GERMAN  AND  DUTCH  FREE  LABOUR  COLONIES  137

we  take  into  due  consideration  the  enormous  cost,  direct
and  indirect,  which  society  incurs  in  keeping  this  class
under  present  circumstances.  But  apart  from  these  practical
suggestions  the  scheme  is  economically  sound,  that  is  to
say,  if  such  communities  could  be  maintained  upon  the
basis  described  we  should  at  one  and  the  same  time
derive  two  great  benefits,  the  humane  care  and  a  decent
standard  of  material  comfort  for  the  class  which  is  unable
to  look  after  itself,  and  a  distinct  relief  from  the  glut  of
low-skilled  inefficient  labour  which  would  considerably
strengthen  the  industrial  and  social  position  of  those  working
classes  which  stand  just  above  the  class  that  was  removed.
§  9.  German  and  Dutch  Free  Labour  Colonics.
I  am  not  aware  that  any  adequate  experiment  upon  Mr.
Booth’s  basis  has  been  tried.  The  labour  colonies  open  to
all  comers  are  in  most  cases  confined  to  single  men,  and  for
the  most  part  are  destined  as  temporary  shelters  and
training  schools,  not  as  permanent  institutions  for  relieving
the  pressure  of  the  labour-market.  Of  such  a  character  are
the  twenty-six  German  Labour  Colonies,  which  though
nominally  open  to  all  comers  are  practically  shunned  by  the
great  mass  of  bond  fide  working  men  and  are  chiefly
utilised  by  ex-criminals  who  number  no  less  than  76  per
cent,  of  the  population  of  these  colonies.  About  one  half
of  the  colonists  seek  temporary  relief,  the  rest  loaf  round
from  colony  to  colony.  The  general  economic  effect  of
these  colonies  is  almost  nil.  The  colonies  do  not  interfere
with  the  labour-market,  because  they  do  not  deal  with
the  problem  of  the  want  of  employment  of  the  respectable
workman.”  *
*  “Report  on  the  Unemployed  (1893)”,  p.  287.