 209 - -Government employees' wages, 203 - -Guardians, _see_ Poplar Board of Guardians - -Guildhall Poor Law Conference, 121 - - -H - -Hardie, Mr. Keir, 189, 195 - -Hills, Mr. A. F., 224, 226, 247 - -Hollesley Bay Farm Colony, 268 - -Holyoake, George Jacob, 42 - -Hungry 'Forties, The, 284 - - -I - -Illness of Crooks, 241, 296 - - -J - -Juvenile Offenders' Bill, 137 - - -K - -King's Coronation Dinner to the Poor, 158, 169; - his Majesty's visit to Poplar as Prince of Wales, 102 - - -L - -Labour Co-partnership, 41 - -Labour Representation Committee, The, 199, 242 - -Laindon Farm Colony, 266 - -Lansbury, George, 105, 232, 235, 242, 249, 273, 276, 281 - -Lawson, Sir Wilfrid, 195 - -Libraries for Poplar secured by Crooks, 65, 174 - -Licensing Bill of 1904, 260 - -Liddon, Canon, 47 - -Little Englanders, 215 - -Local Government Board Inquiry at Poplar, 117, 183, 271-95 - -London County Council, 76-104, 297 - -Long, Mr. Walter, 116, 232, 281 - - -M - -Mansion House scene, A, 157 - -McDougall, Sir John, 96 - -Metropolitan Asylums Board, 128 - -Minister for Labour wanted, 269 - -Monkswell, Lord, 99, 166 - -Morley, Mr. John, 208 - -M.P.'s investments, Crooks on, 210 - - -O - -Oakum-picking, Cost of, 221 - -Old Age Pensions, 176-85 - -Open spaces for Poplar secured by Crooks, 98-100 - - -P - -Parliament, Crooks's speeches in, 125, 202, 204, 245, 230, 246, 261, 265 - -Payment of Members, 204 - -Peruvian Frigate Mutiny, The, 30 - -Pirates hung at Blackwall, 29 - -Political Economy, Crooks on, 88, 150 - -Poor Law, Pensions paid through the, 179 - -Poor Law Commission, 243 - -Poor Law Schools, Parliamentary Committee on, 123 - -Poplar, A walk round, with Crooks, 25-32 - -Poplar Board of Guardians, Crooks and the, 105-27, 175-85, 234-40, - 271-95 - -Poplar Labour League, 75, 166 - -Poplar Municipal Alliance, The, 272, _and ff._ - -Poplar Workhouse, Will Crooks an inmate of, 8-11; - _see also_ Poplar Board of Guardians - -Prince of Wales, The, and Crooks, 170 - - -Q - -Queen Alexandra and the unemployed, 250 - - -R - -Reformatory schools, 141 - -Remand homes, 136 - -Ritchie, Lord, 105, 137 - -Rosebery, Lord, 72, 89 - - -S - -School of Marine Engineering at Poplar, Crooks and the, 101 - -Scientific starvation, 181 - -Sheldon, Rev. Charles, 148 - -Sims, Mr. George R., 148, 255 - -Slums as investments, 161 - -Small holdings, 264 - -South African War, Crooks's opposition to, 201, 263 - -_Speaker_, The, on the Woolwich by-election, 192, 201 - -Stanley, The Hon. Maud, 48 - -Stone-breaking condemned by Crooks, 222 - -Sutton Poor Law School, Crooks an inmate of the, 11-12 - -Sweated women, 3, 178, 207 - - -T - -Talbot, Bishop, 196 - -Technical Education Board, The, 100 - -Technical Education for workhouse children, 124 - -Trade Unionism and Protection, 217 - -Trade Unionist, Crooks as a, 43, 53 - -Tree, Mr. Beerbohm-, 148 - - -U - -Unemployed Act, 223, 243, 245 - -Unemployment schemes, 221, 232, 265 - - -V - -_Vanity Fair_ on Crooks, 208, 229 - - -W - -Wages Fund, The Will Crooks, 75 - -Watermen, Old, at Poplar, 30 - -Welby, Lord, 96 - -Women's enfranchisement, 206 - -Women's march to Whitehall, The, 249 - -Women's wages, 178, 207 - -Woolwich by-election, 186 - -Woolwich Labour Association, 187 - -Workmen's drinking habits, Crooks on, 54 - -Wyckoff, Professor, 48 - - -PRINTED BY CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C. -20.1009. - - - - - Books by George Haw. - - - CHRISTIANITY AND THE WORKING CLASSES. Edited by George Haw, with - contributions by WILL CROOKS, Canon Barnett, Dr. Horton, and - others. - - NO ROOM TO LIVE. The Story of Overcrowded London. - - TO-DAY'S WORK. A Popular Treatise on Local Government. - - THE ENGLISHMAN'S CASTLE. A Survey of the People's Housing - Conditions in Town and Country. - - RELIGIOUS DOUBTS OF THE DEMOCRACY. Edited by George Haw, with - contributions by G. K. Chesterton, George W. E. Russell, Professor - Moulton, and others. - - BRITAIN'S HOMES. 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