roperly, on the evidence available up to 1908. But one or
two points are important: (1) something very like the "right to labour"
has been granted by the legislature; (2) this has been done apart from
the conditions required by the poor-laws and orders of the Local
Government Board on poor relief and without imposing disfranchisement on
the men employed; (3) a labour rate has not been levied, but a rate has
been levied in aid of the provision of employment; (4) if the line of
development that the act suggests were to be followed (as the renewed
Labour agitation in 1908-1909 made probable) it must tend to create a
class of "unemployed," unskilled labourers of varying grades of industry
who may become the dependent and state-supported proletariat of modern
urban life. Thus, unless the administration be extremely rigorous, once
more will a kind of serfdom be established, to be, as some would say,
taken over hereafter by the socialist state.

Vagrancy.

In some of the English colonies Homeric hospitality still prevails, but
by degrees the station-house or some refuge is established in the towns
as they grow more populous. Finally, some system of labour in exchange
for relief is evolved. At first this is voluntary, afterwards it is
officially recognized, and finally it may become part of the system of
public relief. As bad years come, these changes are made step by step.
In England the vagrant or wayfarer is tolerated and discouraged, but not
kept employed. He should be under greater pressure to maintain himself,
it is thought. The provision made for him in different parts of the
country is far from uniform, and now, usually, at least in the larger
towns, after he has had a bath and food, he is admitted to a separate
room or cell in a casual ward. Before he leaves he has to do a task of
work, and, subject to the discretion of the master, he is detained two
nights. This plan has reduced vagrancy, and if it were universally
adopted clean accommodation would everywhere be provided for the vagrant
without the attractions of a common or "associated" ward; and probably
vagrancy would diminish still further. It seems almost needless to say
that, in these circumstances at any rate, casual alms should not be
given to vagrants. They know much better how to provide for themselves
than the almsgiver imagines, for vagrancy is in the main a mode of life
not the result of any casual difficulty. Vagrancy and criminality are
also nearly