THE DOLE GERM

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 85, 13 April 1929, Page 20

THE DOLE GERM

KILLING AMBITION

,- Dunces,and tho dole are the despair of East End employers, writes B. E. Corder ia the "Daily Hail." They say that the dole germ has so impregnated the fruits of education that young men who have- passed through the Council schools have forgotten all they learned.

"What shall we make of our boys?" has always been a parental problem; but tho real difficulty to-day is: "Will the boy, try to make something of himself?" '

I hayji seen ■'Jotters.;from men aged not nio'r# -than 25 applying for situations in Poplar, and I have been astounded byr?the illiterate efforts. Bad handwriting/.'worsb '; spelling, and • no. idea of composition were shownVin these letters written by men who are supposed to havo tho benefit of an expensive popular education. The majority would/-', disgrace; a boy iji the first standard;'*' V' : [■; ;■- ; V -.- .■.,''''■

"How do•*.' you 'account' for it?" I asked a builder.and.contractor. .. ; "They/ .h..avd:.',.forg6tten .all-- they learned- becauso^Vthe dole has .'killed. ambition and 'destroyed energy in this district, where ..the chief demand is something'for.nothing,?' he replied. "Physically 1.-and; mentally thby have degenerated' solely> through idleness.. Theyfha've become workshy, stupid, and insoletntj-'biit-■':Vthey retain sufficient -animal' cunning to'know how to live ; :;•:-';:,•;;;,V'; ';: ■;' ■. ■-. ; ', .Tkese^.b6J<B'-;and--:girls catch the dole germ as easily as they catch measles, a,ndf"frcnn the same-cause. They get it from.infectioni'/Jhey see their fathers HviHg without "working,, as thousands Hvfe&n tlic-East Eud, where I challenge aiybodyHo^discover any open signs of sfeifyatioii; The pride"of poverty keeps tKp?real'p'oor-7-and there are cases of aqiite poverty—in the background. Thej suffer; in-silence because they wbuld'sooner suffer than bo shamed.' ;"':But';'there are the others: the childr.en of the dole who know every turn ;aild twist of. the -law that gives them iriSurance-■.benefit'.&nd parish relief....

; ■.[Cheating'-;the: labour -"exchange- 'is'- a rWcognised-^gamo inyolying' ho Joss ■;-of. social prestige. Cheating, the guardians is sckrcely necessary in places like Poplar, 1 where unskilled labourers demand a craftsman's wage and where continuous work is considered not to be respectable.